I haven't been posting much here for a while. All my blogging effort has been going into Living Skillfully: Change Your Life, my personal development blog, and guest posting on other related blogs to build more traffic and subscribers. But it's time for a roundup of what's been going on.
I'm about to bring out another online course, Stop Procrastinating, Start Succeeding (there's a $20 discount offer if you sign up before 22 November 2010).
I also want to put together a small stop-smoking product before the end of the year, since cigarette tax goes up here on New Year's Day and that will stimulate a few more people to look around for effective ways to stop smoking. I'm approaching quitting smoking in terms of a personal development challenge rather than from a strict medical model.
I haven't just been writing about personal development, though. I'm doing some too. I've started getting up earlier to exercise, which is going well (I'm progressing through the Hundred Pushups challenge). Conveniently, this builds the same muscles that I use to paddle my new kayak, which is a lot of fun.
Starting in February, I'm doing a 10-week improv class. My day job may also pay for me to go to a public-speaking course run by Toastmasters.
Very slowly, I'm working on a Young Adult novel called The Y People, which is a bit of a hat-tip to the X-Men while being almost completely unlike it.
I've moved all my creative stuff over to C-Side Media at last, and I'm thinking about starting a new blog there (because I don't have enough blogs). This one will be about the process of self-publishing, basically how you can publish your book for free. It's a topic I have useful knowledge on and it would benefit other people, plus if I get people subscribing to it there'll be some splashover to my other projects. I'll announce it here as and when. (You can subscribe to get all C-Side Media updates on any of the several C-Side Media blogs.)
I'm also planning a podcast in the New Year on personal development, in which I'll interview other personal development bloggers. Steven Aitchison has agreed to be my first guest. It'll probably be monthly.
So there's plenty happening in my life in 2011. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to know more about any of it.
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts
Monday, 15 November 2010
Monday, 24 November 2008
Preorders for Changing Health Behaviours
(Crossposted from my hypnotherapy blog)
I'm very happy to announce that my book and CD Changing Health Behaviours (formerly entitled Life Leverage) is now available for preorder from the Hypno NZ shop at the special preorder price of $17.50 (NZD) plus postage and packing.
(As at when I'm posting this, that's about $9.50 USD, 7.5 Euro or 6.3 pounds, but currency conversions can change quickly.)
The files go out today for printing (of the book) and duplication (of the CD). The preorder period lasts until 31 December 2008, after which I will begin shipping, and the price will rise to $25.00 NZD plus P&P.
Preorder books will also be personally signed by me - please provide a note with your PayPal order if you want me to write anything in particular in them.
Changing Health Behaviours is based on several sources of material. One is this very blog, Living Skillfully, and you can check out a sample of what will be in the book by reading my series on Health Behaviours and Change Techniques. Naturally, I've reworked the material, expanded it, and incorporated more from the courses I run, Befriend Your Stress and Change Your Mind, but reading the blog will give you an idea of the topics I cover, what kind of things I say about them and the quality of my writing.
The book gives sound basic advice on what a healthy lifestyle consists of and, more importantly, personal change techniques that actually work to enable you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. It includes a simple but practical introduction to using self-hypnosis and material on habit change, emotional management and change planning and execution.
The other main source is my hypnotherapy recordings. Again, you can listen to free samples of these in my podcast.
The CD which accompanies the book holds 20 MP3 tracks, all of my Healthy Lifestyle and Transformation Skills recordings, plus several extras. The total comes to over three hours. These are tracks that I give as bonuses to my clients, and the feedback I've had has been excellent.
At the end of each chapter of the book, I indicate which tracks to listen to in order to help you make the shifts of thinking, feeling and behaviour that I've been discussing in that chapter.
I normally sell these recordings on three audio CDs (Transformation Skills is a double CD set) for a total of $25, so $25 for all them (and a few extras) plus the book is a great deal, and $17.50, the preorder price, is an excellent deal.
So order now, and I'll ship you a personally signed book and CD to help you actually carry out those New Year's resolutions this time.
I'm very happy to announce that my book and CD Changing Health Behaviours (formerly entitled Life Leverage) is now available for preorder from the Hypno NZ shop at the special preorder price of $17.50 (NZD) plus postage and packing.
(As at when I'm posting this, that's about $9.50 USD, 7.5 Euro or 6.3 pounds, but currency conversions can change quickly.)
The files go out today for printing (of the book) and duplication (of the CD). The preorder period lasts until 31 December 2008, after which I will begin shipping, and the price will rise to $25.00 NZD plus P&P.
Preorder books will also be personally signed by me - please provide a note with your PayPal order if you want me to write anything in particular in them.
Changing Health Behaviours is based on several sources of material. One is this very blog, Living Skillfully, and you can check out a sample of what will be in the book by reading my series on Health Behaviours and Change Techniques. Naturally, I've reworked the material, expanded it, and incorporated more from the courses I run, Befriend Your Stress and Change Your Mind, but reading the blog will give you an idea of the topics I cover, what kind of things I say about them and the quality of my writing.
The book gives sound basic advice on what a healthy lifestyle consists of and, more importantly, personal change techniques that actually work to enable you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. It includes a simple but practical introduction to using self-hypnosis and material on habit change, emotional management and change planning and execution.
The other main source is my hypnotherapy recordings. Again, you can listen to free samples of these in my podcast.
The CD which accompanies the book holds 20 MP3 tracks, all of my Healthy Lifestyle and Transformation Skills recordings, plus several extras. The total comes to over three hours. These are tracks that I give as bonuses to my clients, and the feedback I've had has been excellent.
At the end of each chapter of the book, I indicate which tracks to listen to in order to help you make the shifts of thinking, feeling and behaviour that I've been discussing in that chapter.
I normally sell these recordings on three audio CDs (Transformation Skills is a double CD set) for a total of $25, so $25 for all them (and a few extras) plus the book is a great deal, and $17.50, the preorder price, is an excellent deal.
So order now, and I'll ship you a personally signed book and CD to help you actually carry out those New Year's resolutions this time.
Monday, 31 March 2008
Amazon acts like a corporation
As a follow-up to my Print On Demand Publishers Compared post, there are three things that are starting to make me rethink my conclusion of "Next time, I'd forget about Lulu and just go with CreateSpace".
First is further unresponsiveness from CreateSpace's support. They put my book into Amazon's Search Inside the Book program, eventually. I had submitted it myself in the meantime because I wasn't sure if they were going to do it or if I had to, but it got knocked back because something was illegible (I don't know what, Amazon didn't tell me).
The version they submitted, and the version currently on Amazon at time of posting, has the same error that I had to get them to correct twice on the printed proof - all the ligatures and apostrophes have dropped out. (Click the Excerpt link on the left to see the issue.) I logged it with their support, they took what was apparently a cursory look and told me that it looked to them like the issue was fixed. I clicked the "No, this didn't resolve my problem" link and gave fuller instructions. The last I heard from them was over a week ago saying they'd sent the issue to a support specialist.
The second thing is that I have sold no copies from CreateSpace or Amazon, but I have sold some from Lulu.
