Comments on: CraftyPod #98: Two Ways to Publish a Craft Book, with June Gilbank

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:32:24 +0000

I was thinking about you and your blog book a lot when I wrote this show. You are a total pioneer of crafty self-publishing!

(For anyone who hasn't heard it, Hanna and I talked about her publishing project in this show:
http://www.craftypod.com/2007/11/15/craftypod64... )

By: iHanna

iHanna — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:46:08 +0000

Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration! Thank you, great links too.

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:32:24 +0000

I was thinking about you and your blog book a lot when I wrote this show. You are a total pioneer of crafty self-publishing!

(For anyone who hasn't heard it, Hanna and I talked about her publishing project in this show:
http://www.craftypod.com/2007/11/15/craftypod64... )

By: iHanna

iHanna — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:46:08 +0000

Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration! Thank you, great links too.

By: futuregirl

futuregirl — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:18:55 +0000

Yay! Thanks, Diane.

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:03:24 +0000

Heh – Niiiiiiiiiiiiice! :-)

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:32:19 +0000

Oh, I totally agree. Been on that end myself a few times. What I love is when you pitch a book idea, are told no, and then a year or so later, the publisher comes out with the very same topic in a book!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:19:56 +0000

They do screen some work that's not ready for publishing… along with
a lot of good work that could find its own niche audience, given a
chance.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:38:32 +0000

I've thought a few times about self-publishing, but I don't think I am ready for all the extra work. I also have to confess a little bias against the idea. To a certain extent, publishers do help screen out some work that isn't worth publishing IMHO.

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:40:24 +0000

Dang, you know – I should be kicked for not including that link in the
show notes! Here 'tis:

http://www.craftypod.com/2008/09/26/craftypod-7...

By: futuregirl

futuregirl — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:14:30 +0000

Great podcast! OMG, I love June's accent! Great information about publishing. I need to find that previous podcast with your publisher and Chronicle Books.

By: abbyglassenberg

abbyglassenberg — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:20:20 +0000

Totally. The amount of time put in to creating and writing and then
promoting a craft book most certainly puts it in the labor of love
category. I do feel fortunate to be able to take on this project
because I do really love working on it, but certainly none of us are
making any kind of big profits from authoring craft books. Thank you
again for delving into this topic. It really is food for thought.

-Abby

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:19:18 +0000

Good point, Abby - as I mentioned in the show, my experiences are
general guidelines, and every book deal is indeed different.

I do feel compelled to point out, though, that royalty payments are
still dependent on a book selling enough copies to reimburse the
publisher for the costs of production. So, if the book doesn't sell
enough copies, those royalties won't happen. In this down economy, and
with media in general undergoing massive transformation, book sales
are sharply down.

So, I believe those royalties are pretty hard to come by. But I
sincerely hope your book proves me very wrong. :-)

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:24:05 +0000

Good point, Abby - as I mentioned in the show, my experiences are general guidelines, and every book deal is indeed different.

I do feel compelled to point out, though, that royalty payments are still dependent on a book selling enough copies to reimburse the publisher for the costs of production. So, if the book doesn't sell enough copies, those royalties won't happen. In this down economy, and with media in general undergoing massive transformation, book sales are sharply down.

An author needs to put a lot more (unpaid) time and effort into helping to generate book sales than ever before, and that time counts against profitablilty, too.

So, I believe those royalties are pretty hard to come by. But I sincerely hope your book proves me very wrong. :-)

By: abbyglassenberg

abbyglassenberg — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:08:04 +0000

This was a great podcast on such an interesting topic.

I have a book due out with Interweave in the winter of 2010 so I am in the midst of the writing and creating process right now (my manuscript is due in December). I wanted to clarify that the advance that an author receives is an advance against future royalties. In my experience, the author can determine how much to take as an advance. If you choose a smaller amount (in my case, getting half upon signing the contract and half upon submitting the manuscript), you can expect to see royalties from you book, even within the first year. This can be an encouraging feeling for authors. I wanted to share that because it is different from what Diane shared as her experience with advances and royalties.