ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

12 years, 9 months ago - Ian Richardson

I happily admit there is a dose of "old fartism" about my posting, but I sometimes wonder whether the only growth areas in our industry are training (often by people without a serious track record) and the promotion of self-publishing as the only way forward.

To get ahead, Shooters need not just unfailing determination, but an ability to keep their feet on the ground and their head out of the clouds.

12 years, 9 months ago - Andy Conway

I'm always puzzled as to why self-publishing prompts these dire torch-under-chin Cassandra pronouncements. It's no different to releasing your own records or (hey, this is an independent filmmakers' organisation after all) making your own films. Yes, once you've got it in the can the hard work of getting people to buy the product begins, but is anyone out there saying that's not the case?

We're not just writers any more, we're producers and distributors (if we choose to be).

12 years, 9 months ago - jane foster

> We're not just writers any more, we're producers and
> distributors (if we choose to be).

'Choose' is the operative word. There is a current trend to everyone doing everything at the moment which risks debasing quality. I can see that on line marketing and distribution whether for books, music or film or scripts can be brilliant, but for all the reasons stated I often think that unless the quality of what is being promoted comes first, there is a risk of a lot of sub standard rubbish flooding the market and this isn't good for anyone. Witness the recent demise of the micro budget digital film because everyone thought ' great' because it's cheap anyone can make a good film! Not so. distribution is doubly hard for zero budget films at present. Although many talented artists have used the web to promote their work, it has also been alongside the sort of wise help that has been mentioned here, then - go for it! The Web is a brillliant place to get careers going.

12 years, 9 months ago - Frank Anthony Polito

After publishing 3 books (2 "award-winning" novels and a novella) with a
traditional publisher, I took an idea I had for an original screenplay and
adapted it into a novel, with the goal being to find another "real" publisher to
take on the book. After an entire year, my agent was unable to find a
publisher who believed in my new novel enough to publish it -- so rather than
throwing it all away, I chose to self-pub the book via Amazon's CreateSpace
and Kindle store.

The book -- a Young Adult novel about a kid from 2012 who travels back in
time to 1994 where he meets his teenage parents on the eve of Kurt Cobain's
suicide -- went on sale in early April. To date, I've sold around 300 copies
between the paperbacks and e-book versions. This may not sound like much,
but I'm told by a friend who works for Barnes & Noble that most self-pubbed
books sell 50-100 copies total.

I agree with Mr. Richardson when he says that self-publishing a book is the
easy part and the marketing of it is "hard, hard, hard." Fortunately, I work as
a part-time book publicist, so I understand how the other side of the biz works, and I have access to media and reviewers. I also have a bit of a fan-base of folks who've read my other books, and who support me and my writing. But for other authors who are starting out fresh, the idea that they will make loads of money -- and become "famous" -- off their self-pubbed book is indeed very unlikely.

And yet we all must continue to try. (As Andy said, isn't this an indie film
organization? Self-pubbed authors are known as "indie" as well.)

Like I said, my bigger goal is to have my novel -- for which I've already written
the screenplay -- into a movie. If anyone is interested in taking a look (or
knows someone), please drop me a line. You can also check out the novel
called LOST IN THE '90s on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk