Article on Self-Publishing

Nice, Karl - good article, enjoyed it :-) [%sig%]

Thanks Andrea, I need to talk to you about promoting Cab Driver.

Well, email me Karl, no probs. Would be happy to help :-)

Hya Karl: just popped into Binnacle's site and read your excellent article. I agree with you. I've had to check out a lot of PoD operations for my own members over the years and PABD is without a doubt wearing a white hat. I've not had a chance to look at the product itself yet, but I'm assured by those who've used their service that the books are top notch and that the company's thoroughly professional and a delight to deal with. I do believe the guy who started it did so because he wasn't happy with what he'd been offered elsewhere to self-publish his own book and decided on the DIY approach ... maybe that's why they're so tuned in and author friendly. Good luck with marketing your own work. If you could do with an extra wee plug, please feel free to send cover, back blurb, buying details and what have you to caitmyers@bewrite.net and we'll include it in our own free book promotions pages at www.bewrite.net. Very best -- Neil neilmarr@bewrite.net [%sig%]

Thanks, Debs. The short story and poetry side of BeWrite.net has been going well for years. As far as I know, we're the only writers' site that offers free and full pro editorial input on all work. Mind you, the downside is that so much effort on every single yarn means we can't carry anywhere near as much work by the month as ABCTales. I've strongly suggested our members pay a visit here for such valuable added exposure. You do a grand job and the standard of work is impressive. Our non-subsidy publishing arm -- BeWrite Books -- is working well, too (infact, we've just taken over the Australian Jacobyte Books), and we're already at the stage after just a couple of years where income on one book helps finance release of the next. Fifty new titles scheduled for the coming twelve months. A heck of an editorial workload, but we have a dedicated wee team four professional book editors working flat out on it. Even so, we're a long way from the magic day when we can significantly take up the slack left by closed-door big publishers. Hopefully, others will stick their necks out and open other small, editorially driven independents like ours to help give emerging talent a fair crack o' the whip. Cheers and thanks again for stopping by -- Neil neilmarr@bewrite.net

WOOPS -- sorry Deborah. I was muddling you up with Debs at ABCTales -- my first coffee of the day hasn't kicked in yet. It still stands, of course, that ABCTales and Andrea's UKAuthors do a wonderful job in exposing work -- in days of yore it was so difficult to get work out there, build confidence, learn from feedback ... generally feel you weren't writing into a black hole. Online posting facilities, though, make it more evident now than ever before just how many deserving authors are fighting for a shrinking number of slots with traditional publishers. BeWrite Books makes a fleabite of difference and good self-publishing operations are worth their weight in gold. I even grudginly admit that author mills fulfil a need. But there must be a major unheaval in publishing before the author and the reader is given the breaks new print technologies can provide. Something that's vitally important at this stage of the game, when non-sub houses and self-publishing writers have somehow to compete against the massive promotion machinery of the big boys, is organisations like Binnacle who freely feature the offerings of *unknown* names. The ball is rolling now, and I honestly believe it's picked up too much speed to be stopped. Love (and sorry again for the name mix-up) -- Neil

Neil, I've just checked out your site. It's excellent! Apologies for not replying to this beforehand, but I've been away for a couple of weeks and I'm just getting ready to shoot off for another week. I'll take advantage of your offer of a free plug though. Thanks, Karl.