The Enid Blyton Society

I think you've done very well Rob - and you have obviously learnt a tremendous amount about the world of publishing as an author of original books.

I'm always mindful that The Enid Blyton Dossier was one of the best books about Enid Blyton ever produced and yet it ran into unforeseen difficulties.

I think you should produce a children's book and I would enjoy reading that.

Regards

Pete

I have loads, Pete - just a case of deciding which one, and then proofing it. I was annoyed that the first drafts of 'The Last Summer' had a lot of proofing mistakes - but at least with Amazon we can keep proofing indefinitely. I've made a lot of grammatical improvements since the early drafts in October.

Of course, a legitimate publisher would never let a book out with any grammatical errors, but when we are self publishing its very hard to spot all the errors yourself.

I agree, it is most difficult to spot errors, as when you read your brain corrects them, and the more you proof read a book the more you will by pass any mistakes.

I was most fortunately in that respect as my own book went out to proof readers, but even so, when I had mine back and I went through it I spotted a couple of 'missed words'. No one is perfect.

I'm reading a self published book at the moment, and must admit, I can tell that it is self published, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the story.

I was in conversion, with a famous author the other day, and she has been offered by another publisher a six figure some of money for 3 books.

I would love to be in that position! Sadly writing for children I'm not sure if that would happen.

I would have bought a copy of your book if it wasn't a saga, Rob. I'm not into saga's sadly.

hmmm...its not really a saga, Julie, lol. Its basically two love stories set in different eras, the 1890's and the 1940's, with a bit of murder thrown in for good measure, lol!

Ah, give the game away, why don't you, Rob... I haven't read it yet and didn't know there was "a bit of murder" in it!!

(Sorry for my tardiness in getting to it, by the way. I have a very long to-read list as it is and haven't had that much time lately to sit down for extended periods and enjoy a really good read. When I do get around to reading something, it's often just a few quick chapters at a time, and then by the time I get back to the book, sometimes after several days, I've forgotten what had happened so far! )

oops - sorry Cortenay!

You know I'm not great at keeping my spoilers covered!!!

Rob Houghton wrote: - and even if I never sell another copy, it doesn't matter, as it has cost me absolutely no money at all - definitely the publishing route I would recommend going, rather than Vanity Publishing.

Sadly, self-publishing is often the only route these days. I even know of established authors having their books refused by their own publishers, so they self-publish. Keith Robinson has self-published his Unearthly Tales series of books so he may well disagree too! I suppose if you wish to become a 'proper' author, sometimes this is the only option available, if not the ideal situation.

If by 'self publishing' you mean what I have done, yes! But I couldn't afford to pay a publisher to publish a book that might not sell. It's fine if you have money to throw around (and I mean thousands!) - and I've been near to going down that route in the past, and I know how much they charge. The only thing they really do is promote your book and get it into a few bookshops - which would be useful for my book - but Amazon give a quality product for no money (except what they take from the price in order to print a copy) - and so I don't really mind how many I sell, as I haven't paid for any of it - the buyer pays, but the author doesn't.

Rob Houghton wrote:but Amazon give a quality product for no money (except what they take from the price in order to print a copy)

And no sales!

Haha - only kidding. I didn't realise that you always paid for vanity/self-publishing. Excuse my ignorance, but not being an author I have never given it much thought. I have paid for music CDs to be published in the past, though.

You normally pay an outlandish amount for self-publishing. I've known many who have done it, and I once applied to a publisher with the idea of self-publishing a book. That was in 1987 and the bottom price was £900...

I think Keith is the one to give advice on this self publishing aspect of things, as he self publishers, I'm not sure who with, maybe Lulu.com.

I don't know how much it costs either for a few hundred books. My hubby looked into it for me a couple of years back and I think for about 500 copies it was about £1500. But I can't be certain.

Of course you have to do your own marketing also. But many people do it, so I guess it's the 'in' thing these days.

Self Publishing and Vanity publishing have somehow become confused these days...because no-one likes the term 'Vanity publishing' - but they are a little different. 'Self publishing' requires the author to do their own promoting, while a Vanity publisher will often do all the promoting and help you to sell your book - as far as I know - after all, you're paying for them to help you.

Saying that, I haven't looked into it much, as I found what for me at this time was a route I wished to take. It really is almost impossible to be accepted by a legitimate publisher these days.

Rob Houghton wrote:Saying that, I haven't looked into it much, as I found what for me at this time was a route I wished to take. It also means that only I own the copyright,

All authors own their own copyright, Robert, whether you self publish or not.

Yes - I thought that after I wrote the sentence, so I removed it! What I meant was I wouldn't be tied to only Amazon publishing and could republish elsewhere without a problem.

You don't have to stick with one publisher if you have a traditional publisher, Robert. My hubby has two publishers on the go.

And if my own publisher wouldn't accept my second novel, then I too would look elsewhere. So I don't really understand what you are meaning. Sorry to go off topic as this topic is about your own book!