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Thursday, July 9, 2009

To e-publish or not?

I've decided to e-publish one book and see how it goes, and "Stranger From The Valley" is it. Haven't decided which publisher to use, but it looks like iUniverse has the best overall program of this type, so the critics say on the iUniverse web page. For those who don't remember, and that's probably everybody that reads the blog, it's a story about a Marshal who puts his badge aside to answer the call of his country and deliver an award for Civil War exploits. When he arrives in the small town of Altaveel, he is not welcomed by the most powerful family in the area, the Henberrys, who try to chase him away by threats, shooting at, and downright belligerence. He interviews Esther Bigknife and ultimately falls for her, but she has an unusually close relationship with one of the Henberry clan, Milt, and the rest of the town thinks she is a woman of ill-repute, although that is not the case. Everything comes to a conclusion at the Fourth of July celebration where he finally doles out the award and the town finds out that he is really a U. S. Marshal recalled to active duty in the Union Army for the purpose of delivering the award.

So, anyway, that's my plan today, and we'll see how much red-tape I have to go through. If it becomes too much, I'll just terminate it, if the agreement allows.

3 comments:

  1. I personally wouldn't recommend I-Universe if your intention is a print book (and I wouldn't recommend the e-book route AT ALL).

    The problem with I-Universe and many other similar POD services is that for one, the cost per copy is so sky high that you lose sales. Afterall, who is going to buy the novel of a new writer for $15 when they can get an Elmer Kelton or Louis L'Amour novel for $6.99?

    Second, due to a bit of industry skull duggery, many POD companies have had their books kicked from the "Books In Print" listings. One friend of mine had a couple of novels out by Lulu. Some of his readers went to their local chain bookstore with the intention of special ordering several of his his books and were informed that the titles were "Out of Print", when in fact, they were NOT out of print. What that means is that the powers-that-be are blocking the ability of self published authors using POD services to market their books.

    If you feel you must self-publish, I'd personally recommend Amazon's CreateSpace. (Or find a small press. That said, your synopsis sounds interesting, so feel free to pop over and give me a try.)

    http://old-west.blogspot.com/
    KerbyJackson.com

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  2. Thanks for the suggestions!

    Oscar (Google)

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