Comments on: Saturday Guest Blogger: Stacia Kane/December Quinn!

By: Plot Monkeys » Blog Archive » Saturday Guest Blogger, Stacia Kane/December Quinn, part two!

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:04:04 +0000

[...] Last month, Stacia Kane, (aka December Quinn) came to Plotmonkeys to talk about how new authors should evaluate publishers. Because this is no easy task, she split her workshop into two parts. Last month was about print publishers, but this month, she’s talking about epublishers. As a successfully published ebook author, she knows what she’s talking about, people…so listen up! [...]

By: December Quinn/Stacia Kane

December Quinn/Stacia Kane — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:24:45 +0000

Hi, JL!

Hmm. The selling end itself isn’t really n area I know a lot about, but I do know bookstores are important. The problem with selling online is, potential readers only find your site if they’re looking for it. You’re really limiting yourself and your sales potential if you aren’t going for the brick-and-mortars as much as you can.
My books for Ellora’s Cave do well, but that’s because Ellora’s Cave has been around for so long and has an audience and a presence. Lots of epublishers start up, most fail. I fear this is the same for any small business that attempts to do the lion’s share of its sales online and doesn’t have a built-in niche market (frex if you do reprints of Civil War diaries or something, you could do well selling them online through websites that cater to Civil War enthusiasts). People want to pick up a book and flip through it; they want to sample pages from throughout, hold it, think about it. Until online bookstores can offer the full experience, I think it’s best to sign with a distributer and get your books into as many stores as you can.

But again, that’s just my opinion and the concensus among other writers I know.

By: Legit publishing « Catalyst Book Press

Legit publishing « Catalyst Book Press — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:04:31 +0000

[...] Legit publishing Once again, good ol’ Casey (I think that’s going to become his name on this blog, in fact, I’ll just run the words together so he becomes Goodol’Casey) pointed me to an interesting blog post. [...]

By: J.L. Powers

J.L. Powers — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Hey, I’m curious about your thoughts on the recent phenomenon of some legitimate small publishers working hard to sell to the public online, instead of focusing on brick-and-mortar bookstores. I am starting a press this year and I spoke with one bookseller, who also ran a small press for many years, who told me that 90% of my sales as an independent press would be online. This, from a bookseller! Yet so many small presses seem to focus 90% of their energies towards the brick-and-mortar bookstore. As a small publisher going in, I have to wonder, why? Perhaps this isn’t the forum for this question but I’d be really curious to hear back from you about your thoughts on this.

By: December Quinn/Stacia Kane

December Quinn/Stacia Kane — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:43:20 +0000

Thanks everyone! I’m glad you all found it helpful!

By: Lynn Matherly

Lynn Matherly — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:56:48 +0000

Great information, especially for anyone who isn’t a member of a “professional” writers group of some sort to help them through the mine field of scams. It would be so easy for someone with no knowledge of the publishing industry to be taken in.

By: Terena

Terena — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:23:59 +0000

This is an excellent and informative articel! Really specific and detailed. Thanks so much for posting it. I will link to it from my own site so other’s can read it.

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:57:27 +0000

Hi!
It seems this, like most industries, prey on the “little” people. I am not a writer, but this info makes you appreciate the effort and time that go into creating all of those WONDERFUL novels and books! I enjoyed reading this!
:tinitime:

By: ThatBrunette

ThatBrunette — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:46:08 +0000

This wasn’t a lecture for writers, this was a lecture on how not to be taken by any type of company. Fabulous information and great points about what legitimate businesses say verses not-so-legitimate ones. It was almost like dissecting an infomercial. The question that should be asked is “what aren’t they saying?”.

Wow, my thoughts are disjointed today!

I enjoyed your blog and will pass on the information to a friend who is trying to get her Lesbian erotica published. Thank you.

By: Julie Leto

Julie Leto — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:15:49 +0000

I don’t think a lot of people realize that Publisher’s Marketplace is the outfit that puts out Pub Lunch, which is a free service. Pub Marketplace is not free, but it’s worth an investment if you’re at that point in your career where you’re looking for publishers or agents. I love my subscription!