And the third thing, the most disturbing, is that Amazon appears to be using its market dominance as a retailer to strongarm small publishers and self-publishers into using its print-on-demand service BookSurge, and no other print-on-demand (POD) publisher. I'm pretty unhappy about that; I'll be watching the situation and if they continue to do this (and especially if they continue not to be upfront about discussing it), I will be joining the growing boycott and pulling my listings, plus removing my Amazon Associates links here and on my other blog. Not that my tiny action will hurt Amazon, especially since they're not getting any sales of my book, but it's the principle of the thing.
First is further unresponsiveness from CreateSpace's support. They put my book into Amazon's Search Inside the Book program, eventually. I had submitted it myself in the meantime because I wasn't sure if they were going to do it or if I had to, but it got knocked back because something was illegible (I don't know what, Amazon didn't tell me).
The version they submitted, and the version currently on Amazon at time of posting, has the same error that I had to get them to correct twice on the printed proof - all the ligatures and apostrophes have dropped out. (Click the Excerpt link on the left to see the issue.) I logged it with their support, they took what was apparently a cursory look and told me that it looked to them like the issue was fixed. I clicked the "No, this didn't resolve my problem" link and gave fuller instructions. The last I heard from them was over a week ago saying they'd sent the issue to a support specialist.
The second thing is that I have sold no copies from CreateSpace or Amazon, but I have sold some from Lulu.
And the third thing, the most disturbing, is that Amazon appears to be using its market dominance as a retailer to strongarm small publishers and self-publishers into using its print-on-demand service BookSurge, and no other print-on-demand (POD) publisher. I'm pretty unhappy about that; I'll be watching the situation and if they continue to do this (and especially if they continue not to be upfront about discussing it), I will be joining the growing boycott and pulling my listings, plus removing my Amazon Associates links here and on my other blog. Not that my tiny action will hurt Amazon, especially since they're not getting any sales of my book, but it's the principle of the thing.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Print-on-demand suppliers compared: Lulu, CreateSpace, Zenith
I've just written my promised article comparing and contrasting print-on-demand suppliers (pdf). I included the local printer I used, Zenith, for a third point of comparison with Lulu and CreateSpace. Quick summary:
- CreateSpace is overall the best for my purposes: simple but functional website, free access to Amazon, price per unit comparable to Lulu. However, the only printing fault I had was from them, and their customer service isn't as good as the other two, mainly because it's so indirect.
- Zenith gave excellent customer service and were cost-effective for bulk orders for me, because they're local. Their website needs serious work, though.
- Lulu, for my purposes, weren't worthwhile because the high cost of shipping to New Zealand negated the advantage of their excellent bulk discounts. If they print locally to you, though, it would be worth using them as well as CreateSpace.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
City of Masks - NZ Printing
I just received my printing - hopefully the first of several - of 50 copies of City of Masks from Zenith.
It's been a drawn-out process, made two weeks longer by the fact that my email with the cover art never reached them and I didn't realize until I eventually asked why I hadn't heard back from them. They have much, much less functionality on their website than Lulu or CreateSpace - practically none at all, actually, it's just a brochure, and not even a particularly informative one. It doesn't even give their prices or any templates or sizes. This makes everything a lot more manual than dealing with Lulu or CreateSpace. On the other hand, you get personal service - their sales guy, Ocean Reeve, has been very helpful through the proofing process and gave me a second proof for free when the first one had an issue with the page numbers being cut off at the bottom. He also put the ISBN barcode on at no extra charge. In gratitude, I plan to write a layout guide for authors that they can put on their website, and which may help others to avoid some of the issues I had.
This is one of two events that I've been waiting for before launching Phase 2 of Operation Promote Novel. The other, which is entirely dependent on me and I should have done by now, is getting five episodes of my podcast of City of Masks together so that I can launch it on Podiobooks. I'll then put out press releases, send out review copies, and generally toot my own horn.
Speaking of which, I'm now on goodreads, which is a kind of social networking site for readers and authors. I'm thinking of putting one of their widgets in the sidebar here to show what I'm currently reading, once I get the time.
Monday, 21 January 2008
City of Masks for sale on CreateSpace
You can now buy City of Masks on CreateSpace as well as on Lulu. The corrected proof just arrived.
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to get into Amazon's catalogue. I'll then be able to do a comparison of total timing as well as all the other factors.
I should have Zenith Print as a third point of comparison fairly soon too.
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to get into Amazon's catalogue. I'll then be able to do a comparison of total timing as well as all the other factors.
I should have Zenith Print as a third point of comparison fairly soon too.
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Printing, shipping, and hoarded information
Unsatisfactory Lulu customer support experience this morning.
Not a problem with Lulu alone, of course; most "customer support" is like this. I contacted them to ask about their freight charges. Here's the chat transcript, with the identity of the agent obscured because it probably isn't her fault, and my email obscured because I get enough spam already. I don't have a transcript of the exact question I asked, but it was along these lines: "I've looked at the shipping charge for a bulk order to New Zealand and it seems very high. Can you please tell me the weight and dimensions of a parcel of 50 books, 6x9 of 128 pages, so that I can investigate other freight forwarding options for myself?"
Chat InformationWelcome to Lulu.com! An online representative will be with you shortly. Your wait time will be approximately 0 minute(s) and 8 seconds. Thank you for waiting.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with '[Lulu agent]'
[Lulu agent]: Welcome to Lulu. Please hold while I review your question.
[Lulu agent]: We have not heard from you. Do you wish to continue the chat?
[me]: Yes, I was holding as you asked.
[Lulu agent]: Sorry the message is automated
[me]: OK
(pause)
[me]: So do you have an answer to my question?
[Lulu agent]: Lulu charges actual shipping costs based on the size, type and weight of the item you are purchasing. The simplest way to see how much shipping would cost would be to add the item to your cart. You do not need to complete the order, but this will allow you to see the various shipping options.
[Lulu agent]: The best way to determine the cost of your book is to use the book cost calculator. You can obtain pricing for different trim sizes as well as see quantity discounts.
[Lulu agent]: http://www.lulu.com/includes/calc_book_inc.php
[me]: Yes, I've done that, that's how I know how much it is and it seems way too much. Sending it to California would cost $17.30; sending it to NZ costs $245. That's almost $5 a book. That's why I'd like the opportunity to see if I can find an alternative shipping method for myself.
[Lulu agent]: Here is a list of all the methods of shipping that we offer and how long they take.
[Lulu agent]: http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fSymbol=shipping_options_intl
[me]: I've seen that too. Are you going to answer the question I am asking, please?
[Lulu agent]: You have to follow the options that lulu offers
[me]: So you have no way of giving me the dimensions and weight of the package, even though that must be known in order to calculate the shipping at your end?
[Lulu agent]: Sorry, the only way is to add the item to your cart. You do not need to complete the order, but this will allow you to see the various shipping options
[me]: OK, clearly you aren't going to answer my question. Thanks anyway.
Since that conversation I've been poking around online and trying to find out how much the shipping would be with various providers - as best I could given that Lulu wouldn't tell me the size of the parcel, which is what the various online freight calculators ask you, of course, hence my call. As best I can determine that is actually what it costs to ship a parcel that size across the Pacific - it's $17.30 from Raleigh, North Carolina to Bakersfield, California, but it's about another $230 or so from there to New Zealand. No wonder everything's so expensive here (leaving aside the 12.5% goods and services tax the government puts on everything - yes, including books).
This would mean that either I have to sell the books for about $20 each or I'll hardly make anything from each one.
