Thanks for the information!

I publish a book every other year, and I make about $3000 a year. This can be interrupted by publishing dates being changed without notice, or by editors not getting back to me about changes for months and months so that my next check isn't released on schedule.

Most books do not earn out, meaning you get no royalties beyond your advance.

Thanks for the reality check.

It's a little sad to think that after months of slogging away at a book, the financial returns can be so slow. :(

This was tremendously informative. It's like pulling teeth to get most writers/agents/publishers to talk about real numbers and contract rates. Thank you so much!

This is good to know, although my (admittedly limited) experience with nonfiction has revealed much less earning potential, especially working with a small press. At first, I was shocked and then I felt dismayed, but then I thought: why quibble with them over such small amounts. Am I in it for the money? I suppose I have to eat, but it seems hard to imagine my creative writing ever rising above the earning potential of my corporate day job. Now I must finish the manuscript!

Good site, by the way. I've been following for a few months now and appreciate all your hard work.

Thanks for this!

Great post! Thanks for sharing.

All of my books have earned out, but I had really, really low advances in each case.

Do agents still get commission with the royalties or do they only get commission with the advance?

They get a commission on everything you make that they handle.

Figuring out the money side of the business can be very confusing. Thanks for the information.

One note on e-publishing. I'm not sure what houses were researched to get the 20% to 30% rates, but the houses I've investigated, which are romance e-publishers with limited print titles, average 35% through 40% of the cover price. With the e-book business modle there are no advances. This may be genre specific. I can say my own royaly rate is over the 30% top end quoted in the article.

Thanks for the post. It's good to know.

So to really make a living, you've got to write a book that sells or write 4 books a year - if you're earning what anonymous earns per book - just to get the annual income to survive.

I feel a bit like a madman banging his head against the wall of an empty room in an asylum. Yet the door is wide open for me to walk.

The good news is I'm not alone.

Are things better now than they were or getting worse for writers?

Nothing turns me off of a writer's page more than being swamped by the irrelevant details of their life.

I don't mind a little here and there to get a better look at them as a person, but the reason I joined their page was to follow their progress as writers, not to learn about the gritty details of their cat's leg injury or how old their child is.

Excellent post!

Facebook ...
Will there be a book comprised of posts & chats? How about My Greatest Tweets?
Spare my gracious ass.
If you tell others about your restaurant, the food better be good.
If you lead people to your webpage, the content better be entertaining.

Yea...I don't know why they post about their cats. Dogs are much more interesting anyway. Maybe you should give the writer a chance, be patient with him/her,and read through the whole blog.There could be an underlying message. Be patient,because some dude once said, "the patient dog eats the fattest bone." Last week i started wondering, "Isn't that patient dog more likely to choke on the fat bone?" Is it really worth it? And why an i contradicting myself? Get back at me if you want to know the answers at [email protected]. its got my book query...and no i wasn't high when I typed this. I don't smoke. I drink, but who doesn't a a few kegs every day?

That's really funny--I generally stop following or reading an author's page if ALL they ever post about is their writing!!! I am completely BORED by, "I wrote 5k words today" or, "I'll be at such and such event" in a place far, far from me...

I enjoy the cats, the dogs, the broken vase--just about anything BUT the "I write."

People get pretty excited when George RR Martin says he's finished a chapter, mostly because his book is like 3000 years behind schedule.

Hmmm...Most every other source advises an author to post about their life in addition to their writing, because fans/readers want to feel they know the author and are not just seeing a costant advertisement.
I came across this site accidently, and wanted to check again. It's been over a year since I visited....still sounds like sour grapes. Do you just hate authors or enjoy feeling superior?

Anon 10:16,

I believe the term for my experience is "oversaturation."

I returned to school to get my MA (there was no MFA program within reasonable distance of my home, and with a young child and a job, moving was not an option) and I don't regret it at all. It was the best thing I could have done for my writing and for me personally.

I started out thinking I would do an emphasis in Literature, but finished with an emphasis in Creative Writing. The lit classes were invaluable. I found the writing classes somewhat less valuable, for many of the reasons mentioned in the answer to the question posed here.

