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Post by Vyckie D. Garrison on Aug 25, 2010 20:48:12 GMT -5
I have had a contract with a book agent since November ~ and although we came pretty close to getting a book deal with several publishers ~ it's looking at this point like it's just not going to happen. Truthfully ~ I'm glad. I was not feeling real comfortable with the way the book proposal was developing ~ and I have also been hating the idea of not having "Vyckie's Story" published on NLQ. Right now, plans are being made to combine my story with info. from No Longer Quivering to put together a guide for counselors, pastors, hotline workers, etc. as a resource and fundraiser for the Take Heart Project. So ~ I talked to my agent today and asked him if we could cancel our agreement so I can do my own thing with my story and he agreed. Yay. Doing my own thing means re-posting "Vyckie's Story" at No Longer Quivering. I'm looking for input ~ some ideas for how to go about "unveiling" the story ~ esp. since it's been password protected for so long that the majority of NLQ readers have not read my story at all. It'd be nice to use the making of "Vyckie's Story" public again as a way to bring in new readers ~ and possibly raising some extra funds since that is always helpful. Any suggestions?
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Post by fabucat on Aug 25, 2010 21:38:02 GMT -5
I don't know about unveiling your story on the website. I was thinking that you might want to self-publish your book. Self-published books are no longer in disrepute.
You could sell the entire book electronically, or sell it chapter by chapter, the way Stephen King did with one of his books. I was thinking that a potential reader could pay what s/he thought s/he could afford. You'd set a base price per chapter, let's say a few dollars (entire ebooks from Amazon typically cost 9.99) and if someone can afford to pay a little more she would be welcome to do so. That way you could make a little money and yet not discourage any potential readers who are having financial difficulties.
Also you could record your book via podcast and then sell it chapter by chapter on iTunes. If you feel uncomfortable about reading it yourself, you could get someone who's an aspiring actress to read your book out loud.
Hope this helps.
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Post by coleslaw on Aug 25, 2010 22:18:47 GMT -5
Yeah, Karen McQuestion's novel A Scattered Life was self-published on Kindle and is notable for being the first self-published Kindle book optioned for film. (Fantastic book, BTW, and only $2.99 for the Kindle edition. There's also now a paperback edition.) It might be worth looking into.
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Post by denelian on Aug 26, 2010 1:18:36 GMT -5
in all honesty, while there's probably merit in the self-publishing idea, if you want a book edition, there are up-front costs. i'd stick solely to ebook if you choose that route - i know authors who use it for non-book canon stuff they want to share. ilona and gordon andrews have done it, and it works - but for them, it works because it's free extras. most of the authors i know of who have successfully done something alone these lines have at least the first portion at "free" - the first chapter or 3. or you could tie it directly to donations - for every X raised for the Project, you release another chapter. this also works well [especially for webcomics and e-serials] and cuts out any other company all-together. hrm. i'll think more on it - i'm sure there are even more options
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Post by MoonlitNight on Aug 26, 2010 8:52:51 GMT -5
Try listening to sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/07/the-new-dynamics-of-book-publishing.html -- that might give you some ideas. Self-publishing is quite possible now, both as an ebook or in print. I think having a paid book version of your story, and possibly other stories, is a great idea because both you and Take Heart need some income. There are print-on-demand firms which you could use to avoid having a lot of up-front costs and inventory. I remember that one blogger I used to read had this model: read it for free on the website among the ads, read it in PDF for $x, in softcover for $y, and in hardcover for $z. He set the prices so that all paid forms earned him exactly the same profit margin. What I do *strongly* suggest is to try and recruit some savvy help, or take your time when looking at your options. There are scammers in the publishing field, most especially in self-publishing -- this is one area where the older the company, the higher the chances it's a scam, because while now it's affordable to print very small batches, that didn't used to be so. I also strongly recommend seeing if you can scare up a good editor from the forums.
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Post by hopewell on Aug 26, 2010 15:59:53 GMT -5
Remember the thing that usually sets self-published books apart from commercially-viable ones is the editing. Even a graduate student in a creative writing or MFA program or MA in Journalism would be a great find. This is not meant in anyway to criticize your style!! Just advice that another set of eyes is crucial before you even self-publish. Since I don't know what all went on in the now canceled book deal, this may be a moot point. I think the photos are an essential part of the story--especially for anyone not familiar with the movement at the time they read the story. Reproduced pages from your newsletter and other documents add to the pull of the story as well. You have a VERY readable story--these just add to the experience to take the reader inside the movement. I'm sorry it didn't work with a commercial publisher, but another thought is a University Press with a strong women's studies, religious studies or cultic studies department. Yet another source would be Oral History projects. I agree with the other poster--take time and consider your options. There is currently world-wide interest in this due to the syndication of the Duggars, the internet blogs get hits from all over, there are former Nancy Campbell groupies world wide, etc. You are an important part of the story so don't rush! That said I really want to read it all again!
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Post by rosiegirl on Aug 27, 2010 13:15:20 GMT -5
Personally, I think it should be up and out there for ALL to see. Sure, you can pick it up at a book store, in theory, but not all book stores will carry all books.