My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece are flying over in June, but it seems a bit much to ask them to bring a parcel which probably weighs between 25lb and 45lb - I don't know exactly, because Lulu won't tell me - plus I don't want to wait until June to get them.
Geography still matters in the modern world, when you're shipping atoms rather than bits.
It may be worth my while to check out that local short-run printer and see what they can do for me - even if their per-unit price is higher the shipping may balance it out. They don't have a rate card or a cost calculator online, which is one of my pet peeves - they must have a rate card somewhere, so why not share it with their customers? Saves everyone a lot of messing about.
Information age, people. Information age. Don't lock up the information, it wants to be free.
EDIT: the local New Zealand printer (Zenith Print) quotes me $568.13 (including GST and shipping, with a free proof) for 50 copies. It means setting up the files slightly differently again and means I will have books at three different sizes from three different printers, but it saves me about $140 over the 50 copies, or almost $3 a unit, when you take exchange rates into account (and exchange rates USD/NZD are the most in our favour that they've been since about the 1980s at the moment; if they drop again the difference is bigger). I'm also dealing with one, real person in my own timezone, who answers emails quickly.
I did tell her that I probably would have enquired earlier if they had their rates up on their website - she had said in response to my initial inquiry:
"The reason we don't have a rate card is because there is no SET pricing we offer. The quote request allows us to communicate with the customer, ensure we are getting the best product for them. I'll do the maths and have a quote back within 15 minutes."
Which she couldn't do unless she had a rate card. Could she?
How good will their service be? Watch this space.
Not a problem with Lulu alone, of course; most "customer support" is like this. I contacted them to ask about their freight charges. Here's the chat transcript, with the identity of the agent obscured because it probably isn't her fault, and my email obscured because I get enough spam already. I don't have a transcript of the exact question I asked, but it was along these lines: "I've looked at the shipping charge for a bulk order to New Zealand and it seems very high. Can you please tell me the weight and dimensions of a parcel of 50 books, 6x9 of 128 pages, so that I can investigate other freight forwarding options for myself?"
Chat InformationWelcome to Lulu.com! An online representative will be with you shortly. Your wait time will be approximately 0 minute(s) and 8 seconds. Thank you for waiting.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with '[Lulu agent]'
[Lulu agent]: Welcome to Lulu. Please hold while I review your question.
[Lulu agent]: We have not heard from you. Do you wish to continue the chat?
[me]: Yes, I was holding as you asked.
[Lulu agent]: Sorry the message is automated
[me]: OK
(pause)
[me]: So do you have an answer to my question?
[Lulu agent]: Lulu charges actual shipping costs based on the size, type and weight of the item you are purchasing. The simplest way to see how much shipping would cost would be to add the item to your cart. You do not need to complete the order, but this will allow you to see the various shipping options.
[Lulu agent]: The best way to determine the cost of your book is to use the book cost calculator. You can obtain pricing for different trim sizes as well as see quantity discounts.
[Lulu agent]: http://www.lulu.com/includes/calc_book_inc.php
[me]: Yes, I've done that, that's how I know how much it is and it seems way too much. Sending it to California would cost $17.30; sending it to NZ costs $245. That's almost $5 a book. That's why I'd like the opportunity to see if I can find an alternative shipping method for myself.
[Lulu agent]: Here is a list of all the methods of shipping that we offer and how long they take.
[Lulu agent]: http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fSymbol=shipping_options_intl
[me]: I've seen that too. Are you going to answer the question I am asking, please?
[Lulu agent]: You have to follow the options that lulu offers
[me]: So you have no way of giving me the dimensions and weight of the package, even though that must be known in order to calculate the shipping at your end?
[Lulu agent]: Sorry, the only way is to add the item to your cart. You do not need to complete the order, but this will allow you to see the various shipping options
[me]: OK, clearly you aren't going to answer my question. Thanks anyway.
Since that conversation I've been poking around online and trying to find out how much the shipping would be with various providers - as best I could given that Lulu wouldn't tell me the size of the parcel, which is what the various online freight calculators ask you, of course, hence my call. As best I can determine that is actually what it costs to ship a parcel that size across the Pacific - it's $17.30 from Raleigh, North Carolina to Bakersfield, California, but it's about another $230 or so from there to New Zealand. No wonder everything's so expensive here (leaving aside the 12.5% goods and services tax the government puts on everything - yes, including books).
This would mean that either I have to sell the books for about $20 each or I'll hardly make anything from each one.
My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece are flying over in June, but it seems a bit much to ask them to bring a parcel which probably weighs between 25lb and 45lb - I don't know exactly, because Lulu won't tell me - plus I don't want to wait until June to get them.
Geography still matters in the modern world, when you're shipping atoms rather than bits.
It may be worth my while to check out that local short-run printer and see what they can do for me - even if their per-unit price is higher the shipping may balance it out. They don't have a rate card or a cost calculator online, which is one of my pet peeves - they must have a rate card somewhere, so why not share it with their customers? Saves everyone a lot of messing about.
Information age, people. Information age. Don't lock up the information, it wants to be free.
EDIT: the local New Zealand printer (Zenith Print) quotes me $568.13 (including GST and shipping, with a free proof) for 50 copies. It means setting up the files slightly differently again and means I will have books at three different sizes from three different printers, but it saves me about $140 over the 50 copies, or almost $3 a unit, when you take exchange rates into account (and exchange rates USD/NZD are the most in our favour that they've been since about the 1980s at the moment; if they drop again the difference is bigger). I'm also dealing with one, real person in my own timezone, who answers emails quickly.
I did tell her that I probably would have enquired earlier if they had their rates up on their website - she had said in response to my initial inquiry:
"The reason we don't have a rate card is because there is no SET pricing we offer. The quote request allows us to communicate with the customer, ensure we are getting the best product for them. I'll do the maths and have a quote back within 15 minutes."
Which she couldn't do unless she had a rate card. Could she?
How good will their service be? Watch this space.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
City of Masks for sale on Lulu
You can now buy City of Masks on Lulu. I had just finished recording the next podcast episode and was about to start editing when there was a pounding on the door, and there was the courier with a very large and well-packed package, containing my proof. As far as I can see there are no printing errors, so - the book is officially available.
W00t!
The CreateSpace corrected version is on its way to me now and should arrive this week (based on past performance). Based on the emails I got from their support people, they went through exactly the same steps this time as last time, suggesting that they need to improve their ability as a "learning organization" so that they only have to fix problems once.
Once that proof arrives, I'll do a major post comparing Lulu and CreateSpace step-by-step, feature-by-feature. At the moment I have to say I wouldn't be using CreateSpace except for the access they give to Amazon (and their audiobook and multi-disk CD capabilities), but their site is somewhat less cluttered and, for me, slightly easier to use.
I had fewer (in fact, no) printing hassles with Lulu, whose pricing is slightly better for single books and much better for bulk.
(Their freight prices to NZ are just ridiculous, though. If I get 50 books shipped to NZ, it's $245.16 (USD) for shipping and it'll cost me $14 (NZD) per unit in total, for printing, postage and packaging. Shipped to US: $31.60 (USD) for shipping, $8.58 (NZD) per unit. Actually, if I select USPS Media Mail instead of UPS as my shipping option, it's only $17.30 (USD) for shipping and $8.21 (NZD) per unit. So I'll be asking my parents-in-law if I can trans-ship through their address in California. There's no way it'll be over $200 for them to send the package on here.)
I know that others' experiences may well differ; anyone want to share Lulu or CreateSpace stories, good or bad?
W00t!
The CreateSpace corrected version is on its way to me now and should arrive this week (based on past performance). Based on the emails I got from their support people, they went through exactly the same steps this time as last time, suggesting that they need to improve their ability as a "learning organization" so that they only have to fix problems once.
Once that proof arrives, I'll do a major post comparing Lulu and CreateSpace step-by-step, feature-by-feature. At the moment I have to say I wouldn't be using CreateSpace except for the access they give to Amazon (and their audiobook and multi-disk CD capabilities), but their site is somewhat less cluttered and, for me, slightly easier to use.
I had fewer (in fact, no) printing hassles with Lulu, whose pricing is slightly better for single books and much better for bulk.
(Their freight prices to NZ are just ridiculous, though. If I get 50 books shipped to NZ, it's $245.16 (USD) for shipping and it'll cost me $14 (NZD) per unit in total, for printing, postage and packaging. Shipped to US: $31.60 (USD) for shipping, $8.58 (NZD) per unit. Actually, if I select USPS Media Mail instead of UPS as my shipping option, it's only $17.30 (USD) for shipping and $8.21 (NZD) per unit. So I'll be asking my parents-in-law if I can trans-ship through their address in California. There's no way it'll be over $200 for them to send the package on here.)
I know that others' experiences may well differ; anyone want to share Lulu or CreateSpace stories, good or bad?
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
I'm in iTunes, and other book news
The first episode of the City of Masks podcast is up, and can be found in iTunes. That's pretty exciting.
I'm having some problems recording the second episode - getting clipping of the sound for some reason.
Once I have five episodes, I can load them up to podiobooks.com (they've already approved my first episode as meeting their quite high standards).
On the race between Lulu and CreateSpace, so far we have:
Submitted: Thursday 3 January (both)
Ordered: Thursday 3 January (Lulu), Saturday 5 January (CreateSpace) - because CreateSpace has a manual checking process before you can order.
Shipped: Saturday 5 January (CreateSpace), Tuesday 8 January (Lulu). So CreateSpace achieved same-day shipping, while Lulu took 5 days.
Judging by previous experience, the CreateSpace one could be here today or tomorrow, at which point (all being well) the book will go on sale via CreateSpace and Amazon. Which is thrilling.
EDIT 10 January: Well, CreateSpace wins the race, except that they have sent me a proof with the same issue as the first proof I got - all the ligatures and apostrophes have dropped out. This is a mark against them, getting the same thing wrong twice on the same title - they need to tighten up their procedures. So no book for sale just yet.
Hopefully the Lulu proof won't have the same problem (or any others). It should arrive about Monday or Tuesday judging by the CreateSpace one's transit time.
EDIT 16 January: It was actually Wednesday, i.e. today, and I have another post comparing my experience with Lulu and CreateSpace so far.
I'm having some problems recording the second episode - getting clipping of the sound for some reason.
Once I have five episodes, I can load them up to podiobooks.com (they've already approved my first episode as meeting their quite high standards).
On the race between Lulu and CreateSpace, so far we have:
Submitted: Thursday 3 January (both)
Ordered: Thursday 3 January (Lulu), Saturday 5 January (CreateSpace) - because CreateSpace has a manual checking process before you can order.
Shipped: Saturday 5 January (CreateSpace), Tuesday 8 January (Lulu). So CreateSpace achieved same-day shipping, while Lulu took 5 days.
Judging by previous experience, the CreateSpace one could be here today or tomorrow, at which point (all being well) the book will go on sale via CreateSpace and Amazon. Which is thrilling.
EDIT 10 January: Well, CreateSpace wins the race, except that they have sent me a proof with the same issue as the first proof I got - all the ligatures and apostrophes have dropped out. This is a mark against them, getting the same thing wrong twice on the same title - they need to tighten up their procedures. So no book for sale just yet.
Hopefully the Lulu proof won't have the same problem (or any others). It should arrive about Monday or Tuesday judging by the CreateSpace one's transit time.
EDIT 16 January: It was actually Wednesday, i.e. today, and I have another post comparing my experience with Lulu and CreateSpace so far.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Dual-wielding Lulu and CreateSpace
Erin finished reading my CreateSpace proof copy of City of Masks yesterday (the replacement one that they sent after they sorted out why the ligatures were disappearing), so today I made the edits, re-uploaded the files, and also uploaded the Lulu versions. I made the mistake of setting the size for the CreateSpace edition, completely arbitrarily, to 8.5 x 5.5 inches, and that's a size that Lulu doesn't offer. Next time it'll be 9 x 6 for both and I'll be able to use the same interior file (though I'll still have to make a small change to the cover, as CreateSpace has more trim on their cover spec than Lulu).
I'm using both services because CreateSpace gets me into Amazon for free, but Lulu gives me much better discounts for bulk orders - they cut in earlier (at 26 copies instead of 50) and are more generous, so it's worth my while to put the book through them as well so that I can order bulk copies to sell directly off my website, to give to people who helped me by offering critique, to send out for review, give to my family and all the rest of the things one does.
There weren't very many changes. One was to the blurb, which was originally written before I finished the book. Blurbs are traditionally written last of all (I know, because when I worked as a book editor I was several times called on at the last moment to do so). So I souped it up following her suggestions. It now uses the keywords "adventure" and "Shakespeare".
Another was slightly embarrassing. Erin didn't know what "barratry" was (in a short list of crimes), and when she asked me, I had to confess that I wasn't sure either, but I thought it was some sort of violent crime, like assault. "You really shouldn't use words that you don't know the meaning of," she said, and as is so often* the case, she was right. I looked it up today. The connection with assault was all in my head (probably because it sounds like "battery"). It's the crime of, among other things, sinking a ship in order to claim the insurance. So I changed it to "assault".
I want to write in depth on the differences between the two print-on-demand houses, but a couple of them I found today: Lulu have automatic, immediate checking that your uploaded cover file is the right size (because of an error I'd made - confusing points and pixels - mine wasn't). CreateSpace's checking is apparently manual, or at least batched overnight.
The other difference is that CreateSpace insists that you receive and sign off a proof before you can release the book; Lulu suggests that it's a really good idea to get one before selling, but you don't have to.
So now the two are racing, since I uploaded the files immediately after one another. Who will win?
*But not always. Sorry, Chook.
I'm using both services because CreateSpace gets me into Amazon for free, but Lulu gives me much better discounts for bulk orders - they cut in earlier (at 26 copies instead of 50) and are more generous, so it's worth my while to put the book through them as well so that I can order bulk copies to sell directly off my website, to give to people who helped me by offering critique, to send out for review, give to my family and all the rest of the things one does.
There weren't very many changes. One was to the blurb, which was originally written before I finished the book. Blurbs are traditionally written last of all (I know, because when I worked as a book editor I was several times called on at the last moment to do so). So I souped it up following her suggestions. It now uses the keywords "adventure" and "Shakespeare".
Another was slightly embarrassing. Erin didn't know what "barratry" was (in a short list of crimes), and when she asked me, I had to confess that I wasn't sure either, but I thought it was some sort of violent crime, like assault. "You really shouldn't use words that you don't know the meaning of," she said, and as is so often* the case, she was right. I looked it up today. The connection with assault was all in my head (probably because it sounds like "battery"). It's the crime of, among other things, sinking a ship in order to claim the insurance. So I changed it to "assault".
