Tag Archive: self-publishing

Why I chose to self-publish

When I decided to take Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons and publish it on my own, I did not take the decision lightly. After all, I had been on a modest roll, with three traditionally published books I authored or coauthored hitting shelves in three years. Advocates of self-publishing are often driven by a “screw the man! Don’t let corporations decide what deserves to be published!” attitude, which is in and of itself not a bad thing … they just forget to tell you how much work self-publishing is, and shrug away any explanation of what traditional publishers do for authors. I’ve been happy with traditional publishers. My first three books — Stuff Every Husband Should Know, and coauthor on A Year of Hitchcock and…
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Always thrilling when someone reads your work, but…

… nothing has been as personally gratifying as the response to my book on Lakehurst. I’ve written about legendary film directors, relationships, geek culture and more, but this is something special to me — and it’s made even more special by the fact that old friends, teachers, people I knew in my youth, their parents, and many others are getting it and are interested in it and are reading it. I’ve gotten random calls at home, emails from people I’ve never met, invitations to do presentations and interviews, requests to sign books for the holidays, and more. Considering I just sort of quietly slipped it out there at the last minute, no adverting or promotion outside this blog and Facebook, the positive response has been…
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My Lakehurst book is here, so that’s pretty cool

Even though the real work now begins — I frickin’ hate promotion — I feel like I’ve come to the end of a long road. See, Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons, my book on the history of the Pine Barrens town best known for the Hindenburg disaster, is finally ready for public consumption. I’ve been pecking away at this book since 2002, first as a short series of articles for a local newspaper, later as an expanded series of more in-depth stories on local history, and finally as this book. It is not only comprehensive and (I hope) engaging to read, it’s also a very personal project for me. It’d been hard to let the project go and just call it DONE. When I lasted…
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So I have this book coming out next week…

After three books I’ve authored or coauthored, each released by traditional publishers, Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons will be my first self-published book (not counting the Pitched! comics, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). That means with a little help from my friends, I had to do it all, from writing to editing to layout to cover design… Looks pretty cool, no? This book will officially be available by December 1, but if you read this blog or follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll have first crack at it. I expect it to be ready for sale in a week or so. Honestly? I think it’s my best so far. If you’re from the area I write about or not, check it out. This is…
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Thinking about doing some self-publishing, part 2

Yesterday I posted about self-publishing a local history book. Niche works like that are ideal candidates for self-publishing. An author with the will and skill can more effectively reach his or her target audience than a publisher, even a specialty publisher, and be more financially successful with it in the process. Yet that’s not what prompted me to start yesterday’s post, so let me pick up where I left off: I’m thinking of self-publishing some fiction. A short story collection or three. Digitally. My thought is, why not? These days print outlets for short fiction are few and far between. Most are already digital, and many are fly-by-night. Short story collections are generally only viable for established authors. While I’ll have a second book out…
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