Thursday, February 1, 2007

Epublishing

So there is always this ongoing war over epublishing. One faction says it's not "real publishing" and another faction says: "We're just as good as you...neener neener."

I would like to circumvent that entire argument. Because it's really really not the point. It's two totally different worlds. It's not necessarily a "one or the other" type of deal anyway. You can do both. For a long time I was very resistant to the idea of ebooks. Mostly because I personally am not a big fan of the format. When I read I like a print copy. A real live book in my hands.

Because of my deep and abiding love of print books, ebooks don't just thrill and excite me quite the same. But it's a different format. Audio books don't overly thrill me either, but some people prefer them, and I would never say: "Don't publish me in audio books, I'm not a big personal fan." That would be ludicrous, and probably ignored, and rightly so.

The fact is, some people love ebooks. I want to sell to New York, absolutely, that's my goal. And after that, my goal is to keep selling to New York, and after that...well...you know...up and up. I've thought also about smaller presses. But while I'm waiting to sell to New York, I may as well at least consider the possibility of ebook publishing (with one of the good houses. There are only a handful that I would submit to, because beyond that, I may as well self publish.)

I know one should keep trying and not give up, and that is my intention. But "this" book, might not sell to New York no matter how much time I keep it circulating. So if it's good (and I believe it is) then it should sell SOMEWHERE. To automatically just shut out the ebook possibility is shooting myself in the foot.

Ebooks, while not my eventual goal, still provide me with some things. For one, It starts to give me a fanbase, people who might follow me into print publication. For another, it's money. The royalties at some of the better ebook houses, aren't bad at all, and you get paid monthly. Money is money, and if I am to consider my writing as a business, then I have to be smart and be willing to do what is necessary to get my name out there.

So that's an attitude of mine that has shifted recently. What about you? What attitudes have you had change as you've gotten deeper into your goals and writing plans?

7 comments:

Zoe Winters said...

hehehe Liz, I've never seen you so cranky lol. I knew about MJD and Angela Knight. I wasn't aware that Rosemary Laury had started out in ebooks too.

And the way I figure it...yeah, it would be thrilling if this book went right to New York, and yeah, I'll make the effort, because it's my goal, so why not? But it would definitely be foolish to "expect" it. You know? Everybody has to start somewhere.

Zoe Winters said...

:)

Liz, Did you attempt to get agent representation for this book initially or did you go straight to ebook first?

If you went to ebook first, why?

If you sought representation first, what was the cutoff point at which you decided: "Hey, I think I'm going to try to go for Epublishing, and then the next book maybe will get an agent" ?

I'm trying to get an idea of what other people are doing and their rationale behind it, to maybe help me as I navigate this same road.

Thanks!

Zoe :)

Zoe Winters said...

True! Good points Liz. And that was my thinking too. I mean yes, I DO want to be print published, etc. BUT I want to be published. And everybody doesn't start out with a New York contract. And that's pretty normal lol.

Plus, you're building a reader fanbase as well as making some money. And also, like you said, there will be a print format too. You really can't argue with that.

Edie Ramer said...

I have considered ebooks, but I'm not putting a lot of work into submitting. I guess a part of me is still resistant.

I should be done with my wip in a few weeks. Right now I'm focusing on that.

Zoe Winters said...

Cool. :)

Spy Scribbler said...

I just stumbled across my online deal. I never really considered anything else until I started getting serious about writing.

It's been a wonderful training ground for me. Wonderful. I've learned so much!

Zoe Winters said...

hehehe. And I've written fanfic, and learned a lot there. So it would be completely INSANE for me to be in any way snobby about epublishing when I've written fanfic lol. ;)

Sometimes you gotta babystep it. ;)

I'll definitely give agents a good solid attempt for each book, but if I can't hit new york right off, I will definitely consider trying epublishing.