I want to write in depth on the differences between the two print-on-demand houses, but a couple of them I found today: Lulu have automatic, immediate checking that your uploaded cover file is the right size (because of an error I'd made - confusing points and pixels - mine wasn't). CreateSpace's checking is apparently manual, or at least batched overnight.
The other difference is that CreateSpace insists that you receive and sign off a proof before you can release the book; Lulu suggests that it's a really good idea to get one before selling, but you don't have to.
So now the two are racing, since I uploaded the files immediately after one another. Who will win?
*But not always. Sorry, Chook.
Friday, 14 December 2007
City of Masks proof
The City of Masks proof arrived from CreateSpace just now - impressive, considering that it was shipped on Tuesday (and I ordered it on Monday). Especially impressive this close to Christmas.
The cover looks great, title, cover illo, C-Side Media logo, even the spine text is correctly aligned, despite CreateSpace's dire warnings about the risks of putting text on the spine of a book under 130 pages (it's 128).
However, something's gone wrong with the ligatures in the interior copy, and the letter combination "fi" has dropped out almost everywhere it occurs (also fl, all apostrophes, and probably some others). It looks fine in the PDF I have here. I've just sent a support request; hopefully they can help me out.
I was going to do another proof in any case, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm now planning to dual-publish at CreateSpace and Lulu. Lulu has much better pricing once you start buying in bulk, but getting distribution through Amazon with Lulu is relatively complicated, costs extra, and has certain limitations, so publishing through both at once makes sense. Unfortunately, when I was doing the original CreateSpace setup I picked the size 8.5 x 5.5 inches, completely arbitrarily - and Lulu doesn't print in that size. They both do 9 x 6, which just involves putting an extra quarter-inch all the way around the pages, so I should be able to do that without too many issues. (EDIT: No, I can't. CreateSpace doesn't let you change your mind about the trim size after you've ordered the first proof. Damn!)
The other reason I need to revise it is that I put a URL on the cover and in the front matter for a Wordpress blog, before I'd thoroughly investigated the functionality available at wordpress.com. I was relying on a description I'd read that said "Wordpress can do such-and-such", without realizing that while Wordpress the application can do a great many things when hosted on your own site, Wordpress the site is very sandboxed and paranoid and will let you do hardly any of them. In particular, you can't put HTML in your Wordpress blog which includes a form, so I can't include a signup form for my mailing list on the blog. That's a dealbreaker for me; people are much more likely, in my opinion, to sign up from a simple form than they are from just a link. So I'm going to be using city-of-masks.blogspot.com as my promotional blog for the book.
I'm planning to record myself reading the book and release it as a series of podcasts, then sell it as an audiobook. I may even, if I get myself organized, release the podcasts on the corresponding dates to the dates in Gregorius's journal (most of the book is told through journal entries). That would be kind of fun, and would give me a deadline.
The cover looks great, title, cover illo, C-Side Media logo, even the spine text is correctly aligned, despite CreateSpace's dire warnings about the risks of putting text on the spine of a book under 130 pages (it's 128).
However, something's gone wrong with the ligatures in the interior copy, and the letter combination "fi" has dropped out almost everywhere it occurs (also fl, all apostrophes, and probably some others). It looks fine in the PDF I have here. I've just sent a support request; hopefully they can help me out.
I was going to do another proof in any case, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm now planning to dual-publish at CreateSpace and Lulu. Lulu has much better pricing once you start buying in bulk, but getting distribution through Amazon with Lulu is relatively complicated, costs extra, and has certain limitations, so publishing through both at once makes sense. Unfortunately, when I was doing the original CreateSpace setup I picked the size 8.5 x 5.5 inches, completely arbitrarily - and Lulu doesn't print in that size. They both do 9 x 6, which just involves putting an extra quarter-inch all the way around the pages, so I should be able to do that without too many issues. (EDIT: No, I can't. CreateSpace doesn't let you change your mind about the trim size after you've ordered the first proof. Damn!)
The other reason I need to revise it is that I put a URL on the cover and in the front matter for a Wordpress blog, before I'd thoroughly investigated the functionality available at wordpress.com. I was relying on a description I'd read that said "Wordpress can do such-and-such", without realizing that while Wordpress the application can do a great many things when hosted on your own site, Wordpress the site is very sandboxed and paranoid and will let you do hardly any of them. In particular, you can't put HTML in your Wordpress blog which includes a form, so I can't include a signup form for my mailing list on the blog. That's a dealbreaker for me; people are much more likely, in my opinion, to sign up from a simple form than they are from just a link. So I'm going to be using city-of-masks.blogspot.com as my promotional blog for the book.
I'm planning to record myself reading the book and release it as a series of podcasts, then sell it as an audiobook. I may even, if I get myself organized, release the podcasts on the corresponding dates to the dates in Gregorius's journal (most of the book is told through journal entries). That would be kind of fun, and would give me a deadline.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
City of Masks about to be published at last
I finally decided to stop waiting until I was happy with the game for City of Masks and just publish the novel without it.I'm going through CreateSpace, since that gets me straight into Amazon (who own CreateSpace). So far it seems pretty straightforward.
I've used LyX for my typesetting, which was somewhat frustrating for a while but I finally figured out how to get it doing what I wanted. It's one of those programs that has two levels: Incredibly basic and very, very technical. I managed not to stray too far into the very, very technical side but it did take me some messing about. I'll be able to use it much faster next time.
I did the cover in Inkscape, because I find the Gimp totally unintuitive; I always end up frustrated whenever I try to use it. I should probably download GimpShop, which skins the Gimp to look like Photoshop. Not that I've used Photoshop for years, but it may be an easier interface to work with.
The cover illustration of the mask comes from an Italian artist, appropriately enough, at DeviantArt (donia.deviantart.com). She very kindly let me use it for free with acknowledgement.
So my total outlay for getting my book into print (and distribution) will be $5.71 USD plus shipping, for the proof to be printed and sent to me for approval. Amazing.
Publishing certainly has changed since I were a lad.
Friday, 13 April 2007
Self-publishing
So I've been doing some comparisons between Lulu and Lightning Source in terms of POD publishing. Figures in USD:
Lulu:
• Setup fee: 0.00
• Per book: purchased via Lulu 4.53, via distribution channels 1.50.
• Per page: 0.02
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 99.95, one off (gets you to Amazon, B&N etc.)
• Proof copy: whatever the normal price + shipping turns out to be; required
• ISBN barcode must be manually included
• Publisher must be Lulu (unless you are US-based) in order to have distribution outside the Lulu site.
• US only
Lightning Source:
• Setup fee: 50.00 for cover, 0.15 per page (electronic)
• Per book: 0.90
• Per page: 0.013 (0.015 for publisher direct orders, i.e. sold off my website, plus $1.50 per order handling, plus shipping)
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 12.00 per year
• Proof copy: 30.00 per copy; required
• ISBN barcode automatically included
• Publisher can be me.
• Also UK - separate setup, similar terms.
So being the nerd I am, I did a spreadsheet, and it looks like this:
I'm assuming a 5-year period, so the catalogue fee for LSI is $60.
