Thursday 18 February 2010

A Novel Approach


You’ve had two books published to critical acclaim. Your next manuscript garners exciting reviews from commissioning editor and your peers...but you can’t gain any concrete interest from a publisher so it remains a stream of words in a digital file.


Here’s what a couple of respected names have said about the book concerned...

“A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny. Imagine, if you can, a cross between Flann O’Brien and Raymond Chandler.” – John Banville, Booker Prize-winning author of THE SEA



“A GONZO NOIR is unlike anything else you’ll read this year … Laugh-out-loud funny … This is writing at its dazzling, cleverest zenith. Think John Fowles, via Paul Auster and Rolling Stone … a feat of extraordinary alchemy.” – Ken Bruen, author of AMERICAN SKIN



Sound brilliant doesn’t it? But the publishers are saying the book lacks commercial appeal. And a writer with a track record and a proven readership goes without a contract.

What do you do in this situation? Do you give up on a book that you know is worthwhile or do you try and come up with a fresh way of bringing it to the market?

Well, Declan Burke is planning on doing just that. Rather than have his work wither in a file he has decided to self-publish with a difference. Print-On-Demand gives writers a chance to see their work in print for a relatively modest outlay, but what Dec is doing with it is testing the waters before any money is spent. I’ll let him explain this in more detail....



“Generally speaking, self-publishing involves a writer investing his or her own hard-earned money in having a book published, and then hoping that enough readers will buy the book to make it worth his or her while. Generally speaking, I tend to go about things backasswards, so I’m going to invert the conventional model and ask the readers to put their money where my mouth is. It’s a variation on crowdfunding, in which a reader pledges a certain amount of money to see the book published, and in return receives a copy of the book when it sees the light of day.”



I’d love to see this succeed. For more details why don’t you visit Dec’s excellent blog and see for yourself. It can be found at http://crimealwayspays.blogspot.com/

3 comments:

  1. check out writerunboxed.com - specifically, Ray Rhamey's decision to podcast his book to get it out there. lots of innovation out there among pub'd and pre-pub'd authors, i think

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  2. michael, marlee, writerunboxed.com is looking for an unpub'd once a month contributor for their writer's blog. if your interested.

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  3. Thea, I keep meaning to look in on writerunboxed. Thanks for the reminder.

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