My self-published memoir sold over 100 copies. I doubt that it has been cited since it's not a scholarly work. At this point I get annoyed when Amazon sends me a royalty payment because it means I have to pay taxes to New Mexico. Paying is no problem but filing is.
Anyway Amazon (KDP) did the printing, no lawyers, no copyright issues, I can order author's copies any time. I'd do it again. Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sat, Jul 4, 2020, 2:25 PM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote: > Thanks. Yes, self-publishing is an option. I am looking for an official > publisher mainly for one reason, namely that other scientists and > researchers can cite it, since I still cling to the illusion that someone > would actually do it. Normally self-published texts are not considered as > reliable or trustworthy sources. I didn't expect that finding a decent > publisher would be so difficult. > > -J. > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com> > Date: 7/4/20 20:10 (GMT+01:00) > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> > > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed > > Jochen: > The deal being offered strikes me as a bad deal. > > Background: I have been practicing and teaching about "Be Your Own > Publisher" for nearly 15 years. There are, in my opinion, some major > problems with all publishers today. It starts with control of the > copyright. I think YOU should want to maintain control of the copyright to > your work. It will depend on the contract, but many or most publishers > will try to lock down the copyright in their favor for all -- ALL -- forms > of your work in perpetuity and throughout the universe. Sometimes quite > literally. > > Second, you should assume -- especially with a small publisher and you, > not being as well known as Stephen King or Daniel Steele -- the publisher > will do little if anything to promote your book beyond a mention in its > catalog and, maybe, some promotional links on Amazon. Given that, a 5 > percent royalty should be seen as a con. > > Third, given your computing experience, you should find it easy to format > and produce the book yourself. I have used Lulu.com for years. It is > especially good if you want to have both hardback, paperback and PDF > editions. Again the advantages: you keep the copyright, you can set (and > change) the prices and to a degree the royalties. Also, Lulu and Amazon > handle all the backend financial arrangements and administration and pay > directly and quickly. I also use a very good, high quality digital printer > in Albuquerque for paperback editions. It is Lithexcel > <https://lithexcel.com/services/print.html>. It handles all the printing > (one copy to any number) quickly, along with all the fulfillment and > accounting. The folks there will also, for only $25, set up your book in > the Amazon inventory search engine. Finally, there is Amazon's > self-publishing arm > <https://www.bookbaby.com/free-publishing-guides?utm_campaign=GOOSL31&utm_source=SITELINK&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=sNzCXe5z8_dc%7Cpcrid%7C238281756657%7Cpmt%7Ce%7Cpkw%7Camazon%20book%20publishing%7Cslid%7CcWU1oXIv%7Ctargetids%7Ckwd-362938383597%7Cgroupid%7C48812614458%7C&pgrid=48812614458&ptaid=kwd-362938383597&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnFci42apQ6vWUruvHuYX-FOum9VCF7bx83c_tSMHGoby8yylL_RTMaAjOEEALw_wcB>. > While Amazon might take a bigger slice, the control over all aspects is in > your hands. > > Here's the problem/challenge with all of these. *YOU* have to do the > marketing/publicity/promotion. But so what? If you today sign with any > publisher of any size you will have to do the same thing. > > Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with questions. Also you might > want to see https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc > Tom > > ============================================ > Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) > *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org> > *Check out It's The People's Data > <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>* > > ============================================ > > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> > Virus-free. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> > <#m_5636210975686660186_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> > > On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 1:29 AM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote: > >> At one end of the spectrum there are the 5 big commercial publishers >> Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & >> Schuster. They only publish stuff their agents select to make a lot of >> money. There are also the big academic publishers like OUP, CUP, HUP and >> MIT Press, which preferably publish strictly peer-reviewed content from >> professors at Ivy League universities who made their PhD at the age of 20. >> >> At the other end of the spectrum there are "predatory publishers" who >> publish anything you submit as long as you pay enough money for it. Open >> access books can also be very expensive. Publishing an "open access book" >> at De Gruyter for example costs up to 8000 $. You pay for it so that other >> people read it. It is basically some kind of advertising of your own work. >> >> For my own new book I finally have an offer from a small publisher in >> Washington D.C. who is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. They are >> really small and offer 5% royalties. Should I accept this offer or wait for >> a better one? It is the only one from more than 25 publishers I have asked, >> and the publishers at the moment are flooded with submissions. :-/ >> >> https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/novel-writing-during-coronavirus-crisis-outbreak >> >> -J. >> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
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