Tell Me Something Tuesday #30

Welcome to my weekly meme Tell Me Something Tuesday where I ask you something and you tell me the answer!! It’s as simple as that and I thought it would be a great way for all of us bloggers to get to know one another! So this is how it works: I post a question here on my blog and then i give my answer. I invite all the bloggers to take the question and post it on their blog with their answer and we can hop around and see what everyone says! If you are a blogger don’t forget to leave your link at the bottom of this post! If you aren’t a blogger – that’s okay too!! Leave your answer in the comments section!

 

 Tell Me Something:

I’m going to ask a about a touchy subject (for some people, not all)… bear with me:

What do you think of the whole Indie vs. Traditional Publishing? Do you as a reader (and blogger!) look at the publisher name before you choose to buy or read a book?

 

My answer:

Yup, I went and asked this question. LOL. I don’t really want to strike a heated debate or ruffle anyone’s feathers I am just honestly interested in this topic and what you all think. I have a lot of opinions about this topic but I will try to condense them down into the cliff notes and some of my personal experience will most likely bleed into this post… so let’s get to it!

 

To me, the traditional vs self published battle that sometimes goes on between writers is kind of pointless. In essence writers all have the same goal: to share their stories with readers. The differences come with the ways that writers choose to share their work.

Traditional publishing is basically when a writer gets a publishing contract with a publishing house to publish and promote their book. There are of course the “big six” houses that include: Random House, Harper, Simon Schuster… etc. These publishing houses are considered (among most writers – not ALL) the big time, the ultimate “I have made it!” way to publish. These publishers are attractive because they have a lot of clout in the publishing world. They have money to spend on advertising, they have contacts and the means to make a writer’s book successful.

Then there are the smaller independent publishers, I am published through one of those: Otherworld Publications. Other examples include: JournalStone Publishing, Hydra Publications and many, many more.

These publishing houses are legitimate publishers that publish and promote authors work just on a smaller scale than the big publishers. Often times promotion falls to the author in these houses but the author gets the benefit of a name behind them, and they don’t have to focus (as much) on the formatting, uploading and distribution of a book.

Self Publishing is basically when an author takes their work and publishes it on their own. They usually go through Amazon, BN, Smashwords, etc. A self published author does all the formatting, uploading, hire out cover design (or do it themselves), editing, etc. The author is involved in ALL aspects of the publishing process. Usually the author gets more money in sales this route.

Okay, now that you know (you probably already knew all that so sorry if I bored you…) that let’s get to my opinion.

I think both routes of publishing are good, it boils down to what is right for the author.

I also do think that Self publishing has gotten a bad rap over the years and I can understand why. Because anyone can self publish a book (as it should be) people can and do. Some writers fail to see the benefit of a good edit and don’t realize that their plot needs tightening, etc. Then they publish the book before it should be published and then the reader picks it up and it sorely disappointed. After a reader reads more than one self published title that is like this they begin to form a general opinion about all self published titles.

Generally, the books that come out of bigger publishing houses have been edited, proofread and are mostly error free so that is why they are sometimes considered higher quality.

Personally, I have read books that I don’t like from both sides of the publishing world.

I recently took a little poll on my FB fan page and asked readers if they looked at the publisher before reading a book. Most said no. I think that in itself is telling. Most of readers don’t care. If the book has a good synopsis and cover then most likely it will get read.

As a writer I had really hoped for a publishing house behind me. I thought it was the best way to get recognized. I thought it would help me learn more about the publishing world and I didn’t want to deal with the business side of things (distribution, formatting, etc).

I tried for several years to get an agent so I could get into a big publishing house. Note: most big publishing houses won’t read your work unless it comes through an agent. I couldn’t get an agent. I could hardly get an agent to read my query.

So I started querying small houses. I found one, obviously. I don’t regret signing with them. I learned a lot about publishing, myself as a writer and the business. It was still more work than I anticipated. I pretty much did all my marketing and promotion. I found reviewers, etc. I was (am) very hands on with the entire process… interpretation: I am a Control Freak. LOL.

Recently, I got the news that my publishing house is closing its doors… This is the first I have mentioned this AT ALL in any social media. I have been faced with “What now?” What is next for the Heven and Hell series? Did I want to take the books off the market while I searched for another publishing house? What if I didn’t find one? What if I did and it was just as much work as I do now? I started to wonder if I would just be better off to publish the series on my own, I know how to do it and at least this way I would hopefully make more profit.

In the end I decided to publish the series on my own.

Note: my books are still currently pubbed through Otherworld Publications but I will be moving them over under my name soon. There will be more about the future of the Heven and Hell series on my blog in the upcoming weeks.

In closing I just want to say that I have seen both sides of this industry. And I truly believe they are both hard. Publishing is hard. It’s a tough industry to be in, to make it in. I think that writers shouldn’t go against one another but support one another no matter how they choose to share their work.

I am interested to see what you all think of this as readers and bloggers (and writers) so tell me!!!

 

Next week’s question:

I am going to lighten it up and let’s have some fun! Here are a series of fun questions we can have fun with for next week’s TMST:

Would you rather be go about your normal day naked or fall asleep for a year?

Would you rather be gossipped about or never talked about at all?

Would you rather be born with an elephant trunk or a giraffe neck?

Don’t forget to tell us why!

Link Up: