Publishers

Yerg · Post by **Yerg** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:26 am

Based on your first excerpt, I’d like to read more.

bobsboots · Post by **bobsboots** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:34 am

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:08 am It doesn't matter if you self publish or go the old school way,
you are not a REAL writer until you have bee republished by the photocopy mills at the Russian Market.

( or on CEO - thanks for the extract Bobsyouruncle, 4am and i am just about to make a second cup of coffee, put my feet up and tuck into a bit of gritty downtown Jakarta. Fab!

Khmu Nation · Post by **Khmu Nation** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 5:17 am

bobsboots wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:45 am
Khmu Nation wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:25 pm I would not bother with the conventional publishing route and self publish on Amazon.
May I ask why ?
Doesn’t publishing on Amazon mean that your book just becomes an online book?

Because book publishing is in the biggest trouble it has been in since the invention of the printing press. Because trying to find a publisher is a soul destroying process that takes years. Because even trying to get your book read by someone in 'the biz' is hard enough. Because if you do get a publisher they will pay you a paltry advance and publication is still no guarantee of success.

By publishing on Kindle you can be responsible for all marketing and you will cut to the chase and save yourself years of disappointment. It's still a real book as well.

Yes ideally a bona fide publisher will read your book and decide it's brilliant and offer you a deal with a good advance. Yes it happens and I am not saying it can't happen to you.

But it's very rare and now rarer than ever as people just don't read books anymore so publishers are very cautious when buying new product.

Spoken from experience and having had a novel published and several screenplays sold, one produced, plays put on etc.

I wasted 15 years of my life as a writer of fiction. It's a soul destroying business full of fakes, losers and liars. Of which I might well have been one! The amount of shit I was told would happen and didnt.

By the time I did get my work out there I literally didn't give a shit anymore. I don't even own a copy of the novel I had published but did see it on a major bookstore shelf. I thought this would be a big moment but it meant nothing to me due to the publication process. And I had a movie made that I have only watched half of.

I stopped writing in 2008 and quit everything to do with it in 2010. I look back on the period as a waste of time.

Unless you are good mates with some heavy hitter in publishing or extremely well connected yourself so you have some people to read your book, self publish on Kindle is my advice. Then market the book yourself.

It's never been harder to get published but it's never been easier to self publish and get your work out there.

Good luck!

P.S.

I hope you don't think I am being negative! I'm being realistic based on my own experiences of trying to make it as a writer of fiction. I had a big time literary agent, connections, all that. It was still a nightmare.

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 6:18 am

No-one in the younger generation reads books any more. Besides the only thing that makes a book profitable is the advertising that is in it. How many paying adverts in that '' Love Story '' book. Make that story into a movie,,, throw in adverts every so often , and you will have every couch potato in the country sitting on their ass with a coke/beer in one hand and burger in the other watching your shit movie.

Ghostwriter · Post by **Ghostwriter** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 7:08 am

A westerner's experience and point of view would be indeed interesting.
I heard only local's stories from back then.

This, to give an idea of the situation from the students's side

yongchi · Post by **yongchi** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:32 pm

bobsboots wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:00 pm I am looking for some advice on where in S.E.ASIA, or indeed wherever, to get my book published. I have a novel, 85% complete, about the three days of rioting (something I witnessed personally) in Jakarta in 1998 which lead to the overthrow of Suharto. The novel also looks at Indonesian life and attitudes and has to touch on the politics of course.
Now, before all the trolls jump in, this novel was not written from the safety of an armchair thousands of miles away in England. I spent the mid-nineties backpacking around Asia, then settled down, got married, and lived and taught in Jakarta for twenty years. I have spent the last three years here in Cambodia. I have only spent six weeks back in Europe in that time, so you can rest assured that this novel was written from experience, not speculation or assumption.
So if anyone has some advice about a publisher, or my next move, it would be most welcome.
I was thinking of including a short extract here to maybe wet some whistles, but I will wait and see what the reaction to this post is.
Thanks.

It sounds very interesting. I am looking forward to it.
As to publishing, I would definitely also look into Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Recently Createspace (Amazon's print on demand subsidiary) was merged with KDP.

Going down the KDP route, you should be able to get the Paperback out as well. Personally, I would first focus on digital. Do the marketing, then add the Paperback when the sales start rolling in.

And as @Khmu Nation said, expect to do the marketing yourself. That will likely even be the case if you land a deal with a small publisher.
Expect to do a lot of marketing.
Definitely explore other options as well, but at least you can get it out.

For resources, take a look at this Irish writer's Blog: https://davidgaughran.com
Years ago, his book "Let's Get Digital" was one of the go-to guides. It looks like the most recent edition (2020) is currently free.

Looking forward to more teasers from your book.

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