Stroppy authors...urgh...

[Luna]

LewisLegion, I hope I didn't offend you in my post as I did not mean to. Just as all customers are not "sucky", I never meant that all self-published writers are sucky. Just the rude ones that refused to actually promote their books through the means given at the store, and the ones who would actively do things to hurt my store's bottom line.

I can't even begin to tell you as a former bookseller, how many times customers argued and complained about me to my boss b/c I wouldn't give them "reviews" on the NYT bestseller books. I don't read them, I'd tell them. This always shocked them. No, I don't want to read Patterson's latest 200 page 4th grade reading level drama. I even had one woman tell me I must be "an illiterate" because I had no interest in the bestsellers.

I love reading new authors and my monthly staff recomendations were always by new or obscure authors.

If anyone is interested, there is a website that is like Netflix but for mass market and trade paperback books. (No hardcovers). It's called Booksfree.com. I don't get $ unless I refer a person specifically through their email - so it's all good. I'm just sharing the love of reading with you all. (And probably pissig off the people who still work in bookstores..Sorry!!! I can't afford books without that sweet discount, and free hardcover signout...)

*runs and hides*

[Horsetuna]

I'm now nervous about self-publishing my comic book.

But I promise not to harass the staff if I get any local carriers to carry it! I think the most I'd do is call up once a month or every two months and ask how sales are doing.

I asked my boss if we could carry it at work, but they go through this big company, alas. Ah well.

I do intend to tout my comic book everywhere I wont' get flamed or banned for it though, and I'm considering lulu.com for publishing and stuff.

Any suggestions for independent publishing?

[Rapscallion]

Have you tried doing a webcomic based on strips from your work? Comicgenesis (formerly keenspace) is free, and you can exchange links with other authors on occasions. If you go that route, guest strips increase your readership enormously. There's also Drunkduck, though you have to pay each year for membership there.

Would people buy your book if they can see it on the web? Yes - probably more than if you were relying on going to conventions and talking to people without having a physical product. I've bought quite a few compilations in my time - the devils panties and least I could do, as well as wapsi square come to mind. Extra material in the dead tree version is good, though.

Conventions - I'm off to Bristol comic convention later on this year, but there are numerous sci-fi/fantasy conventions around the US. I don't know the theme for your work, but it's a start. It won't pay to start with - you have to slog at it for many years before you start to see any return at all. The artist who does our Sunday strips - Jennie - said she expected it to take ten years to be able to live off the proceeds of her art, but she managed it in either six or seven (something like that), so she's more than happy.

Rapscallion

[Horsetuna]

Have you tried doing a webcomic based on strips from your work?

I do have a webcomic at cg, albeit its' more 'lighthearted' and silly than my comic book will be doing. My book =!strip collection

I'm not looking to become Rich off my comic. Famous yes, rich no

Thank you for the advice though. mostly I was hoping for advice on getting it into independent book stores and the like

[Rapscallion]

Generally speaking, a shop is going to be interested in something that will sell - they need money to keep being a shop. Getting something on the web can generate interest and therefore potential buyers, but that's just one method. Maybe talk to some independent bookstores and see if they are interested in some sort of promotional thing where you set up a table with copies of your book and talk to interested punters about it? They could promote it as being them promoting independent/local talent, which is something you could put forward to them. However, you'd need product. Xlibris gives a discount to authors buying their own book, but I don't know about Lulu.

If you're willing to make the effort and approach people about it, you may get a decent reception, but fame and money often go hand in hand, and both cost.

Rapscallion

[Gurndigarn]

Xlibris gives a discount to authors buying their own book, but I don't know about Lulu.

Lulu tells you how much they will charge you to print a book. They let you-- if you chose to make your book available publicly-- to set what price you want people to pay, and you get the difference.

(FWIW: in the states, a 350 page, trade paperback sized book with black and white pages and a color cover ran us $14 bucks with postage (USPS). Color interior pages, even if only a few pages are in color, raises the price considerably.)

[Horsetuna]

I did find a local group of comic bookers who may be able to print for my own personal copies. So I can direct people to Lulu online and get personal copies cheaper in-town.

Thank you for the advice. The local comic stores are great. I think the fact that I'm a female comic book lover helps too. They always seem to go WAY out of their way to help...

I'd try Cafepress, but they dont take paypal.