Assuming I've got the calculations right, that makes a pretty convincing case for Lightning Source if I expect to sell more than 30 copies of my 100-page book, and as the page count rises that difference between 0.02 and 0.013 per page just has a stronger and stronger impact.
Not a really big surprise, since if I understand correctly Lulu prints through Lightning Source themselves. But interesting.
Lulu:
• Setup fee: 0.00
• Per book: purchased via Lulu 4.53, via distribution channels 1.50.
• Per page: 0.02
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 99.95, one off (gets you to Amazon, B&N etc.)
• Proof copy: whatever the normal price + shipping turns out to be; required
• ISBN barcode must be manually included
• Publisher must be Lulu (unless you are US-based) in order to have distribution outside the Lulu site.
• US only
Lightning Source:
• Setup fee: 50.00 for cover, 0.15 per page (electronic)
• Per book: 0.90
• Per page: 0.013 (0.015 for publisher direct orders, i.e. sold off my website, plus $1.50 per order handling, plus shipping)
• Distribution/catalogue fee: 12.00 per year
• Proof copy: 30.00 per copy; required
• ISBN barcode automatically included
• Publisher can be me.
• Also UK - separate setup, similar terms.
So being the nerd I am, I did a spreadsheet, and it looks like this:
| Num pages | Num books | Per book (Lulu) | Per book (LSI) | Better deal |
| 100 | 1 | 113.45 | 157.20 | Lulu |
| 100 | 10 | 14.50 | 17.70 | Lulu |
| 100 | 20 | 9.00 | 9.95 | Lulu |
| 100 | 25 | 7.90 | 8.40 | Lulu |
| 100 | 30 | 7.17 | 7.37 | Lulu |
| 100 | 40 | 6.25 | 6.08 | LSI |
| 100 | 50 | 5.70 | 5.30 | LSI |
| 100 | 100 | 4.60 | 3.75 | LSI |
| 100 | 200 | 4.05 | 2.98 | LSI |
| 100 | 500 | 3.72 | 2.51 | LSI |
| 100 | 1000 | 3.61 | 2.36 | LSI |
| 100 | 2000 | 3.55 | 2.28 | LSI |
| 100 | 3000 | 3.54 | 2.25 | LSI |
| 100 | 5000 | 3.52 | 2.23 | LSI |
| 150 | 1 | 114.45 | 165.35 | Lulu |
| 150 | 10 | 15.50 | 19.10 | Lulu |
| 150 | 20 | 10.00 | 10.98 | Lulu |
| 150 | 25 | 8.90 | 9.35 | Lulu |
| 150 | 30 | 8.17 | 8.27 | Lulu |
| 150 | 40 | 7.25 | 6.91 | LSI |
| 150 | 50 | 6.70 | 6.10 | LSI |
| 150 | 100 | 5.60 | 4.48 | LSI |
| 150 | 200 | 5.05 | 3.66 | LSI |
| 150 | 500 | 4.72 | 3.18 | LSI |
| 150 | 1000 | 4.61 | 3.01 | LSI |
| 150 | 2000 | 4.55 | 2.93 | LSI |
| 150 | 3000 | 4.54 | 2.90 | LSI |
| 150 | 5000 | 4.52 | 2.88 | LSI |
| 200 | 1 | 115.45 | 173.50 | Lulu |
| 200 | 10 | 16.50 | 20.50 | Lulu |
| 200 | 20 | 11.00 | 12.00 | Lulu |
| 200 | 25 | 9.90 | 10.30 | Lulu |
| 200 | 30 | 9.17 | 9.17 | Lulu |
| 200 | 40 | 8.25 | 7.75 | LSI |
| 200 | 50 | 7.70 | 6.90 | LSI |
| 200 | 100 | 6.60 | 5.20 | LSI |
| 200 | 200 | 6.05 | 4.35 | LSI |
| 200 | 500 | 5.72 | 3.84 | LSI |
| 200 | 1000 | 5.61 | 3.67 | LSI |
| 200 | 2000 | 5.55 | 3.59 | LSI |
| 200 | 3000 | 5.54 | 3.56 | LSI |
| 200 | 5000 | 5.52 | 3.53 | LSI |
| 300 | 1 | 117.45 | 189.80 | Lulu |
| 300 | 10 | 18.50 | 23.30 | Lulu |
| 300 | 20 | 13.00 | 14.05 | Lulu |
| 300 | 25 | 11.90 | 12.20 | Lulu |
| 300 | 30 | 11.17 | 10.97 | LSI |
| 300 | 40 | 10.25 | 9.43 | LSI |
| 300 | 50 | 9.70 | 8.50 | LSI |
| 300 | 100 | 8.60 | 6.65 | LSI |
| 300 | 200 | 8.05 | 5.73 | LSI |
| 300 | 500 | 7.72 | 5.17 | LSI |
| 300 | 1000 | 7.61 | 4.99 | LSI |
| 300 | 2000 | 7.55 | 4.89 | LSI |
| 300 | 3000 | 7.54 | 4.86 | LSI |
| 300 | 5000 | 7.52 | 4.84 | LSI |
| 400 | 1 | 119.45 | 206.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 10 | 20.50 | 26.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 20 | 15.00 | 16.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 25 | 13.90 | 14.10 | Lulu |
| 400 | 30 | 13.17 | 12.77 | LSI |
| 400 | 40 | 12.25 | 11.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 50 | 11.70 | 10.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 100 | 10.60 | 8.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 200 | 10.05 | 7.10 | LSI |
| 400 | 500 | 9.72 | 6.50 | LSI |
| 400 | 1000 | 9.61 | 6.30 | LSI |
| 400 | 2000 | 9.55 | 6.20 | LSI |
| 400 | 3000 | 9.54 | 6.17 | LSI |
| 400 | 5000 | 9.52 | 6.14 | LSI |
I'm assuming a 5-year period, so the catalogue fee for LSI is $60.
Assuming I've got the calculations right, that makes a pretty convincing case for Lightning Source if I expect to sell more than 30 copies of my 100-page book, and as the page count rises that difference between 0.02 and 0.013 per page just has a stronger and stronger impact.
Not a really big surprise, since if I understand correctly Lulu prints through Lightning Source themselves. But interesting.
City of Masks disappointment
I just got the rejection email from Macmillan New Writing for City of Masks.
So I guess it's off to get myself an ISBN so I can self-publish.
I am comforted by the thought of the many good books that had trouble finding publishers, and annoyed by the thought of all the crappy books that have been published.
Would have been nice to have Macmillans' distribution working for me, though.
EDIT: Not only do the National Library of New Zealand not charge you for supplying an ISBN, they emailed one to me with stunning rapidity. And a moment's Googling found me a site where you can get an ISBN made into a barcode, online, for free.
I love the Internet.
Of course, now I have to lay my book out and create, or have created, a cover on which to put the barcode.
So I guess it's off to get myself an ISBN so I can self-publish.
I am comforted by the thought of the many good books that had trouble finding publishers, and annoyed by the thought of all the crappy books that have been published.
Would have been nice to have Macmillans' distribution working for me, though.
EDIT: Not only do the National Library of New Zealand not charge you for supplying an ISBN, they emailed one to me with stunning rapidity. And a moment's Googling found me a site where you can get an ISBN made into a barcode, online, for free.
I love the Internet.
Of course, now I have to lay my book out and create, or have created, a cover on which to put the barcode.