Whereas if its on your webpage, anyone and everyone can see it.
I vote you feature it on your webpage, as I for one, am dying to know what happens next.
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Post by Vyckie D. Garrison on Aug 27, 2010 13:52:06 GMT -5
Personally, I think it should be up and out there for ALL to see. Sure, you can pick it up at a book store, in theory, but not all book stores will carry all books. Whereas if its on your webpage, anyone and everyone can see it. I vote you feature it on your webpage, as I for one, am dying to know what happens next. rosiegirl ~ I agree! Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas here. Since I do not plan to publish "Vyckie's Story" as a memoir ~ but only include parts of it in the THP resource book which is in the works ~ I do want to have the full story posted at NLQ. I was talking to SargassoSea on the phone yesterday and we came up with the idea of using the re-posting of "Vyckie's Story" kind of like we did with the NLQ Carnival Days and the NLQ Blog-a-thon ~ to raise awareness of NLQ and also to generate some contributions. Right now, I'm thinking that I will re-post one installment per day (there are 30+ posts) each time that NLQ receives a minimum number of donations (say 5 per installment) of any size, or each time that we get a new member of the No Longer Eating Crappy Pizza Club (a monthly sponsorship of NLQ). All we need to get this idea implemented and start re-posting is a catchy title for the event ~ to help with publicity. Any ideas?
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Post by juliacat on Aug 29, 2010 15:02:34 GMT -5
I would pay for a bound copy in book format. And I am a tightwad, so there are not many things I would pay for!
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Post by tapati on Aug 29, 2010 17:44:11 GMT -5
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Post by MoonlitNight on Aug 30, 2010 17:01:51 GMT -5
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Post by denelian on Sept 1, 2010 17:27:13 GMT -5
Remember the thing that usually sets self-published books apart from commercially-viable ones is the editing. Even a graduate student in a creative writing or MFA program or MA in Journalism would be a great find. This is not meant in anyway to criticize your style!! Just advice that another set of eyes is crucial before you even self-publish. Since I don't know what all went on in the now canceled book deal, this may be a moot point. I think the photos are an essential part of the story--especially for anyone not familiar with the movement at the time they read the story. Reproduced pages from your newsletter and other documents add to the pull of the story as well. You have a VERY readable story--these just add to the experience to take the reader inside the movement. i'll volunteer, here. if things had gone to plan, i would RIGHT NOW be working on my masters in Communication [i.e. Journalism] - i was supposed to graduate in June of 09, but surgeries and etc knocked that out. i was forced to quit in March of this year - needing the classes i was then taking, plus 1 more German class, and ONE more Journalism class, and maybe an internship [i'd served 2 already, but they were debating if they "counted" because of BS reasons]. i'm a GOOD copy-editor. and i don't just change things, aside from mis-spellings, i write out whatever i think SHOULD be there, in a different color, but i don't replace. just offer. most people like it. i've been copy-editing for friends and such, since i have so little i CAN do. just an offer
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dx713
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by dx713 on Sept 5, 2010 5:12:33 GMT -5
Hello, I realize most of what I write here is already part of your plans, but let me indulge in adding my 2 cents:
I don't think the choice is this or that: free-access web and a book can complement each-other. A book can nicely have all the main points all in one place, while a web site can expand on the information (in the current case, with your full story). And each can link to the other.
I don't know squat about the publishing world, and you might want other advices, but I can tell this is quite usual in the music world. A lot of bands have myspace/blog/facebook/whatever with songs, videos, photos, freely accessible, and still sell albums on have paying downloads of their songs. The free access stuff is both a bonus for fans who already bought the album, and a way for people who don't have the album to discover the band. You could try such a approach, with the website and your story being both a way for people to discover NLQ and a nice place to hang out for people who already have the book.
You could even use a CC license on your story post to help it being widely publicized.
(and of course, now that you told about it, I want to read that story, so my advice might be biaised)
((and I just realize I forgot to introduce myself. Will correct that later))
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Knitted in the Womb
Guest
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Post by Knitted in the Womb on Sept 5, 2010 18:11:24 GMT -5
Personally, I think it should be up and out there for ALL to see. Sure, you can pick it up at a book store, in theory, but not all book stores will carry all books. Whereas if its on your webpage, anyone and everyone can see it. I vote you feature it on your webpage, as I for one, am dying to know what happens next. I also vote for featuring it on the website, and do like the idea of releasing an "installment" at a time as donations come in. I haven't read the story, but I'm willing to guess I'd like to see a physical copy of it available as well. I "like" having hard copies of stuff that I can loan out. A "Print on Demand" publisher would work for this. I think especially if there are people who would like to share your story with friends who are "in" the lifestyle or getting sucked in, it might be helpful to have something to loan out that doesn't require internet access.
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Post by kisekileia on Sept 8, 2010 12:19:32 GMT -5
What if you publish it on the website as it, and then have Denelian edit it into a book version to publish on Lulu? (You could consider adding some content to the book version as well--maybe have it incorporate both the Take Heart Project guide and your story in full.) That would satisfy everyone while differentiating the free and paid products.
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