[tollbaby]

might be an idea to check with a few webcomic artists to see where they get theirs printed. Jennie Breeden of Devil's Panties puts out fantastic books, as does Jin Wicked of Crap I Drew on My Lunch Break. Jay Grant of Two Lumps is another one who comes to mind (can you tell I subscribe to a lot of webcomics?)
Mac Hall had the greatest stuff, but sadly, Ian and Matt have decided to put the comic to rest for the time being *cry*

[Rapscallion]

Jennie's gone through local printers, Lulu, and is now going through Silent Devil (sold from there via Diamond Distribution) - yes, she finally got the deal that allows her to be an artist for a living. The problem can be assuring yourself that you can get good quality and have the time to do all the extra work, such as posting and dealing with end users who don't receive their parcels etc.

Me? I just run her forums for her. It's sort of a hobby...

Rapscallion

[tollbaby]

way cool I e-mailed back and forth with her for a week or so a while back (gushy fangirl stuff, like how great Geebas was, etc.) and she looked at a couple of my son's drawings LOL (yeah, I whip em out to unsuspecting passers-by with nary a qualm, but he really is a prodigy, and he's only 7!). I just about peed myself reading today's strip, because I've done that exact same thing countless times "oh cool, I'm wounded, now I get to wear one of my freaky band-aids!"

[Rapscallion]

I'm planning on ambushing her at the Bristol comic convention later on this year. I may be hauling guests along...

Rapscallion

[Buglady]

If anyone is interested, there is a website that is like Netflix but for mass market and trade paperback books. (No hardcovers). It's called Booksfree.com.

It's not available in Canada...

And don't anyone say "library," because the Calgary Public Library has dibs on my first child, and/or one fifteenth of my immortal soul, because ADD and a three week loan period are not a cheap combination...

[tollbaby]

Buglady, two words: Garage sales. I know that it's winter right now, and there aren't likely to be any garage sales going on in Calgary for at least another 5 months or so, but trust me, do the rounds when they start this summer, and you will find plenty of cheap reading material I have a list of books & authors I drag around with me to the used book stores, church rummage sales (they're trickier to find though, since I don't attend a church), thrift stores (Value Village, which belongs to the CDA, so they should be across Canada, St. Vincent De Paul, Sally Ann and the like) and garage sales Most people will sell books for under $1 per paperback, and I can usually pick up hardcovers for a buck or two.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Sorry so long, and for not giving credit to the several people I quoted...

We are a printer, not a publisher. We print the book exactly the way you wrote it. We do absolutely no editing. Nor do we do any marketing. We deliver the books and then you're on your own."

I work in data quality at BN and the vendor managers send me all the stuff they get from the self-publishing companies to edit the biblio info and put images and commentary on the web...they aren't kidding when they say they don't edit. And apparently most of the authors don't either. Some of the stuff (not all, don't get me wrong) is just unreadable there's so many mistakes--grammar, punctuation, spelling. That's leaving aside the stuff that just makes absolutely no sense. At the very least, there should not be typos that would be caught by spellcheck! I had a book on writing and I had copied the blurb on the back to put on the website and I had to fix about 5 different mistakes in one short paragraph. Sad.

Argh! We'd get local authors come into B&N and special order their books in quanity. They'd never pick them up? Why? B/c their books are NON-returnable to the publisher so the store would be stuck with them forever and have to display them to try to sell them.

Oh, god I hated those when I was in the store! And when I was fiction lead I got to deal with a lot of them. And the ones who would come in thinking we could get their book in our inventory in the first place. Sorry, you gotta go through the vendor managers at distribution for that!

I can't even begin to tell you as a former bookseller, how many times customers argued and complained about me to my boss b/c I wouldn't give them "reviews" on the NYT bestseller books. I don't read them, I'd tell them. This always shocked them. No, I don't want to read Patterson's latest 200 page 4th grade reading level drama. I even had one woman tell me I must be "an illiterate" because I had no interest in the bestsellers.

That was me too. Never had anyone call me illiterate or complain to the mgr, but no, I did not read The Da Vinci Code, the latest James Patterson or Nicholas Sparks, or Million Little Pieces (actually I tried to read that but didn't get too far). The more people clamoring to get a book, the less likely I am to have read it.

(And probably pissig off the people who still work in bookstores..Sorry!!! I can't afford books without that sweet discount, and free hardcover signout...)

I still get the sweet discount, but god I miss signing out books. I still can't afford to buy them all. I was at my last store 2 years and I had 3 whole pages in the signout book.

[Horsetuna]

Check out Freecycle.org too, for those looking for reading material - I have some books I'm trying to get rid of here in Calgary. And worse comes to worse, we calgarians can start a 'book swap' thing, where we post what we have, and waht we want, and lend it to each other