I entered the program as an already published author (which I told NO ONE in the early going). I went to school part time while working full time so it took me a while -- 1-2 classes a semester. I wrote two more books (already contracted) and sold 4 more before I finished.

What I gained from being around smart people who were thinking and talking about complicated subjects made me a better writer. For that reason alone, I would do my MA all over again, without a second thought.

The problem of not completing a book is a common one. At about 40K words a novel can often seem like a big fat mess -- it's tempting to think the project is a failure and that it would be more fun and less painful to start something shiny and new. An MFA program is probably not going to teach you how to get through that.

It's my opinion that novels that don't get finished can often mean that the writer is using a process that does not work for her. You are outlining and pre-plotting, for example, when you are really a seat of the pants writer who gets frustrated when the writing won't stick with the outline. Or, conversely, you're a writer who thrives on the structure of advance plotting and outlining and you're writing without that structure.

Getting yourself into contact with other writers, the more experienced the better, could be quite helpful, and an MFA program will certainly do that. But "talented" and "experienced" are not the same thing, and for problems with finishing, you need to be hearing from writers who have solved that issue.

In my heart, however, I don't believe an MA or MFA program will teach you to finish a novel. I suspect that is intimately tied up in whatever your writing process is, and that you must discern on your own, having listened to various solutions and approaches and tried them out for yourself.

Good luck with your decision.

I think the questioner needs to overcome this hurdle herself-- I don't see why the program would help her. In fact, from the contact I've had with college creative writing programs the professors seem to stress "writing" over stuff like plot and character, so it seems like they wouldn't help the questioner with the things she wants help with.

I think she should read a few good books on writing, specifically on plot and character. Or even a lot of good books-- she can afford them if she's got $11,000.

Then she should sit down and write.

I was just struggling through this myself. I'm getting my BA in Creative Writing, but I still want to actively learn writing.

In this person's case, I don't think getting an MA would help finish a novel. It might spark more ideas and give her encouragement, but I agree with anonymous. I don't think those are things that couldn't be learned through good books and an excellent critique partner.

Just to point out several things:

In the UK, there are no MFA programmes, only MAs.

£6000 for a part-time two year programme is fairly decent compared to other similar MA degrees in the UK. (Tertiary education is heavily subsidized in the UK, mainly because UK taxpayers make up in higher taxes and a slightly lesser educational experience, so a comparison to MFA degrees in the US is not valid or fair).

Have you joined any critique groups or writing circles? A lot of the value of a writers program comes from your fellow writers (professors often make a point of saying that they're writing students as well), so these might be a better alternative if financial costs of school are prohibitive.

Also, have you tried outlining before writing? Nothing set in stone, but really finalizing where you want the story to go and how it needs to get there can help keep you on track when you hit a halfway slump. It's obviously something you can edit as you go. Now instead of looking at the days writing as part of a novel, which can get overwhelming sometimes, you can look at it as a writing prompt.

Pull the next scene from the outline and write just that. Use what you've already learned about your characters from research and earlier writing, but write this scene as if it's the first chapter of the book or a short story in its own right. It may require some serious editing later, but hopefully it'll be enough to get you writing.

I assume the money in the average writer's bank account is still finite in the UK, so considering whether it's worth spending a whole lot of money on something is still valid and fair.

I think most of us were trying to help, not trying to criticize the fee structure of British universities. Easy now.

I can't add much to the MFA discussion, but I can tell you that I had the same kinds of problems with plot when I started writing novels—which inspired me to write "Working out the plot with the Rejector, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and other friends."

It's some of the advice I wish someone had given me six or seven years ago. Maybe it will help you.

Being rejected a lot can make you stray from my three golden rules - which I gleaned from the Rejecter. sound contract:pro editor:you never pay. Send queries and be immovable on your own rules. Nothing against agents but I got my debut novel contract without an agent. Next I want poetry, maybe I'll pay, and I know it will be without an agent as they all run a mile from the word poetry!

hehehe Fanfic - can be soooo amazing and SOOO BAD!! *shudder*

Not got to the point of querying yet but thanks for the examples of rejection letters to look out for.

