Why not self-publish? I've written two books (and a third coming out tomorrow, with a fourth next month) and published paper versions through lulu.com , Kindle versions through kdp.amazon.com , and versions for other e-readers through smashwords.com . I'm making quite a reasonable amount of money from them - not enough to live on, but an average of fifty pounds per book per month - and that's for fairly niche books with zero promotion.
Zero promotion? Really? I guess the main reason I was looking for a publisher is laziness, in that I know I personally won't do any promotion. I'll check out those websites though.
Laziness is a bad reason to seek a publisher as a debut author. It takes a lot of work. Lots of them will reject you, this simply being a fact about the industry.
As a book designer who has worked with both writers on self-publishing projects and publishers, aside from promotion, the other advantage of publishers is that they offer thorough editing and proofing. It's amazing the amount of mistakes that remain hidden until after a book is in print or goes live. (referring to self-publishing there.) Many writers resist the editing process which is understandable, but in many instances, regrettable.
However, there no reason not to self-publish first and still shop around for publishers. But yes, the logistics of getting the book into print can be a big pain. Even as someone who understands the process, i find that each PrintYourOwn place has its own peculiar procedures and it can be annoyingly time consuming to figure them out. They also could care less about the quality of your book.
And I'll add my congrats on finishing the novel! It's the kind of story I like so will definitely look forward to reading it.
This is a good point. It's not a problem I've had to deal with myself (I have extremely good spelling and grammar, I posted most of my books to my blog first so was able to crowdsource away the more egregious errors, and I got four or five people who were knowledgeable on the relevant subjects to read over the finished MS before publishing) but it is a problem for people who don't have those advantages.
Of the self-publishing sites, I find Amazon's Kindle process ludicrously simple (just upload a Word doc, and it Just Works), and Lulu's print-on-demand almost as simple. However, Lulu's ebook process is near-impossible, while Smashwords' is straightforward (your document needs to be formatted in a particular manner, but they give very clear, simple instructions on how to format it).
The only problem with any of them, for me, is that none of them accept plain .tex files (LyX is my word processor of choice), because that would make the typesetting process simpler - for them as well as me...
This is a good point. It's not a problem I've had to deal with myself (I have extremely good spelling and grammar, I posted most of my books to my blog first so was able to crowdsource away the more egregious errors, and I got four or five people who were knowledgeable on the relevant subjects to read over the finished MS before publishing) but it is a problem for people who don't have those advantages.
Of the self-publishing sites, I find Amazon's Kindle process ludicrously simple (just upload a Word doc, and it Just Works), and Lulu's print-on-demand almost as simple. However, Lulu's ebook process is near-impossible, while Smashwords' is straightforward (your document needs to be formatted in a particular manner, but they give very clear, simple instructions on how to format it).
The only problem with any of them, for me, is that none of them accept plain .tex files (LyX is my word processor of choice), because that would make the typesetting process simpler - for them as well as me...
The only promotion I've done is that my books are made up mostly of things I already posted to my blog. I put a link to the relevant book on every blog post that was included, and did a couple of blog posts to let people know they were out. Otherwise, they're selling purely through word of mouth (word of internet). Can't guarantee you'll have the same experience, of course.
J. A. Konrath has an extensive blog all about how and why to self-publish.
That said, you may not want to go that way, e.g. greater prestige attached to a publisher or something like that. That said, you'll do approximately the same amount of work yourself either way if your book isn't to sink without trace.
As a book designer who has worked with both writers on self-publishing projects and publishers, aside from promotion, the other advantage of publishers is that they offer thorough editing and proofing. It's amazing the amount of mistakes that remain hidden until after a book is in print or goes live. (referring to self-publishing there.) Many writers resist the editing process which is understandable, but in many instances, regrettable.
However, there no reason not to self-publish first and still shop around for publishers. But yes, the logistics of getting the book into print can be a big pain. Even as someone who understands the process, i find that each PrintYourOwn place has its own peculiar procedures and it can be annoyingly time consuming to figure them out. They also could care less about the quality of your book.
And I'll add my congrats on finishing the novel! It's the kind of story I like so will definitely look forward to reading it.
I finished a novel last September, did most of the editing over Christmas, and have been procrastinating ever since. My novel has significant rationalist themes and would probably be of interest to a number of people here. Below is a plot synopsis. If you would be interesting in reading it, send me a private message with your email address and I can email you the Word file. I am still acceptiong editing suggestions.
Also, if anyone has suggestions as to where I could submit it, that would be very helpful.
Plot Synopsis: After the Flood
Ten-year-old Ash lives with a band of orphans in the flooded remains of a 21st-century city, where they live by diving for salvage in submerged buildings and trading it to adults in the mainland city. One day, when she watches a stranger attempting to climb the Wall, a mysterious and impregnable structure in the flooded city, he is injured and she saves his life. He claims that there are people living in the Wall, people who still have the knowledge and power that were lost during the long-ago flood.
Armed with her determination and cunning mind, Ash manages to break into the Wall and obtain medicine for the boy's sister, who is dying of tuberculosis. In the mainland city, however, the boy's parents are captured by the Church of Candles, which controls the city, and executed for their attempt to use the old knowledge.
Six years later, now a young adult apprenticed to a herb-woman on the outskirts of the city, Ash meets the brother and sister again and continues searching for the truth about the flood and the city's past.