David Carnoy, executive editor at CNET Reviews, struck out with his novel Knife Music when he tried the big publishers. It happened even with “a high-powered agent.”
So Carnoy’s published the mystery-thriller on his own and now shares 25 tips, including some e-book-related advice.
“For self-published authors,” he writes, “I see all these electronic avenues as ways to reach a larger audience quickly, but I don’t see anybody getting a ton of downloads unless you’re willing to sell your ebook very cheaply or give it away. There are exceptions, of course, but self-published ebooks present more of a supplemental marketing opportunity than a way to make big bucks.”
According to Carnoy, “the biggest mistake people make when it comes to self-publishing is that they expect to just put out a book and have it magically sell. They might even hire a publicist and expect something to happen. It’s just not so. You have to be a relentless self-promoter. Unfortunately, a lot people just don’t have the stomach or time for it–which is part of the reason I anted up for BookSurge’s Buy X, Get Y program, which is essentially a form of advertising.” More on the program is here.
Related: His book’s Amazon page.
Thanks for the link; it’s a pretty good run-down. But Carnoy’s mistaken when he says Lulu.com ‘only’ offers 6×9 inch paperback editions; in fact lulu offers about a dozen different sizes, including one – 8×5.5 – that is fairly close to Carnoy’s ideal of 8×5.25. This one goof renders the rest of his advice and details suspect.
His other goof (that I know of) lies in thinking that his only option to put out a Kindle-edition was to pay hundreds of dollars to BookSurge. Couldn’t he have simply offered it himself? Or do the terms of his BookSurge contract forbid him from offering his own Kindle-edition?
What other mistakes does he make?