The other day I talked about another reason why digital publishing (eBooks) will win, and that was because it’s so easy and fast. Today I read a brief interview with Mark Cuban who just recently self-published a new book about why he self-published.
When asked why he self-published, he said…
The time obligations of a traditional release were more than I was willing to undertake. I couldn’t ask for advances and then not want to do a book tour. Plus, the editorial deadlines were much more forgiving. I made changes hours before the final release. Time is the most valuable asset I have. The amount of time required to give the publishers a chance to make their money bank wasn’t worth the money to me. My preference was to put out an ebook on my own terms and see how it did and what I could learn. Based on this education, I will be a lot smarter about what I do next.
Self-publishing is an amazing way for anyone, even bigwigs like Cuban, to easily and quickly publish content in book form. What you will learn from successful people like Mark is that time is valuable. Waiting a year to have your book published is a joke. He was able to quickly and easily publish a book and get it to his audience, and that’s what we should all be doing.
Don’t get hung up on the legacy/traditional publishing old rules. You should be taking the thoughts and expertise in your head and publishing it in book form today. It’s really not that hard.
However…
I still like the feel of a real book, Jim.
(And not because mine was just released!)
I can't seem to sit in front of a screen for more than a half hour reading something digital. Maybe if I try my wife's Kindle..
The Franchise King®
What's not real about every self-published book I have that you an order on Amazon in print format? It's called print on demand, and no, they're not hard cover books, they're paperback, but they are very real. So if by "real" you mean a hardcover book, then yes, that has a different feel to it. But those days are rapidly going away. I'm glad you got your "real" book before they are gone.
Me too
, isn’t it premature to draw gbalol conclusions about any book from the first two chapters?John: you knew what the rules are before you sent me your book. You might not like that I found your book so very lacking: but please stop trying to make my methods the problem, instead of accepting that your book just isn’t good enough. If you disagree with my methods you need to spend some time watching readers browse for books in bookshops. They look at the jacket; they might read some of the back cover copy; then they read the first paragraph or so. A lot of them only read the first sentence before they put the book down and move on to another one. I’ve given your book far more of a chance than they would. I am a fan of B.R. Myers “Readers’ Manifesto” in which he takes a number of highly acclaimed novelists to task for the pretentiousness of their literary prose. Your writing isn’t literary. It’s not one bit literary. It’s just flabby and dull. Maybe I failed to apply his tenets to my own work. But where does one find a really good book editor? There are plenty of places that will gladly collect anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000 for various forms of editing and consulting, but has a controlled experiment ever been done to assess their effectiveness in terms of getting an agent and a book deal?Oh, for goodness’ sake. John, you and I have exchanged numerous emails since my review first appeared and I’m sure we’ve gone over this again and again. If your work isn’t good enough to start off with (and with all due respect yours is nowhere near that point) it’s not going to be publishable once an editor’s got her hands on it no matter how much you pay her. If you want it to improve you need to read a lot, and work out why the books that you read work; and try to criticise other writers’ work, then apply the things you learn to your own work. I’ve recommended that you join a writers’ group; I’ve suggested you look at AbsoluteWrite.com; and I’m sure I’ve advised you to learn to revise your own work. In fact, I think I’ve even given you a list of books which might come in handy there. You need to become a better writer and then you won’t need to pay for an editor because publishers will pay you, and edit your book for free.Now: stop complaining, and start editing your work. It’s not yet very good, but it could be if you make the effort to improve.