... any advice on which "self-publishing" routes to go, & those to avoid.
It's nothing earth-shattering, but it's a bit of fun & hopefully it'll kick me in the arse to do another one (I have ideas & concepts, despite being a useless ol' git).
And I'm not using any AI to write either.
My TV show & jukebox musical are doing quite well in their respective development processes. This is just a side-wossname.
Lazy AF, but want to self-publish a "book wot I wrote" ...
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Count Steer
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Re: Lazy AF, but want to self-publish a "book wot I wrote" ...
@Slenver is yer man for info on that. He's keeping Amazon solvent these days.ABF wrote: Sun Aug 24, 2025 12:41 am ... any advice on which "self-publishing" routes to go, & those to avoid.
It's nothing earth-shattering, but it's a bit of fun & hopefully it'll kick me in the arse to do another one (I have ideas & concepts, despite being a useless ol' git).
And I'm not using any AI to write either.
My TV show & jukebox musical are doing quite well in their respective development processes. This is just a side-wossname.
There's a thread about his latest somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.
Welcome back too.
Ah. Here y'go.
viewtopic.php?t=10649
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Re: Lazy AF, but want to self-publish a "book wot I wrote" ...
I only have experience using Amazon's KDP, and a bit of Ingram Spark, plus printing myself and selling through Amazon marketplace and my own website.
All depends on what you need/want really. IS gives you access to distribution channels, so people can order via non-Amazon shops/websites, whereas KDP is of course Amazon-exclusive. Both will take all your money (
) though IS is slightly worse. It's worthwhile using both though, so you can sell via Amazon as well as other shops.
Dealing with Amazon is exactly how you might expect. It all works relatively well, but if things go wrong then you may as well go and scream at the sky. It's not like the old days when you deal with real people.
Both of the above relate to print on demand. Printing yourself is very different and does open the possibility of actually making a profit (!)... but you'll need to know that you can sell several thousand copies in advance somehow, plus be prepared to do all the work/posting etc. Doing everything yourself (ie. selling through your own website, fulfilment, taking the orders, posting) is an awful lot of work and a steep learning curve, but you do get to keep all the profits. A halfway house is selling via Marketplace, which obviously eats into any profit but does avoid the need to have your own online shop, plus you get some exposure via Amazon. Again, I've done both together for some books as a way of hedging my bets – maximising profit for direct sales while trying to drive more through Amazon.
If going the 'full' route of printing yourself, then you can deal with distributors to actually get the books available for Amazon physical shops etc, so you're essentially mirroring the entire trad publishing model. But, again, there are costs involved and you need to be in a situation where you know you have sales in the thousands waiting for you to make it worthwhile.
The only other routes I can think of are things like vanity publishers, which are the worst of all worlds and to be avoided like the plague. I don't really understand the point of those, but I guess they work for people who just want to pay someone to do all the work I guess.
In all cases, it's important to understand that nobody apart from you will be actively selling or marketing the books! I'm sure you understand that part of it, but it's amazing how many people assume that if you publish something that somehow people will automatically buy it! Sales will be approximately zero unless you find people and persuade them to buy it, via whatever marketing means you have planned.
Happy to answer any more specific questions you have.
All depends on what you need/want really. IS gives you access to distribution channels, so people can order via non-Amazon shops/websites, whereas KDP is of course Amazon-exclusive. Both will take all your money (
) though IS is slightly worse. It's worthwhile using both though, so you can sell via Amazon as well as other shops.Dealing with Amazon is exactly how you might expect. It all works relatively well, but if things go wrong then you may as well go and scream at the sky. It's not like the old days when you deal with real people.
Both of the above relate to print on demand. Printing yourself is very different and does open the possibility of actually making a profit (!)... but you'll need to know that you can sell several thousand copies in advance somehow, plus be prepared to do all the work/posting etc. Doing everything yourself (ie. selling through your own website, fulfilment, taking the orders, posting) is an awful lot of work and a steep learning curve, but you do get to keep all the profits. A halfway house is selling via Marketplace, which obviously eats into any profit but does avoid the need to have your own online shop, plus you get some exposure via Amazon. Again, I've done both together for some books as a way of hedging my bets – maximising profit for direct sales while trying to drive more through Amazon.
If going the 'full' route of printing yourself, then you can deal with distributors to actually get the books available for Amazon physical shops etc, so you're essentially mirroring the entire trad publishing model. But, again, there are costs involved and you need to be in a situation where you know you have sales in the thousands waiting for you to make it worthwhile.
The only other routes I can think of are things like vanity publishers, which are the worst of all worlds and to be avoided like the plague. I don't really understand the point of those, but I guess they work for people who just want to pay someone to do all the work I guess.
In all cases, it's important to understand that nobody apart from you will be actively selling or marketing the books! I'm sure you understand that part of it, but it's amazing how many people assume that if you publish something that somehow people will automatically buy it! Sales will be approximately zero unless you find people and persuade them to buy it, via whatever marketing means you have planned.
Happy to answer any more specific questions you have.
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Horse
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Re: Lazy AF, but want to self-publish a "book wot I wrote" ...
@Slenver
You mentioned various routes (Amazon, IS, marketing, etc), are any more suited to different types of books, or genres?
You mentioned various routes (Amazon, IS, marketing, etc), are any more suited to different types of books, or genres?
Even bland can be a type of character 
Re: Lazy AF, but want to self-publish a "book wot I wrote" ...
Hmm... not that I'm aware, I don't think. My understanding is probably more that it depends on how you're planning to market and how much of the work you're prepared to do yourself, rather than genre.Horse wrote: Sun Aug 24, 2025 10:41 am @Slenver
You mentioned various routes (Amazon, IS, marketing, etc), are any more suited to different types of books, or genres?
ie. a trad publisher will of course do all the work for you (aside from writing the book
) – you hand them a manuscript and they create an actual book from that (layout, cover design, ISBNs etc etc), and then market it and distribute it to get it into readers' hands. The other end of the spectrum is where you do all of that yourself. Create the book, get copies printed, set up a website and/or go to book fairs or whatever to sell.Utilising Amazon, IS etc is to take some kind of middle approach whereby you hand off some of that work to them, whether it's just the printing or most of it. It all just comes down to how much work/control/profit you want.
The only real difference I can think in terms of genre might be that IS can make available for distribution, whereas Amazon is restricted to Amazon. It might be that readers of a certain genre might only go to physical shops perhaps and order from there? I can't think what that genre might be, though, but it's a possibility.
There's so much involved in all this though.. I've been through the process 3 times now, all slightly different for different reasons, and there's an awful lot to learn! One thing worth perhaps adding is that I think a significant number of self-publishers only do ebooks. Printed books are where most of the work is, in terms of production and distribution/fulfilment. Avoiding a physical product keeps things a lot more lightweight in every area.
And back to the original question, in terms of being 'lazy AF' and just wanting a book published, the answer is probably a vanity publisher. These effectively attempt to mimic the trad publishers and will do all of the work. The difference is that you pay them rather than the other way around, and they won't do much (or any) of the marketing. You give them a manuscript and some money, and they hand you a few printed copies to sell, plus make the book available in Amazon and other online stores. Some consider it a scam, and it sort of is because they prey on the gullible to a degree, but it's definitely the easiest route!