Hey Folks,
Well, another good “Of Interest” section today.
Today will probably be another non-(fiction) writing day for me. I’ll work on the copyedit I started yesterday on my wife’s memoir, and then I’ll probably round out the day by reading. Still resting up fron January, I think.
Topic: About Publishing and Publishers
A young writer got in touch with me earlier today to ask my recommendation on publishing. She mentioned that she was “talking to a publishing company that is a subsidiary of Hay House.”
I didn’t look up the company, but a little bell went off in my mind. I believe Hay House is one of the companies that charges writers an up-front fee to publish their work. If they don’t, their “subsidiaries” almost certainly do.
I told her, and I will tell you (again), “I recommend indie publishing 100%. You can pay someone to design a cover and do the eformatting (and/or layout for paper publication), but after that you don’t pay anyone anything and your royalties belong only to you.”
For an overall guide to indie publishing (self-publishing), click http://harveystanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Quick-Guide-to-Self-Publishing-FAQs.pdf. This is a good little book, and it’s free.
And if you’d like a by-the-numbers crash course on digital publishing, click http://harveystanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DPubV2X.pdf. This one is a little outdated (and it’s also free), but it will teach you how to format and submit your work to various distributors.
Some writers are still in the agent chase, though I will never understand why. Hiring an agent is tantamount to giving the guy who cuts your grass once every two weeks 15% ownership of your home.
If you’re still seeking a “traditional” publisher and aren’t wild about negotiating contracts, I recommend finding a good intellectual property rights lawyer and paying him or her to negotiate the contract for you.
Better yet, learn copyright and do it yourself, perhaps with an IP attorney in the wings to advise you.
Either way, I will never advocate paying any company up front to publish your work. Period. A few that spring to mind are Booklocker, Wheatmark, AuthorHouse, etc.
And before you sign ANY contract, READ IT or better yet, have your IP attorney read it. Giving any publisher “all rights” (print, electronic, etc.) to your work for the life of the copyright is just foolish, even for what appears to be a good advance.
Just ask yourself, what is your intellectual property (your copyright on a story or novel) worth to you over your life plus 75 years?
Now, a personal example: if a traditional publisher wanted one of my novels, even all rights for the life of the copyright, and wanted to pay me say $250,000.00 up front, I might be interested. But no amount short of that. And that would be only for the one novel. And that’s just me.
That’s the amount that would pique my interest, and signing that contract would leave me with 28 other novels to sell.
You’ll have to set your own price based on your own needs.
Back in a day or two.
Of Interest
Check out Dean’s post, “Flying In the Face of Common Knowledge” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/flying-in-the-face-of-common-knowledge/.
See Kris Rusch’s post on “Confidential Business Information” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/02/07/business-musings-confidential-business-information/.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 520 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 520
Writing of The Age Exchange (novel, working title)
Brought forward…… 6985
Day 1…… 1285 words. Total words to date…… 8270
Day 2…… 1120 words. Total words to date…… 9390
Day 3…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 2405
Total fiction words for the year………… 40561
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2470
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 10490
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 51051
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 1
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 28
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182