Thanks for the post.

I use the Kindle app for PC and read on my little netbook. It's not quite as comfy as a book, but I read a novel the other night and at midnight when I finished it, I was excited to discover there was a sequel. I bought it right then and started reading it.

I downloaded the Kindle app for Blackberry, but haven't tried it yet. I don't think I can read on a phone either, but I've heard of people reading that way when they are on trains, or standing in lines places.

I can't wait to get a Kindle and if I sell a few more books, I can buy one. ;-) I can probably even write it off as a business expense because I really need one to check formatting.

If you see poor formatting in indie books, that's probably one of the reasons. It's like trying to work in the dark if you don't have a Kindle. The preview and samples aren't always the same as what comes up in the actual Kindle.

Thank you, in particular, for your personal response to item 3. Every time I read it, I feel better.

re: 3) - It's probably true that most self published ebooks suck (to be indelicate). Many publishers books are fairly awful as well - (see endless glut of vampire/zombie/fantasy epics).

That's why I could see the role of critics or curators becoming more important.

Agents and publishers work to keep the quality of their lines high.

I could see a future where influential book critics play that role on the back end. Keeping the quality of their "recommended reads" high.

A reliable recommendation is the same thing to me as a stern editor. The editor quashes before print, the reviewer after.

Either way I get a good book from their efforts.

Marc said, "I could see a future where influential book critics play that role on the back end. Keeping the quality of their "recommended reads" high."

Interesting to think about. Newspapers are getting smaller, so the reviewers probably won't be there. The Internet isn't policed, so first you deal with reliability of the reviewer, and then when you find a trustworthy "recommended reads" reviewer, just think of how inundated they'll be. I occasionally look at Amazon reviews but have learned not to trust them.

Question. How warm is an ebook? This is summer and I don't want a lil campfire in my lap.

A few days ago I downloaded a Kindle app onto my mini-computer. My mini, of course weighs a little more than a kindle, but I can still read in bed quite nicely with it. I can also watch movies on it, something I don't think you can yet do on a Kindle. Point is that you don't need to bear the expense of a Kindle to have access to the Kindle library and this makes newly released hardcover books very cheap indeed.

On that, if the agent picks you up based on that one offer on the table, will they just take that offer? Or try to represent to you other publishing houses based on their experience?

Generally when you have an offer from one company because you only submitted to one company (as is in this case), you have to deal with that company exclusively and only if you reject that offer can you go to other publishers.

If you're an agent, you can submit to multiple companies, but you do it all at once so the ground is even.

In this case, the agent would probably only pick up the client if they also felt the offer on the table was reasonable.

There is some urgency when it comes to answering a publisher's offer, but it's not like it's going to go away in thirty minutes, or even overnight. If you acknowledge the offer, thank them graciously, and let them know that your decision will be forthcoming (maybe ask them for a week), you have time to notify agents and give them that time to catch up on your submission.

Publishers would probably question it more if they gave you an offer and heard nothing back from you at all (while you did your agent rounds).

Good point, Gabrielle.

Is it cruel to think that´s funny?

That's mean. Also very funny.

How bad is it to say that I want to track it down, put on the soundtrack, start reading, and laugh until I'm blue in the face?

Was the music any good? Obviously they are not a writer nor an artist. Perhaps they are a musician?

I don't put CDs that come in the mail into my computer.

what have you actually achieved with this post? You see, until recently, I'd have smiled and passed on, but just recently snark for its own sake has begun to pall.
This can't be an example of what not to do, because really, how many people do this? Maybe the author should have done a bit more research, maybe s/he is a raving egomaniac, I can't tell from the post.
It might have been more professional to let the sender know this won't work, and quietly binned the books. Because somewhere, I can imagine someone crying their heart out, and I don't really want that image on my mind today.

I'm a published author. (It's the internets, Rejecter, so anybody can play.) I visited the site, and rated 3 openings, the maximum I was allowed to rate without joining. I gave the bottom rating to all three. None were publishable. Taking out half of the words would have vastly improved them all IMHO. But, here's the thing: there was no way for me to say that. Therefore the writers learned nothing from me.

