Self-publishing: What you need to know

Cnet.com of all places published a great article "Self-publishing a book" 25 thinks you need to know " by David Carnoy.  The article itself lays out the huge benefits and sizable pitfalls of self-publishing.  He talks specifically with Amazon's Booksurge division, but touches on the other large self-publishing houses.  The article talks specifically about publishing novels, but reading through, it also applies to non-fiction, children's books and graphic novels.  The logistics of marketing and selling a book, regardless of content, is the same across the board for the most part.

If you are going to take a plunge into book righting, either by looking for a publisher or going the self-publishing route, do your self a favor and scan this article.  I would add my advice based on my expierences, but really he covers all the bases.

http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/

Also, The Beat at Publisher's weekly just published an article about changes at Dimond, Comic's largest distributor, that gravely effect the small self-publisher, raising the minimum sales threshold to their service. Practically, this makes it much more difficult for a new or fringe comic book publisher to find distribution.

"According to a letter from SLG’s Dan Vado published at The Comics Reporter, at SLG’s discount level, a comic would have to sell $6000 at retail to meet the benchmark [of $2500 sales wholesale]. Comics selling this amount are well within the top 300 comics published every month, including well-known or critical faves. Quoth Vado:

The average person reading this may not realize that most small press comics (and by that I mean floppies) do not meet that benchmark. I think if the average reader knew how lousy some of our sales were they would be stunned. I can’t tell you how many times people have wandered into our booth at one convention or another and engaged me in conversation and walk out scratching their heads and reeling to find out that the comic or graphic novel they just love more than anything sold maybe 300 copies total."

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