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Crap Art
Originally posted on my Cityside blog on Thu, 09/03/2006 - 4:42pm.
I'm old enough to remember the early 1990s from the perspective of a young adult, and one of the things I remember - along with the mullets and the satin shirts
Well, actually, no. Anyone could now produce amateurish brochures and flyers. While layout machines cost tens of thousands of dollars, only professionals operated them. They did it all the time, and (with the usual variation) they knew what they were doing, they were trained, and what they produced was generally professional in appearance and quite frequently spelled correctly.
Once a computer capable of producing a brochure was available for maybe $5000, any idiot could - and many idiots did - sit down and produce one full of poor spelling and grammar, in sixteen different fonts and with the layout all over the shop. Desktop publishing, by granting access to a much wider public, vastly increased the quantity of badly done material in circulation - as well as lowering the cost and the difficulty of producing good material.
It was neither the first nor the last technology to do so, of course. Printing itself was an order of magnitude cheaper and more accessible than manuscript copying, and by the 19th century it had been around for 400 years, industrial processes had recently made it even cheaper, and increasing literacy had expanded the audience in a bootstrap effect. (Cheap printed books make it worthwhile for people who have less money to learn to read, which increases sales of books and makes them cheaper to produce because of economies of scale.) This was the era of the "penny dreadful", a precursor of "pulp fiction" (which itself was named after the cheap paper on which it was printed in numerous magazines which flourished before World War II). These were novels of, basically, zero literary merit which were sold very cheaply to the newly literate lower classes. Great outcry was had over them at the time. (These days, there would probably be rejoicing that people were reading books at all.)
And since the 1980s, technology has continued to roll on, and now you can use your computer not only to produce brochures and flyers, but to record music or even make films (with the addition of a video camera - new ones of which are now selling for under $1000 even here). Additionally, our friend the Internet provides locations where you can self-publish your novel "print-on-demand" at no or very little cost, put up your comic, your music, your movies, your digital art, your photographs, your short stories, your Harry Potter fan fiction (the opera of the fandom), and make it available to anyone who's interested - or just have the satisfaction of having produced it. You now don't need a studio behind you to make a movie or a CD, just a bit of relatively cheap gear and lots of time. Movies have been made for under $1000; people have sold their old banger of a car and financed a movie with it. The barrier to entry is incredibly low.
This means two things. The thing which is publicised, especially by the sites concerned, is that now if you have talent you don't have to convince a gatekeeper like a publisher or record company or film studio; you can go direct to the public. And this is very fine, I am 100% behind it, and I am not suggesting that the sites are being misleading (unless they imply that you will automatically be successful as a result). Publishers, record companies and film studios (and large videogame companies, who are in a business which out-earns the movies now) have a built-in problem: They are risk-averse, because they are big businesses. This means that what they make is generally what was successful last year. But what was successful last year was usually successful because it was different, not because it was the same, so what these large companies are giving us is not, in many cases, what we actually want, or what we would choose if we were aware of some of the properties that are being blocked out by the big companies because they are too different.
More and more, it is the case that we can be aware of such properties, and this is fantastic for us and for the creators, and alarming for the big companies, who see their easy money walking across the street from their symphony hall and being dropped into what, to all intents and purposes, is a guitar case on the footpath.
The other thing all this easy access means, of course, is that there is now a vast amount of crap available from which we need, somehow, to filter out the good stuff (for our definition of "good"). If it's easy to make a movie it's easy to make a bad movie (after all, the big studios manage it regularly, using professional casts, crews and scriptwriters and spending millions of dollars - as a visit to any video store underlines). This has led to at least two things: Recommendation networks, using that same Internet technology, which help us find things we'll like based on the experience of others who like the same stuff; and the Crap Art Movement.
The Crap Art Movement celebrates how easy it is to produce bad art. It seems to come from the position that the process of producing art is worthwhile and enjoyable in itself, even if the product is something that nobody else would be interested in. Pretty much the same rationale used by kindergartens, in fact, and you have to wonder, why not? If it's good for the kids to make stuff, even if we wouldn't hang it in a gallery, then maybe it's good for us to make stuff that is (allowing for better hand-eye coordination and so on) not actually any "better".
Often, Crap Art takes the form of art produced very quickly. There are film competitions in which the whole film must be scripted, shot and edited within 48 or even 24 hours. There is National Novel Writing Month, where every November people from around the world (the "National" is basically irrelevant) attempt to write an entire 70,000-word novel between the first and the 30th of the month. There is even a site called Album-A-Day, explicitly part of the Crap Art Movement as such, which promotes the creation of an entire album (20 minutes or 30 songs) in a period of 24 continuous hours, and lets you post the (probably) crappy result.
A famous scientist, and unfortunately I can't remember who (not Einstein), once suggested that the essence of innovation was learning to fail really quickly. To me, what these sites are doing is not only encouraging people to explore their creativity without obsessing about the quality or, importantly, the marketability of the product (which is a significant thing to do in a consumerist society), but also providing a context for people to fail really quickly and so move closer to the next really exciting innovation.
I remember giving a talk to the New Zealand Christian Writers' Guild sometime in the mid 1990s, when self-publishing was becoming more and more accessible (though not anything like as accessible as it is now). I had been asked to speak because I was then working in the publishing industry as an editor. My advice, as a young "expert" who was very conscious of the amount of value I added to the book publishing process, was "We're trained professionals. Don't try this at home."
I would now give rather different advice. I am probably going to self-publish at least one, and quite likely two, books this year [Note: That didn't happen], largely because the kind of books I'm writing don't fit into publishers' neat categories. (I had a rejection letter from the acquisitions editor at one very major publisher that made this clear: "While an interesting idea, I am afraid that this is not suitable for our list". Of course, she may say that to everyone.) My plan is to mobilise my network, which includes people who have done book design, people who have painted book covers, people who read a lot of books and people who have a lot of contacts who might be interested in what I'm doing. I want to produce good books, but part of my preparation for doing so has been writing some pretty bad books in the past and learning from them. Perhaps if I had been doing so more quickly (and exposing the results to the world) I might be further on than I am.
So I suppose what I'm saying is: If it's important to you to do a good job of your creativity, good for you, and take advantage of the technology which now makes it possible to do the job at all. But if you just want to have some fun and aren't too worried about the outcome, consider making some crap art. You might also learn something.
"The imperfection of the Web isn't a temporary lapse; it's a design decision. It flows directly from the fact that the Web is unmanaged and uncontrolled so that it can grow rapidly and host innovations of every sort. The designers weighed perfection against growth and creativity, and perfection lost. The Web is broken on purpose."
Which kind of reminds me of Mark Pierson's "anti-excellence".
I'm old enough to remember the early 1990s from the perspective of a young adult, and one of the things I remember - along with the mullets and the satin shirts
Well, actually, no. Anyone could now produce amateurish brochures and flyers. While layout machines cost tens of thousands of dollars, only professionals operated them. They did it all the time, and (with the usual variation) they knew what they were doing, they were trained, and what they produced was generally professional in appearance and quite frequently spelled correctly.
Once a computer capable of producing a brochure was available for maybe $5000, any idiot could - and many idiots did - sit down and produce one full of poor spelling and grammar, in sixteen different fonts and with the layout all over the shop. Desktop publishing, by granting access to a much wider public, vastly increased the quantity of badly done material in circulation - as well as lowering the cost and the difficulty of producing good material.