My ratings, by the way, were lower than the average rating given to each manuscript, the site told me. This sort of information is useless. Writing cannot be reduced to a numeric quantity.

I had no idea writers *paid* to have their stuff on the site. What a rip. Join a good critique group instead.

As for the literary agent rating you at each level-- oy. In the first place, anybody can say they're an agent. In the second place, since everybody's vote seems to be given the same weight, and there's no way to explain the numeric rating you've given, how will you know an agent has rated you and what good will it do you?

I wouldn't be surprised if people get to the next level by having their friends rate up their story, rendering the system even more useless.

Thanks for the info, Anon 4:58.

Ray Rhamey's site, Flogging the Quill, provides an opportunity to get a quick and free review of your first page from Ray, along with polls and comments from other readers.

It is only the first page, although Ray does read all of Chapter 1 and occasionally provides some rough feedback on that.

Hey, it's $9.95 cheaper than WeBook, and you get more detailed feedback, even if it's just page 1.

A note, though: there is a strong (and fairly explicit) leaning toward strong openings with action and interesting story questions. Literary openings that meander around with beautiful word-pictures or deep introspective musings aren't going to score well there.

Also, I don't pull my punches in the comments I leave there, and some of the other readers don't, either. You can expect to hear what some people really think of your first page, and why, but for most first pages their thoughts tend to be negative.

I belonged to WeBook for a short while, back before I had an agent. It's no worse than posting work on Absolute Write or the dozen other websites out there for writers to get feedback.

This "first page" feature wasn't available then, but I've dropped by a few times to rate a couple first pages here and there. I probably would have done it. It's cheap enough that it feels harmless, but at the same time, I do agree with your point that people could spend that money on a good writing book. From what I can tell, that's the only money you're ever asked to spend.

I think writers are desperate to get a leg up any way they can, and this is just another business model set up to capitalize on that.

Slightly related topic. On a forum someone recently posted asking for book recommendations from independent authors (self-published). Being a site with a lot of us readers and writers, I posted my very favorites. They were all GEMS--really excellent books.

Turns out, the poster was from a site that did reviews -- for a hefty fee. All the great authors I recommended (as well as every other author recommended by other readers) got an email (solicitation) to submit for a review.

The letter was 'glowing' and mentioned how the book had been highly recommended and then invited the author to check out the terms.

Holy Batman. Now paid reviewers can't even sort through the available "slush." They want the cream recommended to them so they can go make money off the authors...

Hmph.

I joined webook when it first appeared on the web a few years ago, but it didn't cost anything back then! It was meant to be like American Idol, except for writers. I didn't really believe all the hype and didn't like the fine print in the terms and conditions - from memory anything you post on there belongs to webook forever and ever and ever, so if you put something up there and then manage to get a publishing contract later on, there might be some rights issues. I wonder how many aspiring authors on there bothered reading that bit and don't realize they've in effect, given away their work.
I spent four years studying a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing, so though I'm not published yet, I know a thing or two about what I'm doing. I read a few posted pages and it left me feeling like this site was just pumping up the hopes and dreams of people who either aren't good enough to get published or are too inexperienced to yet know how the industry works. Though I've heard stories here and there about authors being 'found' by agents on webook, I'd take them with a grain of salt.
And I'm with you, rejecter, I certainly wouldn't be paying out any money unless it was with a credited critique service who had ties to an orginization like RWA.

Thank you for answering my question. I spent a little time on the site reading some excerpts other writers had submitted and kind of came to the same conclusion myself. I'm really not sure I want someone rating my work when their own writing is pretty subpar.

Do not spend this money. Go to Absolute Write (free), register (free), and check out the show-your-work forum. Post some of your work (free). People will critique your work (for free).

Writers, published and not, and real editors and agents belong to this website and give real advice.

