IWSG November 2013
IWSG, brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh, occurs once a month and exists for writers to voice their insecurities and offer advice. The official website, www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com has been a priceless commodity in my studying and research as of late. I encourage any one interested in writing to have a look!
I've chosen to self publish. This isn't the blog where I go into a ton of detail as to why. This is also not the blog where I talk about the electronic version of the book. For the sake of IWSG, there's one subject that has been plaguing me above all in my mad race to get the Kickstarter going for my book.
And that is - Who's doing the printing, Lightning Source or CreateSpace?
Why CreateSpace?
Amazon owns them. And there's no better way of having VIP service on Amazon (where lots of books are sold, last I checked) than by befriending their lil cousin CreateSpace. The setup fee is minimal, proof copy is like five bucks, and there's no exclusivity to their contract. Besides, Lightning Source is going to push me off onto their gimpy brother IngramSpark, who specializes in small publishers, moderates trade discount to 55%, and has NO visible contact information anywhere on their website!
So, easy choice, right? Then why even consider Lightning Source.
(And don't everyone attack me at once for regurgitating the consensus of the world wide web)
Quality. I can't tell you how many websites I've traveled looking for an answer. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. And the vast majority sing praises of Lightning Source's superior print quality over every other service. I wouldn't know personally, I've never seen examples of their work. I can only consider the source.
But even if everyone is wrong about their quality, I want a hardcover of my book to exist. CreateSpace won't do it. And this is something about which I will not compromise.
So, injure my print-book Amazon exposure, climb in bed with a clumsy toddler company, and sacrifice personal profit just to own the perfect copy of my book?
To answer that I need to determine my objective...
- I want to bring Silexare to life, one story at a time, consistently achieving the very highest quality so that readers might find unqualified delight, despite any costs or compromises to my financial gain.