/lit/ - Literature

>>6649

Yeah. I plan on using Amazon. This is just a way for people who have manuscripts and don't know what to do connect with people to help them get stuff like cover art and editing. The old way of giving 80% to a publisher just so they can put it on Amazon digitally is dumb and outdated when people can self publish and do just as well, but you need a network or nobody will see your book.

>>6648

Will you be doing physical books or just ebooks?

It looks pretty cool to me, and I'm planning on putting some of my writings together sometime in the future (when the amount of good writings I have is larger).

>>6648

>>6656

One thing that I will say, though, is that I don't like using Amazon to distribute books. I think it would be better if you distribute them directly, since you would be making more profit and you have more control over it.

Looks pretty interesting brah, might use it one day

>>6658

You get way more visibility. Amazon also owns Goodreads, and the best way to sell a book is good reviews on either platform.

>>6669

I think it would be more fun to just self publish books in very limited amounts like Thomas Ligotti. It may not be very successful, but I'm not counting on living off my art, anyway.

>>6649

>Not against Amazon.

Wrong call. After further research it is clear you are not competing with distributors, nor are you currently trying to be a publisher in the traditional sense. What you are offering now is to be a clearinghouse of writing related services. Your target market appears to be beginning or intermediate writers who are serious about getting something published.

This concept sounds like it has some potential. However, caution is advised. Established writers who are willing to discuss the business end of publishing tend to advise against the use of a vanity press. Your site is too new to dismiss as being just this, and we are not making such a claim.

Not sure if you have received a hostile response elsewhere (ADVERTISING! etc.), OP. Although the board staff are not endorsing anything, we have discussed this and decided you are what you claim to be and this might be of interest to some users. Feel free to continue discussion, answering questions, plugging away, etc., in this thread.

Question: How does the editing process or services work?

>>6673

I'm still trying to figure it out.

I don't totally know what I'm doing, and wanted to discuss self publishing, and how I could find a way to help people who have a completed manuscript get to the point where they can self publish on their own, and help them with the difficult stuff like formatting, design, and marketing.

I don't really have a monetization plan in place, since I'd like for people to publish the books themselves. So far any money I would make would be from my own books piggybacking on the traffic generated by the others, which they all benefit from, and direct links to Amazon. Neither of which would generate anything for a while.

So, yeah. How do I make my press successful in the digital publishing market, and avoid being lumped in with vanity press, since I want to keep my services free for authors.

>>6691

Heya OP,

It is cool that you're giving something like this whirl; I respect that. Like all advice you receive, take it with a grain of salt and likewise always do your own research. We live in a unique era where anybody can have their manuscript published on whatever platform they choose, without even approaching a publisher (or anything remotely resembling one). A lot of first time self-publishers tend to find their work does not sell, often due to poor marketing. If an author in the digital age wishes to sell their book it is frequently a requirement they have an already established audience of their own. Hours upon hours of personal branding needs to be done, communicating with their audience and building a fan base is a mission in its own. Any service you can provide for helping authors to connect with their fan base (or potential fan base) is an invaluable commodity.

Design is another aspect a first-time author would need to focus on. I can imagine most authors are not inherently artists and would like a service they can trust to take care of their cover. As for formatting, if you mean formatting the manuscript I think the typical first time author would already have that covered, at least roughly.

One last thing, if you're going to be acting as a business remember that you are a business. It is very easy to betaken by Steve Jobs "change da werld" attitude but you need to stay focus on generating revenue and consistently improving your own system for doing so.

Good luck man, hope what I've provided you is of some use.

>>6692

Oh yeah, of course. The most helpful thing anyone can do for me right now is tell me that this has potential.

My background is in digital media, marketing, and design. But not finances, and definitely not business. So this is an experiment for me.

I just think publishers are outdated, and authors can and should self publish, but there's not a whole lot of digital publishers that are any good, or even trustworthy to get a novel out an actually try to drive sales for it. I kind of want to be that.

>>6693

All businesses have a fundamental risk of failure; no matter who is behind it. If there is one thing that is certain that is nothing is certain. Instead of making a decision based purely on risk, make a decision based on calculated risk. Relying on good faith to propel your business forward will only land you so far (sometimes not far at all).

Take whatever you hear / read with a grain of salt as always. If having people saying "yes" is a primary motivator for keeping things rolling, it'll come to a halt when eventually somebody says "no".

By the way, would you mind if I contacted you through your website? I'd like to talk sometime and see how things are rolling.

>>6695

>>6695

Yeah. I'm not very far along, so it will be a while before anything is up and going. After I bought the domain I did the design of the website in a couple days last weekend, so it's still pretty fresh.

>>6696

Well if your marketing and distribution are handled by moths and undead deer, then I don't see how it could go wrong. Those guys get the job done.

>>6699

I really like the style of 18th century etchings in old books, so I grabbed some and incorporated them into the branding. I would love to find more really good ones.

Ok, you got me with the nice design. At least you got good taste.

How much are you charging? For your services I mean…

>>6711

The plan so far is to do it for free. I'd make money from cross marketing other titles, and direct Amazon links, which is tiny, but if everything goes well would cover my tiny operating costs.

>>6773

>do it for free

Awesome. You are doing god's work. How do I submit?