I have actually participated in Page to Fame, although I signed up when the price was much lower. It in no way replaces a critique group, but it does give you an idea of where your work stands against the other stuff that is out there. I used it as a gauge as to whether or not I was actually ready to start the query process. After the first round of judging, my piece was one of the top ten in ratings. That was the confidence I needed to start seeking representation. While I haven't received an offer as of yet, I've had more interest and positive feedback than I was expecting with my first novel.

Another thing I like about Page to Fame is that it gives you a small glimpse into the slush pile. After rating about 10 of those, my eyes start glazing over. I don't think I could pick out something worth my time after reading page after page of crap all day long. I have a greater appreciation for what lit agencies have to go through on a daily basis!

And, to clear a few things up, I'm not sure if you can link to a specific piece or not. It's supposed to put them up at random, so it's not really possible to pad the vote. Also, when the agent critiques your work, you get a message letting you know what the agent's rating is and, in some cases, a line or two of feedback. Of course, they keep the identity of the agents secret, so I would recommend not taking that part too seriously.

why not go over to Nathan Bransford's Forums site (http://forums.nathanbransford.com) and go to All Things Feedback >> Excerpts and try it for free?

The "god forbid" attitude there really rankles me.

Teaching writing is a valuable skill for which people are paid. So is editing. God forbid writers figure out that they are not entitled to tradecraft they're not willing to pay for.

When I want feedback on my work, I either trade friends for it or pay a teacher to give it to me. I do not demand that random industry professionals donate their time to me as if they've some kind of responsibility to give away their breadwork for free just because I want it.

And that's aside from the whole "why we can't have nice things" argument about other writers behaving badly when they get feedback, or taking it to mean more than it does.

hmm.. I thought everyone knew that 50k was too low for a book.

Don´t most writers set a word count in their planning stage?

Why develop/plan a novel in the first place if it is not going to be long enough to market?

Isn't 50k about right for pulp romance?

I'm in the middle of cutting my 97k historical romance (written using Avon's 90 -100k guidelines) into a 80-90k novel for Kensington/Brava.
It's a pain, but I know I have to meet their qualifications. I'd hate to never even be looked at because I failed to follow directions.
Different genre's and publishing houses have their own length guidelines. I'm surprised by how short some of them are.

Erin,

Please don't cut your manuscript! I'm an editor at Brava, and we certainly accept 97,000 words. I assume you are refering to the limits of the contest (80k-90k), those were imposed to save the poor editors who have to read all the entries. Just send me an email query; no need to enter the contest if your manuscript doesn't fit (your odds of a contract are actually better the normal way...about 5 times more likely than winning the contest.)

Megan Records

I write 50,000-60,000 word romance novels that have all been on amazon, allromanceebooks, and fictionwise bestseller lists. They've all earned out and continue to make money.

I don't get this post. Ten years ago I would have, but not today.

What Annalee said. And look what happens when the agent DOES give a mere two words of feedback: The author contorts herself to make revisions and then gets rejected all over again. Huge waste of everyone's time.

This isn't Teach for America. Agents are not charities. Why don't people get this?

Okay--who's your boss? (Which is a sneaky way of finding out who you work for. ;-D)

She's the one who rejected you all three times.

Zing!

ouuuuuuuuch...

I sense you're trying to distance yourself from the content of this post...

But you reverse the polarity of the dilythium query, it should theoretically reverse the outcome.

Or something. It's Monday. Only one cup coffee. :)

I guess I shouldn't be suprised people re-query with the same query, but wow.

We get the same (bad) screenplay queries all the time. Very annoying.

Grrrr - I expect they think: "Oh they couldn't have been in their right mind when they rejected me - I'll send it again to give them another shot." Grrrr

Isn't this one of the definitions of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, that is.

We once got a guy who sent in a query in an envelope and a different, larger envelope with a query and an unrequested partial. And they ARRIVED on the same day he sent his query in email form - twice.

Oh, like THAT narrows the field...

I guess I'll just have to pass through the quantum mirror and try to find a less unappreciative universe...again.

LOL! What about five months then? :D

This is encouraging and insightful.

