DL Truth: Distance Learning Truth

A few years back I successfully published a work of fiction. Since no agent would touch my work, I self published and used a Print-On-Demand service. Now this is different from a "Publish-on-demand" service which is altogether different.

But there are some real scams out there besides. This last category is known as "Author Mills." These are business outfits which are long on promises but very short on results.

If anyone is interested in the business of self publishing, print-on-demand, Vanity Presses or those dreded "Author Mills" then see the link below:

http://www.jamiehall.org/self-publish.htm

Incidently, anyone else publish anything? Tell me about your experience.

Quote:you'll quickly realize that if you've written something halfway decent (or something that could become halfway decent with some light copyediting), then you are already in the top 5%. At least 90% (and probably more) of what agents and publishers receive is quite obviously unpublishable.

That's just false.
Mileages vary, but it's like getting a job...you have to compete with all the "friends of friends", mafiosi, politicking frauds and other "chosen people".

Quote:The lack of any sort of quality control is, and always has been, the biggest problem with self-published books of any sort, and it affects all self-publishers because of the bias it creates, even those who have high-quality books.

Quality control?
Oh yes, you mean writing what they want to hear...

Quote:It is the "vanity" of a person who wants to see their work masquerading as a real book without going through regular channels.

Oh yes? What about the Jewish fraud who published a "orgy of plagiarism" book as part of the Harvard plagiarism scandal? The only difference is THAT vanity gets it on the thousands of "hate remedial" syllabi worldwide...

Quote:In comparison, a book at a traditional publisher that only sold 5,000 copies would be considered a total failure - unless it was a highly specialized textbook or some other kind of niche book.

Eh? Many scholarly book (or similar books not geared towards the masses) sell little to next to nothing. I once sought an edition of a university press journal and was told I had been probably the 5th person to request it, and that all copies were gathering dust in some basement.

Quote:If you self-publish and fail, the price can be high. Not only do you lose the money that you put into the book, but you also lose a certain degree of respect. You join the vast ranks of unsuccessful self-published authors and are not taken seriously by other writers, let alone by editors and agents.

As I said, it's an almost entirely "political" question. Be a "chosen person" and you'll get all the marketing you may want, interviews etc. Proof? A third rate Italian comedian(!) made a WWII genocide movie...4 Oscars(?) and all the rest...with all the critics kneeling saying it was the best movie since... the last movie of that kind last season.

https://www.createspace.com/Author.jsp
by Amazon seems a good choice.
After all, when you have the book listed on Amazon & a few others, what is that you may need?
Oh yes, raving critics and talk show appearances...see above...
https://www.createspace.com/pub/services.home.do
That's what I plan to do when I will feel like it.
https://www.createspace.com/Services/Pub...eTable.jsp
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/Index.jsp
Physical POD books.

(02-15-2011, 02:01 PM)ham Wrote: [ -> ]Quality control?
Oh yes, you mean writing what they want to hear...

True story. In response to a "discussion" question for an online course I noted that the math in the factual background for the question was inaccurate, and submitted a corrected breakdown. My premise was that in order to answer the question accurately one should first know how to do the underlying (simple) math.

I received a "zero" for the assignment and the prof's comments were "missed the point entirely” and “inappropriate and non-responsive.” Because of that zero grade my grade for the course was 0.39 short of an A. Coincidence? Yeah, right.

I emailed the prof and told him I was going to file an administrative appeal. He called my bluff and said I could re-submit the answer, probably figuring I wouldn't go to the trouble. Instead, I copied the summary at the end of the applicable chapter of the course text and submitted that. It wasn't exactly verbatim, but only because I corrected some of the clumsy phrasing in the original. Prof accepts it, says it's "excellent" and re-submits my assignment grade as a 70, which is enough for an A in the course.

Clear academic lessons here:

Thinking for yourself--bad

Bringing real life context to pointless academic exercises--very bad

Ignoring administrative incompetence and doing what you're told--good

Regurgitating the course text--excellent!.

I think the best approach is...to be honest with oneself.
I have research I may want one day to publish when I'm done...a few academics and others told me it's of a good caliber, so why not?
But I know I would never make it to syllabi worldwide...even many known scholars admit their 60-cents-a-page books sold few copies...and that in spite of them putting their own books on their own syllabi (the used books circuit etc).
I long ago tried to submit to an unknown peer-reviewed journal that caters to that semi-unknown niche and i was scolded for my "sexist prose"...I had put a few "s/he" in the text, but I think they meant "mankind" (you are supposed to use "humankind" not to offend queers and women...and they also said I had followed the wrong Turabian edition...
In other words, if it took me N days to write whatever I intended to submit, it'd take twice that time to rewrite it according to their specifications...and that's just one stupid journal that probably sent out 78 copies last issue, including free copies.
I say to make the information available and see.
Amazon offers a customizable service to self-publish your book and to make a good product available to the widest possible audience for a low price, forget .6 to 1$-per-page "scholarly" books edited by what are essentially novelty presses for people with letters after their name, that nobody will buy because they are too expensive.
An academic I knew edited a book on XVI century England...it costed $90 for a 250 pages book...with Amazon I can print-on-demand a 6x9, 250pp b&w book with a retail price of $12 (depending of the royalty I intend to cash, of course!) and give it the widest possible distribution.

I read that a large number of writers began by self publishing, including Mark Twain. Ben Franklin was a printer who began publishing his own works, including his publication and Poor Richard's Almanac.

I actually did read a number of works by a number of writers which I concidered to be pure trash. William Goldman was probibly the worst writer I read, though his books did make pretty good movies. If you go see some of the books on the best seller list you will find that there is a lot of trash out there. Even a lot of classics are really poor.

Incidently, I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick from cover to cover and I liked it a lot. But I will say this much, if Melville would try to get his work published today no agent would dare touch it.

