How to Publish a Book Readers,

A friend sent me a link to a Time Magazine article this morning. The Time article basically says the same thing as the New York Times article I posted last week, regarding How to Publish a Book.

You probably arrived at this website by searching the Internet for "How to Publish a Book" and you may be entirely suspicious of a Do-It-Yourself website like this. My enterprise consists of me and about 3-5 other people, all of us working mostly on a volunteer basis.

Nonetheless, I believe this website How to Publish a Book has its finger on the pulse of publishing like no other site on the net right now. Let me explain.

A massive shift is underway in book publishing (the Time and New York Times articles are evidence) regarding how to publish a book. Major book publishers are having a difficult time staying afloat financially. The reason for this is primarily based on: 1) an antiquated business model, 2) a sluggish inability to create a platform for finding new, fresh talent, 3) and an almost Victorian inability to change.

The only sector of book publishing that has seen significant and tremendous growth is self publishing. Which brings me to the topic this week here at How to Publish a Book.

I posit that the massive seismic shift that has occurred regarding how to publish a book is that publishing has (in ten years) gone from being an author-centered industry to an aspiring-author centered industry. Book Publishing Companies like Harper-Collins (which last week killed the "Collins"and is now just "Harper"), Random House (which underwent massive reorganization and lay-offs last month), Penguin Putnam, Holtzbrink, Simon & Schuster, and Hatchette (which two years ago was Warner Books [now owned by a German Company and no longer Warner Books]) have not responded to this fundamental and massive cultural shift and are paying the price. There are major signs of financial instability by the world's largest book publishers.

If you check out the Hoover's financial index on Borders Books (the second largest book retail chain in the United States), you'll see that they've been selling off their overseas stores to generate revenue. Their economic trend the past 10 years indicates serious financial troubles, and many pundits have been saying that bankruptcy is looming.

Again, the only area of book publishing that has seen tremendous growth is self publishing. And I posit that this is because a massive seismic shift is underway in book publishing: a shift from author-centered publishing to aspiring-author-centered publishing.

What does all this mean?

It means book publishing will become more digital. It means you currently have the opportunity to ride a wave without the need for an agent or major publisher. The Internet has given us each a voice, and the digitalization of self publishing has changed the face of the author-reader dynamic.

If you're an aspiring writer, you'd be well advised to help out other aspiring writers. If you're the kind of writer who says, I just want people to love me and my book... you will have a difficult time in this new era. It is a fundamental shift in our cultural values, and the shift is global in its scope.

Personally, I think this shift is awesome. The old model created self-asborbed writers remote from their readers. The new aspiring-author centered paradigm fosters selfless writers who succeed by recognizing and contributing to their (global) writing communities.

I offer as proof of this shift regarding how to publish a book my interview from Friday with Adam Shepard.

If you watch one interview this year regarding how to publish a book, I encourage you to watch this one. It epitomizes the paradigm shift I'm talking about regarding book publishing and how to publish a book.

As always, thanks so much for visiting us here at How to Publish a Book. Have a great week!

Stacey 

How to Publish a Book Readers,

In a week and a half, I'll be moderating a How to Publish a Book discussion at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina titled "To Self Publish or Not to Self Publish." I think it's one of the most pressing questions for aspiring writers considering how to publish a book today. A week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to interview New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen (see the full interview under last week's blog entry).

During the interview, I asked Mr. Hiaasen to tell the story of his discovering Chris Paolini's self-published book Eragon at an Albertson's grocery store in Montana. For those of you who've been living under a rock and don't know the story, Carl Hiaasen was on a family trip when his wife found the self-published book Eragon in a store. Carl and his wife gave it to their son to read, and his son liked the book. So Carl did a little investigating and discovered that it was written by a 16-year-old Chris Paolini.

Paolini's parents had self published his book, and they had been selling it out of the back of their car all over Montana. 

So Carl Hiaasen shows the book to his editor at Random House and suggests she check it out. Random House ended up purchasing the rights to publish Chris Paolini's three-book trilogy for $500,000.

Major motion pictures have been made, and Chris Paolini is now a multi-millionaire and one of the most popular authors on the planet.

I've edited my interview with Carl Hiaasen to the point where he discusses this (with much modesty on his own part and much praise for Paolini's talent). Here is the clip:

Now in the How to Publish a Book panel I'll be moderating in a week and a half, one of the speakers is named Adam Shepard. Adam chose to self publish his book Scratch Beginnings, and then went on a self-made marketing and publicity frenzy, managing to get on the Today Show, the Glen Beck Program, 20/20, and 60 Minutes. His self-published book subsequently found a home at Harper-Collins and landed him an agent at Trident Media Group. 

Both his story and Chris Paolini's serves as an example of how self publishing has changed the landscape of book publishing in the past ten years. There used to be a time a decade ago where to self publish a book meant to Vanity Press publish it or to start your own publishing company. To some degree that has changed.

While most self published books end up only selling 50 copies (mostly to an author's family and friends) and still constitutes so-called "Vanity Publishing" there are enough instances of Do-It-Yourself Authors who have built a career by first self publishing their books that is has become a trend that even the New York Times has noted.

So should you self publish your book?

Each author must decide for him/herself. For every Chris Paolini, Adam Shepard, Jack Canfield, or Scott Sigler, there are literally tens of thousands of self-published authors who never rise from the cracks... their self-published books (books they sweated and toiled over for years in some cases) hit the internet and sell two dozen books and then die.

My own personal take is that if you can successfully self publish a book and sell 5,000 copies completely on your own, then you deserve to be published by a major. If you can self publish a book and constantly draw in 70+ people for over 150 authors events, then you warrant consideration from a major publisher.

Generally, I recommend trying to find an agent first, trying to find a major publisher first... but if that fails to pan out a book deal in a year's time, I encourage folks to consider self publishing.

It may be one of the best ways to learn what does and doesn't sell books.

And you can always write another book and try with that one to find a publisher once more.

It's just cool to know that you have the power to choose how to publish your book. That, more than anything, is what has changed in the past decade. The access to a self-published book and entrance into major book retailer databases is now inexpensive and accessible like never before in human history.

How will this change writing and publishing in the next 10-20 years? I'm an optimist, and I tend to embrace new technologies. It seems like the long-term result will be that more people around the globe will be writing and giving voice to the creative impulses that dwell within us.

And while most of the self-published books will die without ever being heard. Isn't it an awesome tool that we have created a way to ease access to the fruition of our creative endeavors?

I think so. 

Have a great week, everybody. And thanks for visiting me here at How to Publish a Book!

Stacey 

How to Publish a Book Readers,

This past Monday, I had the honor of interviewing New York Times bestselling author Carl Hiaasen for my TV show and for the How to Publish a Book website. Carl Hiaasen has built a career writing crime novels set in his native Florida, but in recent years, Mr. Hiaasen has started publishing Middle Grades Books. His latest book is SCAT, and we spent a good bit of the interview talking about it.

Here at How to Publish a Book, I get a lot of questions from folks who want to know how to publish a children's book. For these folks, I think this conversation will be particularly helpful because we talk about who Mr. Hiaasen's audience is for these Middle Grades Books, what demographic comes to his author events, how his publisher and literary agent feel about his publishing books for younger readers, and the craft of writing children's books in contrast to writing and publishing books for adults. 

As always, I love to hear from you... so please let me know your thoughts on the interview. And thanks for visiting us here at How to Publish a Book.

Sincerely,

Stacey Cochran