Thanks for this! Just the post I've been hanging out for. Am slowly establishing myself on the net and considering more and more the e-book option.. once i have 1-2k followers ..*giggle*

Thank you for this post. It's always helpful to hear more about developing a web presence. I'm in your boat with the Farmville friends.

Great post, as a first-time novelist I've been considering exactly this issue recently as I begin my search for an agent. I have work other than my novel that I can publish online, but I've been very leery about posting anything at all from my manuscript.

I'm with you on this. Ellison had a good point in that oft-watched video, but he can only afford to be that way because of who he is. It is not realistic to adopt his approach if you're a new writer.

Does it matter if the writing on a blog resembles that which is published? Some works lend themselves to the blog-style format and others to the printed page.

There is totally a difference from having a blog and having a book (even an e-book) that you got a contract for, had professional editing done free of charge by the publishing company for, and get money for because people buy it.

I believe when you are in a contract with a publisher, if you make a great argument in support of increasing sales numbers, they may allow you to post snippits of your work. Communication is key.

Thanks for the post - and valuable information. I've been searching for a while now, trying to get a definitive answer to the question 'Should I post my fiction on my blog?'. I ended up creating a story specifically for my blog to showcase my writing AND not worry about whether it's considered 'published' or not!

Gives me hope that one day my blog story just might find a home in the publishing world :)

Harlan comes from the days of yore when magazines were hungry for fresh sci-fi and only a handful were creating it, and they argued down to the penny per word. These days of yore lasted longer than you'd think, even I recall them in the 80's, when I was a kid and thinking about writing for a living. In fact, that drilled into me for all those years had a really crippling effect on my writing career.

Many blogs lack focus. They become free fall ramblings skipping from topic to topic. I suspect few publishers would be interested in such content, unless the writer is a celebrity or notorious.
Can't wait for the first book of someone's collected tweets.
That said, you do have to hone your craft, and a blog can be useful.

Thanks, Rejecter. I'm in the process of finishing a blog novel that's been very well received on a big blog site, and have wondered whether blogging it would hinder my chances of selling it. I've always thought that it seemed like a big, diverse focus group: if a big blog audience likes it, it's a good sign.

Very good point on spirit guides.

Mixed feelings on Saudi Arabia. Very mixed. I would have stopped by the booth and read everything, but it probably wouldn't have changed my opinions.

You almost make me want to be there. You make BEA sound like zany! fun!

Also exhausting and stupefying.

You know, I probably would have spent a lot of time at various the Saudi Arabia, etc., stands. It would delight me if the literature displayed there represented the feelings of their writers and not the positions of their governments. If that were the case, I'd pick up as many books as I could.

Freebies, of course.

No freebies at the Saudi display. Just very, very expensive-looking Qur'ans and some other Arabic stuff.

Oh.

That'll go over well.

I thought the same thing in the digi-book section! (although the e-readers were pretty shiny)

And you're right, no one asked me to sign my book to eBay--but I would have!

"could have bummed some bottles of at least one off the two publishers whom I have books with"

Seriously? You work for a literary agency, you critique (and usually reject) people's writing for a living, and you produced that?!?!?!

Wow, your, ummm, 'feet' must've been really tired.

I mean, aside from the of/off switcheroo (an understandable typographical mistake), you actually went to the trouble to use 'whom', and then still couldn't be bothered to pull that preposition off the end of the phrase and in front of the 'whom' where it belongs. That's practically the only reason someone would want to use 'whom' anyway, as in, "with whom I have books" -- to avoid ending the phrase with a preposition!

If I wasn't so obviously verbose in my reaction to this, I'd say I was at a loss for words....

Damnit, I put the second F in the wrong place. Thanks for finding that.

Also, a blog post is NOT a polished manuscript.

I have free books from BEA 2008 that I still haven't read. I'm glad I'm not the only one, even though I was going crazy scooping up as many freebies as I could.

Re: presses run by crazy people, I love when they try to convince you they're legitimate or a bigger deal than they are. It usually only takes one or two questions to uncover the truth and the reactions are quite funny.

The Scientology booth was present at San Diego Comic-Con last year as well, peddling Hubbard's pulp SF. A lot of people seemed to not make the connection. I can't remember if they had pirates or not.

