TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: Publish On Demand with Booklocker / Writer's Digest
Subject:RE: Publish On Demand with Booklocker / Writer's Digest From:"David Downing" <DavidDowning -at- users -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:05:10 -0500
<<if you want to
publish a book that is read you should do the effort (and it can be a
big
effort) to find a publisher who pays advances and royalties to its
authors.>>
If I may put my two cents in here, vanity publishing is not necessarily
a bad thing, as long as you know exactly what you are and are not
getting. In a sense, it's a misnomer, because you're really paying to
have the books *printed*, rather than published. What you get for your
money is x number of copies of your professionally printed and bound
book. They come to you in a big box, and that's the end of it. You DO
NOT get any kind of promotion -- no ads, no reviews, nothing. The
reason you don't get royalties is that nobody's selling the copies of
your book -- which are all sent to you.
Now if you're aware of all this, and are prepared to act as promoter and
merchant for you book, is can work for you. I knew someone who went to
the trouble of putting a bunch of copies of an original book together by
hand. The effort was impressive, but obviously home-grown, and this
person might have done better to seek the services of a vanity press.
Alas, some unfortunate people think their book is going to get promoted
and sold for them, just like with a regular publisher, and *they* get a
rude surprise. However, a vanity press would not be guilty of ripping
these people off unless they tried to foster this misconception.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 in December and receive $100 mail in rebate, FREE WebHelp
Merge Module and the new RoboPDF - add powerful PDF output functionality
to RoboHelp X3. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.