Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Announcement: Ban My Book -- BanMyBook.com


What better way to get your book noticed than to ask your audience to ban it?

Nothing is more delicious than a well-publicized banned book, particularly to "reluctant readers" of all ages.

When you hear that a book is too controversial for school libraries, what is your first reaction?

Quite likely, you want to find out what the all the hubbub is about--at least that is what I suspect.

So I have set up Ban My Book, a site dedicated to giving voice to under-represented writers (translation: writers out of the traditional publishing loop, those of us who refuse to kiss connected/corporate/foet A$$).

Books can be "banned" in many ways, which I explain on Has Your Book been "Banned"?

As under-represented writers, we need our voice out there as well, which is why I have established Ban My Book.

Ban My Book may also develop into a publishing company; I'm still looking into the intricacies of e-book/POD publishing. For this to work, Ban My Book would need to adopt a low-cost method of getting books out there, and the new website, with its jarring title and domain name, is the first step.

There can be much irony in the words "ban my book": a powerful in-your-face statement and a call-to-action declaration, an implicit "I dare you to silence my voice."

At the very least, Ban My Book will offer a public space for promoting well-written, under-represented books that have been self-published and/or have been effectively silenced by the traditional publishing industry and distribution channels.

Right now, my own under-represented book is featured on the home page, but once the site is fully functional and other writers come on board, I plan to feature other books.

For more info, email Jennifer [at] BanMyBook.com

Monday, June 2, 2008

Guest Writer: A Case for Self-publishing (Gary B. Fitzgerald)

In my opinion, a person is much better off self-publishing poetry if
they ever want to see it in book form. If one looks at the publishers of
books submitted for review to, say, Poetry Magazine, they will see
scores of small presses nobody has ever heard of. What exactly is the
difference between a small obscure outfit and a self-published book? Are
there that many fantastic editors and poetry experts out there? I doubt
it. I would guess that with so small a market and so many poets it is
only good business for the big houses to disregard anything
‘unproven’. Hell, they can barely sell what they publish now.

Few read poetry these days. You will also notice that when major awards
like the Pulitzer or Book Critics Circle Award are given out they almost
always go to the major Houses. Of course, with vested interests involved
this could be a fox/hen house type of thing. (Google ‘Silliman gang of
eight’ and read about how the big guys dominate the poetry market).
My point is that you can submit your work for twenty years, finally get
someone to publish it and then be completely ignored by the Poetry
‘establishment’ anyway or you can just publish your own work with
the same result. At least you have something you can be proud of (and
maybe sell). And don't forget that posterity thing.

________________________

This post originally appeared on Slushpile.net, January 2008.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Forum Thread: What is the Difference (if any) Between Self-Publishing and Vanity Publishing?

Here is the first in-depth comment on this thread:

From...Spambait (Thanks).
Getting published is where you submit, rewrite, rehash and resubmit until a publisher finally accepts what you've written and pays you for it. A vanity publisher will want you to pay him instead. Self-publishing is where you know you're going to pay for everything pretty much from the start.

With self-publishing the author can choose to pay very little by using photocopy services, staples and hand folding a pamphlet up to hiring a bindery to print and bind his manuscript.

A vanity publisher is going to try to make you believe your book or whatever is the next runaway best seller, charge you a large fee and send you several cases of books for you to do as you please.

Then there's self publishing on the internet by using a blog, webboard or maybe a dedicated website.

Since I run a web hosting company and assist people who choose to "publish" on the web you could consider me a vanity publisher of sorts.

Well, I'm not going to tell a client their writing is outstanding and they should make millions but I'm not going to discourage a client with a good idea either.

Nice thing about web publishing is you can easily revise your writing. Bad thing about publishing is you can easily revise your writing.

On the web your audience knows revisions will probably happen. This isn't really good for fictional works as the reader may see a early version that then gets revised to the point of being a total different work. But web publishing might be great for a chapter or two of a book in pre-release form.

If you have a lot to say in a changing venue or market though, web publishing might be the way to go. If you have a local guide or informational product that will fit the pamphlet format self publishing might work for you.

If you're willing to take a large risk with a novel or a book of poems and can't find a publisher you might want a vanity publisher to take the printing binding tasks off your shoulders. You can then do the distribution yourself.

The risks are fairly large but lots of best sellers started life as self published works. The Christmas Box started out as a self published work for the authors family and friends at the urging of his family.
Feel free to add comments to Spambait's discourse.

We are Indies




If you are an Indie writer,

please consider joining



on Facebook.