Self-published Novels - good idea or no?

[Syt]

Brazen's advice seems pretty sound.  Also, there's a third option that's a little safer with respect to your wallet: print-on-demand.  A writer friend of mine tends to use that option to get his books and cartoon compilations out in the wild.  The tech's caught up to where there isn't that terrible a markup on POD books.

Is the bulk of self-publishing these days in hardcopy? I would think that everyone and their dog just dump their stuff on the ebook market?

[Josquius]

Never gonna make money doing it but considering the miniscule odds of being properly published self-publishing could be fun. Gives a bit of a sense of achievment and having actually accomplished something to have written a book which is out there.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I've read a few.  The common theme is terrible editing.  Lot's of grammar mistakes, lot's of spelling mistakes, little things like incorrect names used and such. 

[Brazen]

Lot's of grammar mistakes, lot's of spelling mistakes

[Gups]

There was an article in the Guardian about it at the weekend. Lots of people making money from it but as Syt says, marketing is the key.

[Grey Fox]

Never gonna make money doing it

Do you know what Impulse buy price point is?

[merithyn]

The first thing I was taught is never to write for free and certainly never to pay for the privilege of being published.

This place is pay-to-upload, so he's not writing for free, and he gets 85% of any sales, which is higher than any publishing house that I know of. Of course, it's 85% of $2.99 a pop, but still better than nothing.

For anyone considering self-publishing, I'd advise it's worth running the gauntlet of a couple of publishing house pitches first. The process offers the kind of industry feedback no amount of friends reading it could (albeit harsh) and instil discipline and a timetable to the process. And, yes, some much-needed editing of the final product.

This, to me, is the bigger issue. If it's worth publishing, some publishing house somewhere will at least take the time to tell him how to fix it. And I'm sorry, but relying on friends to tell you how things are is usually pretty worthless. Few are willing to be brutally honest on how to fix it, and more than one friendship has been lost over this kind of thing. I helped him edit this one - being my usual, ahem, honest self - and he ended up pissed at me for months. I desecrated his baby! No, I told him how to make a good story into a really good novel.

There's some good advice here:
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/thebusinessofwriting/a/How-To-Pitch-Your-Novel.htm

Nice link! Thanks.

[jimmy olsen]

Didn't I post a big article on this 6-12 months ago? 

[merithyn]

Didn't I post a big article on this 6-12 months ago? 

I dunno. Did you?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Lot's of grammar mistakes, lot's of spelling mistakes

exatctly ,

[DGuller]

The first thing I was taught is never to write for free

  I'm going to start charging you people for my pearls of wisdom.

[ulmont]

my experience with self-published books hasn't been very positive since they almost always need a lot of editing (not just copy editing, but actual editing). That kind of always makes me wince when I hear something is self-published, and I'm guessing that I'm not alone on that. Or am I just being an old lady snob?

No, you're right.  I've been recommended a lot of self-published books on Amazon, and they almost uniformly suck.  At this point, if I see anything recommended as published by "Amazon Digital Services," I just hit "not interested" and move on to the next book.

[Gups]

The first thing I was taught is never to write for free

  I'm going to start charging you people for my pearls of wisdom.

Regretably they are beyond price.

[Darth Wagtaros]

my experience with self-published books hasn't been very positive since they almost always need a lot of editing (not just copy editing, but actual editing). That kind of always makes me wince when I hear something is self-published, and I'm guessing that I'm not alone on that. Or am I just being an old lady snob?

No, you're right.  I've been recommended a lot of self-published books on Amazon, and they almost uniformly suck.  At this point, if I see anything recommended as published by "Amazon Digital Services," I just hit "not interested" and move on to the next book.

Yes.

[Ed Anger]

The first thing I was taught is never to write for free

  I'm going to start charging you people for my pearls of wisdom.

a blueberry for a word.