Please welcome author Jennifer Fosberry who is joining us to discuss transitioning from a self-published to a traditional published author. Jennifer’s debut novel MY NAME IS NOT ISABELLA will be published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky in September 2010.
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Thank you for talking about this, Jennifer! Three members of my critique groups ( I’m the moderator of 3 online critique groups) are self-published and another one is considering going the self-publishing route … and I’m not quite sure what to tell them when they ask about certain aspects of this end of the business.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. So many authors I talk to decide to self-publish because they have given up on the querying process. Yet, as you’ve shown, it’s not the best route for most people. Congratulations to you for having your book picked up at the Bologna Book Fair! I’ve heard only good things about Sourcebooks from people published through them.
Congratulations on having your book picked up, Jennifer! It’s great to hear about your experiences with self-publishing.
Thanks for your insights! What are your thoughts on self-pubbing straight to Amazon or iBooks? Would you say the same types of challenges exist that you faced w/ your own publishing company?
wow. sounds like self publishing takes a lot more thought, time, effort and pressure than mainstream. Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us!
Thanks everyone, I don’t know too much about publishing directly to Amazon or iBooks.
There is a writer who is experimenting with this and he has a great and informative blog at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com The big difference is he writes adult mysteries and I am not sure that picture books will be a similar “picture” (hee hee). Biggest lesson there is that it all comes down to marketing. Still, for right now I think adult (and maybe YA) are more likely to “work” if you chose to go that route.
Also, when I did the research, all the digital printing was not considered high quality enough for 4 color picture books. It may be that the average consumer wouldn’t see the difference, but an industry professional would most likely see that. One of the things I had going for me was that most industry pros who saw/held/touched my book were impressed by the quality.
So, it seems to me that the questions to ask are: quality and marketing. Also, make sure you understand what rights you are giving away to pub that way.
Thanks for sharing your self-publishing experience, and good luck on your traditional book launch.
This was great. I especially love how you point out that it worked for you, but you still don’t recommend it. Your honesty is appreciated!
Congrats on your success story. You’re one of the few exceptions who got picked up by a “traditional” publisher and your insight has been invaluable. =)
Thank you for sharing with us. Self-publishing is an interesting subject. It’s good to learn how you did it and that it led to publication. Sounds like that might be a rare happening, but now we know it does happen.
Thanks for posting this. It was an eye-opener. I’ve never been into self-publishing, and it’s nice to see that you still recommend traditional publishing.
Thank you so much for the advice Jennifer. I appreciate you taking the time to tell your story. You give some very sound advice.
Thanks for sharing your story, and good luck with the release of “My Name is Not Isabella” next month!
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