Ahhhh, I get it. Since you're self-publishing, you can set your own standards for pass/fail...

*drool* free books... having major green monster moment!

I've bought a couple of self-published books in the past, mostly at conventions. As a rule, they're awful. Most are poorly written or inane in concept and even the few that do pass muster tend to be so poorly copy edited as to be unreadable.

Combine that with the fact that they're more expensive than a mass market book and I'm surprised that any get sold at all.

BookEnds had an article on this yesterday: http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/05/fate-of-self-published-works.html

I've mostly heard not to send a previously self-published book in book form. I'm pretty sure I read it on Miss Snark's blog.

Anyway, after what I've heard about and read of self-publishing, it won't be for me.

Miss Snark, in all Her majesty, did write that a couple years ago, before Amazon made it self-publishing a terrible manuscript a process that takes approximately 4 clicks. What I'm saying is, we're seeing a lot more self-published books sent in, and at my particular agency, we don't necessarily hold it against the author.

The agent at Bookends has a point, but most self-published authors don't have strong sales. They have sales to their friends, family, and people they duped into buying the book, thinking it was legitimately published. So, under 300.

Of course, self-published books almost always have one great thing about them that we can enjoy - their terrible covers.

There are extremes of quality even within self-publishing. With ten years experience in magazine publishing, I created my own publishing company. I developed a marketing plan for the book: niche into tourist markets; create a gimmick to draw attention. So far, my mystery, Vegas Die has sold 10,000 copies. Last week, I sold 50 copies at a book signing but in a high traffic area and a lot of cold calling pitches.

Self publishing only works if the author is an agressive self-promoter and the writing/story is good.

Certainly finding the high powered agent who will sell my future works into the NYC publishing industry would be a goal, but I am satisfied I am not hurting myself by establishing a solid track record by controlling my own destiny.

Of course, a couple self-pubbed books have taken off just because they're too bad NOT to buy.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Good-bye-Depression-Constrict-Everyday/dp/0595094724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259546539&sr=1-1

There are a lot of variables that go into this, and self-publishing is a great opportunity for many. In fact, many come from the traditional side of the business to earn more profits per sale and to keep content rights.

An author recently handed me a copy of her traditionally published book at a conference, and said, "My name is on the cover, but this isn't my book." As it turned out, the publisher removed 60% of our submitted material.

Having gone through traditional side myself, I can attest to that experience. Coincidentally, the publisher estimated the market's ability to absorb around 3000 copies, which is typical for a micro-niche title. What's more, my royalties per sale was much lower than what would have been available through a full-service self-publishing model like Outskirts Press: http://outskirtspress.com/index.php

On the other hand, I've worked with authors who have earned tens of thousands of dollars in just 30 dollars, and who have been optioned for big budget Hollywood productions. Are there still some horribly produced self-publications available? Yes, but the market will speak with their dollars on a title by title basis.

The bottom line here is that technological and retail advancements over the past 1 years have produced an exponential growth in publishing, distribution, and retail options for books.

Getting published can promote urgency in instant gratification, but I encourage all to do the research.

On a similar line, what if you have something published in PDF format in another industry? I'm referring to what's known as the "d20" industry, which is basically electronically published roleplaying games, like D&D. A friend of mine has had success with her d20 publishing company - good PDF sales, high reviews, etc - but isn't sure if mentioning this in a cover letter would bring respect, ambivalence or ridicule. Would you as the first line of defence pay any more or less attention to her is she said "I have successfully sold xxxx copies of d20 supplements through my publishing company", etc?

Not sure if you know what I am referring to - basically products that are sold on places like rpgnow.com.

Oooh. Makes sense. Thanks for the help :)

As far as I have ever seen, solicitation of any kind, whether for simple information or otherwise, is discouraged at events of this type. I am sure no one would think of this as "rude" but it really isn't what should occur at these shows that they are paying to attend.

Learning to use commas properly might also help your queries garner interest. Horse before the cart, and all that.

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I appreciate your advice.