“Everything I Know about Self-Publishing” by Kevin Kelly, an update on what’s available out there for writers at every stage of their professional lives.

Some excerpts:

The Traditional Route

…the peak of this traditional system is gone, finished, over. Reading habits have altered, buying habits are new, and attention has shifted to new media. It’s an entirely new publishing world. Today, some books experience some parts of this, but exceptionally few are treated to this full traditional process.

Dana sez–Beginning authors nowadays call the traditional route “the Holy Grail of publishing.”

Publishers

Many of the key decisions in publishing today come down to whether you own your audience or not.

Dana sez–So very true. It took me twenty years to compile a list of 10,000 subscribers to the Roadhouse Report, but I don’t regret a moment of that effort because those are the folks who really want to know when my next book comes out. The biggest mistake publishers ever made (as Kelly points out in his post) was in not creating long-term relationships with the end users of their product. (Market jargon, sorry.)

Agents

Are agents worth it? In the beginning of a career, yes. 

Dana sez–Also worth it if they can sell your books overseas.

Advances

Thus one of the advantages of this traditional system – of going with a publisher – is that they bankroll your project. They reduce a bit of your risk.

Dana sez–Or…you can find a traditional publisher willing to break with tradition and negotiate a contract where you skip the advance and get a higher royalty rate.

(h/t The Best of Journalism)

#thiswritinglife Chatter Everything I Know about Self-Publishing Kevin Kelly