It was neither the first nor the last technology to do so, of course. Printing itself was an order of magnitude cheaper and more accessible than manuscript copying, and by the 19th century it had been around for 400 years, industrial processes had recently made it even cheaper, and increasing literacy had expanded the audience in a bootstrap effect. (Cheap printed books make it worthwhile for people who have less money to learn to read, which increases sales of books and makes them cheaper to produce because of economies of scale.) This was the era of the "penny dreadful", a precursor of "pulp fiction" (which itself was named after the cheap paper on which it was printed in numerous magazines which flourished before World War II). These were novels of, basically, zero literary merit which were sold very cheaply to the newly literate lower classes. Great outcry was had over them at the time. (These days, there would probably be rejoicing that people were reading books at all.)
And since the 1980s, technology has continued to roll on, and now you can use your computer not only to produce brochures and flyers, but to record music or even make films (with the addition of a video camera - new ones of which are now selling for under $1000 even here). Additionally, our friend the Internet provides locations where you can self-publish your novel "print-on-demand" at no or very little cost, put up your comic, your music, your movies, your digital art, your photographs, your short stories, your Harry Potter fan fiction (the opera of the fandom), and make it available to anyone who's interested - or just have the satisfaction of having produced it. You now don't need a studio behind you to make a movie or a CD, just a bit of relatively cheap gear and lots of time. Movies have been made for under $1000; people have sold their old banger of a car and financed a movie with it. The barrier to entry is incredibly low.
This means two things. The thing which is publicised, especially by the sites concerned, is that now if you have talent you don't have to convince a gatekeeper like a publisher or record company or film studio; you can go direct to the public. And this is very fine, I am 100% behind it, and I am not suggesting that the sites are being misleading (unless they imply that you will automatically be successful as a result). Publishers, record companies and film studios (and large videogame companies, who are in a business which out-earns the movies now) have a built-in problem: They are risk-averse, because they are big businesses. This means that what they make is generally what was successful last year. But what was successful last year was usually successful because it was different, not because it was the same, so what these large companies are giving us is not, in many cases, what we actually want, or what we would choose if we were aware of some of the properties that are being blocked out by the big companies because they are too different.
More and more, it is the case that we can be aware of such properties, and this is fantastic for us and for the creators, and alarming for the big companies, who see their easy money walking across the street from their symphony hall and being dropped into what, to all intents and purposes, is a guitar case on the footpath.
The other thing all this easy access means, of course, is that there is now a vast amount of crap available from which we need, somehow, to filter out the good stuff (for our definition of "good"). If it's easy to make a movie it's easy to make a bad movie (after all, the big studios manage it regularly, using professional casts, crews and scriptwriters and spending millions of dollars - as a visit to any video store underlines). This has led to at least two things: Recommendation networks, using that same Internet technology, which help us find things we'll like based on the experience of others who like the same stuff; and the Crap Art Movement.
The Crap Art Movement celebrates how easy it is to produce bad art. It seems to come from the position that the process of producing art is worthwhile and enjoyable in itself, even if the product is something that nobody else would be interested in. Pretty much the same rationale used by kindergartens, in fact, and you have to wonder, why not? If it's good for the kids to make stuff, even if we wouldn't hang it in a gallery, then maybe it's good for us to make stuff that is (allowing for better hand-eye coordination and so on) not actually any "better".
Often, Crap Art takes the form of art produced very quickly. There are film competitions in which the whole film must be scripted, shot and edited within 48 or even 24 hours. There is National Novel Writing Month, where every November people from around the world (the "National" is basically irrelevant) attempt to write an entire 70,000-word novel between the first and the 30th of the month. There is even a site called Album-A-Day, explicitly part of the Crap Art Movement as such, which promotes the creation of an entire album (20 minutes or 30 songs) in a period of 24 continuous hours, and lets you post the (probably) crappy result.
A famous scientist, and unfortunately I can't remember who (not Einstein), once suggested that the essence of innovation was learning to fail really quickly. To me, what these sites are doing is not only encouraging people to explore their creativity without obsessing about the quality or, importantly, the marketability of the product (which is a significant thing to do in a consumerist society), but also providing a context for people to fail really quickly and so move closer to the next really exciting innovation.
I remember giving a talk to the New Zealand Christian Writers' Guild sometime in the mid 1990s, when self-publishing was becoming more and more accessible (though not anything like as accessible as it is now). I had been asked to speak because I was then working in the publishing industry as an editor. My advice, as a young "expert" who was very conscious of the amount of value I added to the book publishing process, was "We're trained professionals. Don't try this at home."
I would now give rather different advice. I am probably going to self-publish at least one, and quite likely two, books this year [Note: That didn't happen], largely because the kind of books I'm writing don't fit into publishers' neat categories. (I had a rejection letter from the acquisitions editor at one very major publisher that made this clear: "While an interesting idea, I am afraid that this is not suitable for our list". Of course, she may say that to everyone.) My plan is to mobilise my network, which includes people who have done book design, people who have painted book covers, people who read a lot of books and people who have a lot of contacts who might be interested in what I'm doing. I want to produce good books, but part of my preparation for doing so has been writing some pretty bad books in the past and learning from them. Perhaps if I had been doing so more quickly (and exposing the results to the world) I might be further on than I am.
So I suppose what I'm saying is: If it's important to you to do a good job of your creativity, good for you, and take advantage of the technology which now makes it possible to do the job at all. But if you just want to have some fun and aren't too worried about the outcome, consider making some crap art. You might also learn something.
Links
Comic Genesis hosts webcomics for free.
Myspace hosts music for (I think) free.
Poetry.com hosts poetry for free (though they will try to tell you that your poem is good in order to convince you to buy vanity merchandise from them).
Cafepress produces books (and CDs and T-shirts and lots of other stuff) print-on-demand with no setup fee.
Lulu also produces books print-on-demand with no setup fee. They have added DVDs, CDs and calendars recently - also no setup fee.
ComixPress produces comics on-demand for cheap (they charge a setup fee).
Customflix produces DVDs on demand; they charge a setup fee and an annual renewal fee. (Disclosure: The link there carries my C-Side Media affiliate number, so if you buy anything or use their service I will get a cut.)
Openphoto.net lets you release your photos to the world for free, as long as you use a Creative Commons license.
Zoetrope welcomes your screenplay and offers tools to improve it and maybe get it filmed.
According to Wired News, "amateur" Internet TV is the next big coming thing.
[Incredibly, this was written before YouTube. Yes, it's that recent.]
The 24-hour film contest
National Novel Writing Month
Crap Art: Album-A-Day
I have also collected a couple of thousand categorised links for creativity resources of all kinds on C-Side Media, which itself will host your creative works for free (only charging a percentage if you sell copies).
I welcome suggestions of other good sites for getting your creative work to an audience cheaply or for free.
"The imperfection of the Web isn't a temporary lapse; it's a design decision. It flows directly from the fact that the Web is unmanaged and uncontrolled so that it can grow rapidly and host innovations of every sort. The designers weighed perfection against growth and creativity, and perfection lost. The Web is broken on purpose."
Which kind of reminds me of Mark Pierson's "anti-excellence".
* I should mention that I never had either a mullet or a satin shirt. I remember them on other people.
No, I'm serious.
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