El Segundo Author Fair  

Okay this is my second time typing this and I need to be somewhere...It was the best blog entry I had ever written - DARN!

If you are interested in taking a survey on subsidy publishing please visit the Populist Publisher. Lynn Osterkamp has an interesting debate going on about the publishing industry and it is getting rather vocal. I have already voiced my opinion...

Now to the title of this entry, which I ruined just moments ago! I belong to a group called the Independent Publishers Guild which is a group of people who have taken the plunge and published their own work (self-publishing), had it done via subsidy or are small press authors; some even publishers.

I wrote an article for the newsletter on the 5 W's and H that I learned while taking journalism in high school until I found out how cut throat the whole profession is (I guess almost as bad as the publishing industry). I took those 5 W's and H, which are also very common in standard murder mysteries and adapted it to my novel. Genealogy also uses those principles. The best part about using genealogy to solve a murder in the past is that you can hone in on all kinds of resources: vital records, diaries, bible entries, letters, journals, newspaper clippings, court records, land records, funeral home records, church records, etc. The resources to find the pieces are limitless, and the best part is the reader is learning a little bit about genealogy in the process.

I recently had a reader ask me if doing genealogy was really that hard, and I told her it just depended on the family tree and the block walls facing the researcher. Yes and no. And not everyone will always find a dead body in their family tree - but mabe a skeleton or two.

So if you're interested in seeing how a murder is solved using other means than blood, witness interviews (although they can be there too), DNA and bullet fragments, then check out my genealogist for hire - Lydia - I think you'll be amazed what she can do with a pedigree chart!

I think "subsidy" publishing is simply an alternate way for people who wish to self-publish (in the traditional sense) but cannot afford to retain 500 copies in their basement, or to have to apply for a business license as a "business" to get their book out.

I could not afford to self-publish in the traditional sense, I did consider it at one point. I just didn't have the overhead. So what I did was select I guess what is called a "subsidy" publisher to print my book. Yes, I paid for their time to set up and adjust my manuscript to be printed, but I did everything else.  I would expect no less from a printer who would be printing my book (interior and cover), formatting it to print (interior and cover in 4 color print) locally. I might pay a little less, with no guarantee the quality would be any better.

I had a resource to create a cover I wanted - not forced on me by an graphic artist who had no clue as to what my book was about. I had the talent to format my book the way I wanted with the font I wanted,  not chosen by someone in a room that I have never and will never meet. It was really like giving birth to a product that I was proud of and willing to promote without shame. I don't have the overhead other publishers do. My "subsidy" publisher pays royalties even on books I order to re-sell, and they provide me with a return policy for brick and mortar bookstores, whether those stores choose to take advantage of it or not.

I have sold just about 100 books and all I've had to do is promote it the way I want (yes that is time consuming) and I never have to worry about whether my book is going to make a billion dollars for a company, and if not I am dropped tomorrow and my book is essentially out of print forever because I have lost all my rights to the product I created. They can be in print as long as I want them to.

So if "subsidy," the dirty word on the street, is what my chosen path is, so be it. I am not offended. My POD/subsidy company (whatever one wants to call it) uses the term "author originated work." I think I like that term better.

So here it is February and there is so much to do! Being president of the genealogical society has been interesting and fun. We're accomplishing a lot! We're doing a research panel where members can bring in their problems and a panel of us will try and solve it. It's something similar to my third book. Interesting how things evolve!

Then there's faire starting up and I'm assistant group leader. So far nothing challenging but with the group we have anything can happen. There's three months for stuff to take place. Our group is growing by leaps and bounds. We've gone from the tiniest group to being the largest...wow.

And then there's book two which I want to get printed as soon as faire ends. So much for Spring, but then as long as it gets published...

I wrote an article for the Independent Authors Guild's March newsletter, and I have sent book three off to be proof read and edited...

Now I just need to win the lottery so I can promote my mysteries the way the big guns do it!

Until next time...