DUmmies Discuss Book Publishing

[GOBUCKS]

The Straight Story  (1000+ posts)        Sat Dec-10-11 02:31 PM
Original message
Self-published author sells 400,000 copies of debut novel
This summer, Darcie Chan's debut novel became an unexpected hit. It has sold more than 400,000 copies and landed on the best-seller lists alongside brand-name authors like Michael Connelly, James Patterson and Kathryn Stockett.
...

Five years ago, Ms. Chan's novel, "The Mill River Recluse," which tells the story of a wealthy Vermont widow who bestows her fortune on town residents who barely knew her, would have languished in a drawer. A dozen publishers and more than 100 literary agents rejected it.

"Nobody was willing to take a chance," says Ms. Chan, a 37-year-old lawyer who drafts environmental legislation. "It was too much of a publishing risk."

This past May, Ms. Chan decided to digitally publish it herself, hoping to gain a few readers and some feedback. She bought some ads on Web sites targeting e-book readers, paid for a review from Kirkus Reviews, and strategically priced her book at 99 cents to encourage readers to try it. She's now attracting bids from foreign imprints, movie studios and audio-book publishers, without selling a single copy in print.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2459002
Amazing. And DUmmy Raven got the hopelessly unemployable Pitt a bestseller by paying a vanity publisher to run off 100 copies.

DirkGently  (1000+ posts)        Sat Dec-10-11 02:42 PM
Response to Original message
1. Electronically publishing has the potential to turn the industry on its ear.
 
Amanda Hocking pulled off something similar, selling her paranormal teen romance novels for $0.99, eventually earning several million dollars and landing a contract with a traditional publisher.

Several million dollars?!? Paranormal teen romance?
Does anyone remember the maudlin waif, mythsaje, with his paranormal interstellar sex crime novels?


No matter the subject, at the DUmp, it's always all about nadin:

nadinbrzezinski  (1000+ posts)        Sat Dec-10-11 02:48 PM
Response to Original message
3. I know the essay on OWS will go to both kindle and nook
Same for the for now on the side history of labor. 

I expect this to make nutcase nadin a multimillionaire. Or not.

[Carl]

Nadin will have to pay people to read her drivel.

Then the lawsuits that arise from peoples eyes crossing trying to sort out her lunacy will bankrupt her.

[Carl]

Something just occurred to me.

We should publish a year long history of nadins campaign for DUmmy of the year using her posts and threads.
It could land in the comedy section or be used as a case study for a collapsing mind in academic circles.

We will be rich.

[franksolich]

No matter the subject, at the DUmp, it's always all about nadin:

Uh huh.

I suppose if my mole over there were to start a thread about the monetary systems of ancient civilizations, the yenta, the noisy busybody, would chime in on that too.

[Vagabond]

DUmmies and broken clocks.  Kindle and Nook are doing the job that publishers never tried.

[Celtic Rose]

DUmmies and broken clocks.  Kindle and Nook are doing the job that publishers never tried.

Yep, there are numerous small publishing companies now that do electronic books only, significantly reducing their publishing costs.  Not to mention self publishing companies like Smashwords. 

[dutch508]

Uh huh.

I suppose if my mole over there were to start a thread about the monetary systems of ancient civilizations, the yenta, the noisy busybody, would chime in on that too.

I smell a competition, sir. Each of us with moles should post something and the one with the most outlandish basin addition could win a prize. Of course, we would have to let each other know via the hidden secret forum, only the proven members can get in.