{"id":3837,"date":"2009-12-09T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T04:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/?p=3837"},"modified":"2009-12-09T00:00:58","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T04:00:58","slug":"self-publishing-vs-assisted-self-publishingvanity-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/12\/self-publishing-vs-assisted-self-publishingvanity-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-publishing vs. "Assisted" Self Publishing\/Vanity Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everybody, please bear in mind, I’m no self-publishing expert.\u00a0 I’m not too educated on it, and that’s fine with me because self publishing looks like a hell of a lot of work.<\/p>\n

If you want to self publish, be prepared to do that hell of a lot of work.<\/p>\n

Or, you can spent a lot more money for ‘assisted’ self publishing and have to split the profits.\u00a0 Since you’re fronting a lot of money, and since the majority of ‘assisted’ self pubs\/vanity press books don’t tend to sell a lot…well, I’m thinking you’ll be better off if you do the work yourself, if you’re determined to go the self-publishing route.<\/p>\n

One thing that seems to be in agreement is that in TRUE self publishing, YOU, the author, owns the ISBN. I use ‘agreement’ lightly because vanity publishers will tell you differently, as will likely most ‘assisted’ self-publishers.\u00a0 But poke around, check out sites like Writer Beware.<\/a> Do not<\/em> just go by what you’re told on whatever site you’re visiting. \u00a0 The ISBN is that long number you see on the back of a paperback.<\/p>\n

If you want to sell a book, you need an ISBN.\u00a0 It’s what identifies your book, how booksellers order the book.\u00a0 If YOU buy the ISBN, YOU own it.\u00a0 If a vanity press or ‘assisted’ self publisher owns the ISBN?\u00a0 You’re not self publishing.<\/p>\n

One handy site I found while I was poking around the net is http:\/\/www.selfpublishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now this is NOT an endorsement of their services.\u00a0 At all. I’ve never used them, I’ve never talked to anybody who has used them.\u00a0 But there’s some handy info on the site, including<\/em>… an instant quote for their editorial services.\u00a0 One thing that was really killing me over the DellArte Press\/Harlequin Horizons site was the cost they wanted to charge for their editorial services.\u00a0 People might not think that $0.035\/word is a lot of money, but we’re talking a lot of words.\u00a0 Category length books are around 55000.\u00a0 Most mass markets are around 90000+.\u00a0 So we’re not talking cents here.\u00a0 We’re talking dollars.\u00a0 A lot of them.\u00a0 Into the thousands.<\/p>\n

You cannot<\/em> skip editorial services.\u00a0 You need them.\u00a0 You can always hire a freelance editor and that may well be cheaper, but don’t skip the step, not if you’re serious about putting out a successful book, and don’t think having a few friends read it over will suffice.\u00a0 Unless of course your friends are professional editors…\u00a0 ;o)<\/p>\n

Anyway, here are some numbers.\u00a0 For a ‘mechanical’ edit…basically looking for typos\/wrong words ie:\u00a0 die instead of did, mange instead of manage, etc, etc.<\/p>\n