Maybe I can sell a thousand copies.
If you can sell a thousand self-published you'll probably make more money than if you got a publisher.
You know, I've saved lives. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. I reattached a girl's leg. Her whole leg. She named her hamster after me. I got a hamster. He drops a box of money, he gets a town.
Simon ,'Jaynestown'
Natter 65: Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, pandas, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
DavidS - Mar 05, 2010 12:43:48 pm PST #13644 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Barb - Mar 05, 2010 12:46:32 pm PST #13645 of 30001
“Not dead yet!”
If you can sell a thousand self-published you'll probably make more money than if you got a publisher.
Average sales for most self-published novels is generally less than a couple hundred copies sold. However, Allyson has a definite advantage because she is higher profile than most who go the self-pub route and is very internet-savvy. And if she does do very well (edging up into the 5K range) it might get a traditional publisher to pick her up.
Tom Scola - Mar 05, 2010 12:53:33 pm PST #13646 of 30001
hwæt
Home now!
PAY YOUR RENT, ITA!!!
javachik - Mar 05, 2010 12:53:37 pm PST #13647 of 30001
Our wings are not tired.
it might get a traditional publisher to pick her up.
Has that happened? Cool! Sort of like record companies signing artists they find on YouTube.
Jessica - Mar 05, 2010 1:01:19 pm PST #13648 of 30001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Has that happened? Cool!
IIRC, that's how Eragon got published.
javachik - Mar 05, 2010 1:08:03 pm PST #13649 of 30001
Our wings are not tired.
You're right, Jess. Neat!
Barb - Mar 05, 2010 1:11:04 pm PST #13650 of 30001
“Not dead yet!”
Eragon got published because Carl Hiaasen's stepson bought a copy during one of the (over 100) promotional talksPaolini gave. He loved it, and showed it to his stepdad, who in turn, showed it to his publisher.
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry is probably the most recent of the self-pubbed to traditional pubbed routes. She and her husband owned their own small press, pubbed the book, and promoted it relentlessly in Massachusetts where they live and the book is set. It really caught on with reading groups, which led to it being reviewed widely, which then led to its being picked up by a mainstream publisher.
Grisham had been published by a very small press; A Time to Kill had been remaindered by the press, so he bought out the remaining copies and began selling them himself out of the trunk of his car. Once he got upwards of about five thousand copies sold, he then got the attention of a mainstream publisher.
It's a shit ton of work, the self-pubbing gig, but it can be wildly successful if you have the right combination of ingredients and luck.
Polter-Cow - Mar 05, 2010 1:14:23 pm PST #13651 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Has that happened?
James Rollins followed a similar route, though not through self-publishing. He started out with a very small publisher, but after years of putting out books, he recently got picked up by a large publisher who's now re-releasing his old books, too.
Wow, I never knew that about John Grisham, Barb! Neat.
§ ita § - Mar 05, 2010 1:17:00 pm PST #13652 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Scola, you continue to rock in ita-compensating ways. Rent duly paid, bad things avoided.
Barb - Mar 05, 2010 1:21:45 pm PST #13653 of 30001
“Not dead yet!”
Admittedly, my brain is tapioca today, but explain to me why I can't find more references to Morpheus within classical mythology books?