Publishing

[Lester Curtis]

Eddie,
Here:

http://quantummusebooks.com/

This seems to be a separate operation from the magazine, since I looked there first and found no mention of it.

They freely admit that they're using CreateSpace (Amazon's self-pub), but QM adds some promotion and a proofread. They seem to suggest that Amazon doesn't promote material through CS, but I think they do; look up CreateSpace and check it for yourself.

Good luck,

LC

[Lester Curtis]

Small publishers don't look so good as far as sales and distribution. Check this:

http://authorearnings.com/

Self-publishing seems to work a bit better. Problem is that you're on your own for promotion, and if you print, distribution. There's help for that, though. There are now "blended" organizations emerging to serve the self-pub market -- this seems to be one of them:

http://www.newshelves.com/

There's no free lunch; you have to pay with your time or your money (and sometimes both) to self-pub, but you can have total control of your work, and you get an overwhelming share of the profits from sales.

Going with traditional New York publishers, the hardest thing is getting in the door; you have to find an agent first. Then you lose creative control, take a tiny share of the book's earnings, and, unless you manage to get outrageously successful, you'll be abused and thrown away. This guy rants a lot about that:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

So ultimately, you have to decide what you're willing to put up with, do for yourself, and/or pay for.

The cheapest way, of course, is to e-pub on one of the more-or-less free sites, but then you have to slave at publicity.

We must all suffer for our art.