I wrote a book! Actually I have written five of them. One novel, three works of non-fiction and a Regency romance! Fabulous books. At least I thought so.
So far, however, approximately 200 (two hundred) book publishers and agents have not agreed with me. "Jane," they all wrote me, "we do NOT like your book!" You cannot BELIEVE the stack of rejection slips I have stored away in a cardboard box in the back of my closet. It's scary. But all that is about to change. I'm gonna publish my own freaking books!
Ta hell with the publishing elite. Let the public decide what's good and what's not.
Here's how it works. First you write a really good book -- on a topic that everyone is dying to read about. Then you give one of those new self-publishing companies like Lightning Source or BookSurge a reasonable amount of money and the text of your book. THEN the webcrawler lists you on Google. Then people google the topic you are writing about, see that you gots a hot new book on the topic and get all excited to own it.
They yell. They holler. They tear out their hair. "I have GOT to have Jane's new book!!!!"
So then this enthusiastic potential book purchaser with impeccable taste goes to Amazon.com and orders YOUR book. Which, coincidentally, happens to be listed with Amazon. Why? Because your new publisher has an ISBN number for your book which they have registered with Amazon. And Amazon has no problems with listing almost every book in the world in their data base. It's electronic. It's no skin off their teeth. They list everything ever published. They wanna keep their customers happy.
Plus Amazon even OWNS BookSurge.
Then what happens? The order goes to Amazon, Amazon e-mails Lightning Source and says, "We got a new buyer for your book!" Lightning Source then prints up one (1) copy and sends it out to the buyer. Bingo! Everyone is happy. No high overhead, no warehouse full of unsold books, no moldy old remaindered books with their front covers torn off. This new system is called "print on demand" for a reason.
And I, me, the author, am happiest of all. I don't have to sit around and wait for months for some smuck at a major publishing house to send me a reject letter after reading the first five words of my fabulous opus before throwing it in the slush pile.
New York Times best-seller list, here I come!
PS: Lighting Source hasn't published my latest work of non-fiction YET but in about a month, Amazon will have it online and you will be able to order it there. It's entitled "Mecca & The Hajj: Lessons from the Islamic School of Hard Knocks". It's a fabulous book! EVERY library in the country will need a copy of it and so will you.
PPS: This book-publishing setup has worked really well for authors who are critical of the Bush bureaucracy but have trouble getting their books published by the mainstream press. For example, "Unacceptable: The Federal Response to Katrina" by leading journalist Walter Brasch was recently published by BookSurge. Would this book have seen the light of day if its author had waited for some high publishing house muckity-mucks to give him a contract? Probably not.
So far, however, approximately 200 (two hundred) book publishers and agents have not agreed with me. "Jane," they all wrote me, "we do NOT like your book!" You cannot BELIEVE the stack of rejection slips I have stored away in a cardboard box in the back of my closet. It's scary. But all that is about to change. I'm gonna publish my own freaking books!
Ta hell with the publishing elite. Let the public decide what's good and what's not.
Here's how it works. First you write a really good book -- on a topic that everyone is dying to read about. Then you give one of those new self-publishing companies like Lightning Source or BookSurge a reasonable amount of money and the text of your book. THEN the webcrawler lists you on Google. Then people google the topic you are writing about, see that you gots a hot new book on the topic and get all excited to own it.
So then this enthusiastic potential book purchaser with impeccable taste goes to Amazon.com and orders YOUR book. Which, coincidentally, happens to be listed with Amazon. Why? Because your new publisher has an ISBN number for your book which they have registered with Amazon. And Amazon has no problems with listing almost every book in the world in their data base. It's electronic. It's no skin off their teeth. They list everything ever published. They wanna keep their customers happy.
Plus Amazon even OWNS BookSurge.
Then what happens? The order goes to Amazon, Amazon e-mails Lightning Source and says, "We got a new buyer for your book!" Lightning Source then prints up one (1) copy and sends it out to the buyer. Bingo! Everyone is happy. No high overhead, no warehouse full of unsold books, no moldy old remaindered books with their front covers torn off. This new system is called "print on demand" for a reason.
And I, me, the author, am happiest of all. I don't have to sit around and wait for months for some smuck at a major publishing house to send me a reject letter after reading the first five words of my fabulous opus before throwing it in the slush pile.
New York Times best-seller list, here I come!
PS: Lighting Source hasn't published my latest work of non-fiction YET but in about a month, Amazon will have it online and you will be able to order it there. It's entitled "Mecca & The Hajj: Lessons from the Islamic School of Hard Knocks". It's a fabulous book! EVERY library in the country will need a copy of it and so will you.
PPS: This book-publishing setup has worked really well for authors who are critical of the Bush bureaucracy but have trouble getting their books published by the mainstream press. For example, "Unacceptable: The Federal Response to Katrina" by leading journalist Walter Brasch was recently published by BookSurge. Would this book have seen the light of day if its author had waited for some high publishing house muckity-mucks to give him a contract? Probably not.