I could only imagine:

Melville: "You wanted to see me?"
Agent: "Yes Mr Melville, or should I call you Herman?"
Melville: "Herman is just fine."
Agent: "So let me get this straight. You are writing about a whale, right?"
Melville: "Not exactly. Its about the history and true spirit of America projected through a group of sailors, led by a madman. The man's obsession is to go on a mission of revenge. The narrative uses the Pequot is a metaphor for america and its people's. I will present people from all nations who came to the ship, including a native of the south seas, europeans, gentlemen officers and all who are gathered on this boat on a doomed mission."
Agent: "Yes, sounds like a good story. But you see we have a few problems."
Melville: "Such as?"
Agent: "Why no women on the boat? No sex either. Maybe describe landing on an island surrounded by sexy polynesian women. How about some violence? Jeez, whats up with that boat thing. Are they all a bunch of homos?"
Melville: "But Sir, its about the sea and life at sea. I have to make it realistic."
Agent: "Look kid, I've been in business for years and I know what sells. Reality does NOT sell! Do you think anyone would want to read this shit? And say, whats with all these footnotes and side plots? You talk about how ships are manufactured and the anatomy of whales? Who the hell cares?"

long pause...

"I'll tell you what Mr. Melville you go back home and write me a REAL story: One with car crashes, sex, drugs and all that and maybe THEN we can talk."

---

If you do decide to self publish than you might consider this article:
http://www.ehow.com/how_107987_self-publish-book.html

This is just one of literally hundreds of places. You could try googling "How to self publish."

I also priced out some print on demand services and IMHO Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) has the best deal. You do not pay anything unless you want to buy copies of your own work to distribute. Its pretty reasonably priced.

There are other services as well but its probibly best to check them out first.

Quote:I also priced out some print on demand services and IMHO Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) has the best deal. You do not pay anything unless you want to buy copies of your own work to distribute. Its pretty reasonably priced.

Well, I think Amazon's https://www.createspace.com/Author.jsp is the best I could find. Why? Print-on-demand? No. Editing&design services? ISBN service? No; useful if you don't know where to go, but you may find other venues...IT'S THE DISTRIBUTION THING.
Sure, many say they WILL do it, but...Amazon is all you need after all...even if all other options fail.
That's what killed more self-published books than anything else.
I tried to search createspace books on many third party websites I use to search for books, and they show up...you can actually order them...in electronic form, or in paper format.
That's all.
Ever read about that interesting book the owner of that unknown website wrote? If you wanted a copy, you had to send SASEs with cash, MO or a printed form to some PO box in Nevada or Iceland...then he maybe didn't get it, or he was piling up orders to justify another batch print...then he would wrap it up himself & send it to you...the book was lost? Too bad you pre-paid it, huh?
I see that lulu thing is a copy of the Amazon thing.

(02-16-2011, 08:39 AM)ham Wrote: [ -> ]

Quote:I also priced out some print on demand services and IMHO Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/) has the best deal. You do not pay anything unless you want to buy copies of your own work to distribute. Its pretty reasonably priced.

Well, I think Amazon's https://www.createspace.com/Author.jsp is the best I could find. Why? Print-on-demand? No. Editing&design services? ISBN service? No; useful if you don't know where to go, but you may find other venues...IT'S THE DISTRIBUTION THING.
Sure, many say they WILL do it, but...Amazon is all you need after all...even if all other options fail.
That's what killed more self-published books than anything else.
I tried to search createspace books on many third party websites I use to search for books, and they show up...you can actually order them...in electronic form, or in paper format.
That's all.
Ever read about that interesting book the owner of that unknown website wrote? If you wanted a copy, you had to send SASEs with cash, MO or a printed form to some PO box in Nevada or Iceland...then he maybe didn't get it, or he was piling up orders to justify another batch print...then he would wrap it up himself & send it to you...the book was lost? Too bad you pre-paid it, huh?
I see that lulu thing is a copy of the Amazon thing.

So Amazon is in the POD business?

Actually Lulu does list its books on Amazon and other online services.

Unless you are a vain indiviual who is only putting out a book to see your own name on the cover of a book, the most important thing an author can do is distribute his or her work. A good writer needs a good agent or at least a good publicist. That is, unless you have a few grand lying around and can afford to advertize it yourself.

Quote:A good writer needs a good agent or at least a good publicist.

Long ago I hired an agency, but I went nowhere.
It seems that the vast majority of agencies YOU can approach are in the shady business of "selling dreams": they assess your work charging a fee for that, then pretend they are looking for a publisher but end up proposing expensive vanity presses.
With what their "publisher" proposed to charge back in 1998 (you know, the "sharing the expenses" sham), I could publish TEN books with createspace TODAY.
I don't need to repeat it...the lettered Jewish fraud writes "an orgy of plagiarism" but makes it to the caviar tables of the trendy left worldwide...other hoaxers rake in millions publishing fake genocide memoirs...but for editors, critics and pundits it's ok.
That tells you what's behind the press/editors' circus.
F-ck them, I say.

Quote:Actually Lulu does list its books on Amazon and other online services.

Did you use them? If so, how was it?

(02-16-2011, 05:13 PM)ham Wrote: [ -> ]

Quote:Actually Lulu does list its books on Amazon and other online services.

Did you use them? If so, how was it?

For novice writers Lulu is a decent service. They allow you to use their tools to post your writing and tweek it. The only time you pay is when you choose to publish your work and get copies put out. You can edit and reedit your stuff. Its cheap and easy to use.

But as I said before publishing is the easy part. Distributing your work is where it gets tough.

Thinking about it now, if Uncle J were still around he would probably be hawking a book about Confucius and Plato published via Lulu or something similar. (and of course we would purchase copies just so we could rip him )