A warning about Bowker Books in Print

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When I published my first novel, Baby Jane, I inputted my title information into the Bowker Books in Print catalogue well after the book was released. For this new title, The Global Indie Author, I thought I was being more organized by inputting my title information as soon as it became available. BIG MISTAKE. Why? With print-on-demand, a manufacturer/distributor like Lightning Source or CreateSpace cannot be listed in the Books in Print catalogue as a distributor. If you are self-published, with your own ISBN, you are the defacto distributor; consequently, Read More …

ISBNs and the self-publisher Part II: what’s in a number?

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(This is abbreviated text from The Global Indie Author.) What’s in a Number? There are five parts to an ISBN, separated by either a hyphen or a space. Only the first three digits and the final check digit are of a fixed length; the remainder vary according to language, publisher identifier, and the number of ISBNs assigned to the block. The five parts of an ISBN are: • the current ISBN-13 prefix of “978”; • the group or country identifier; • the publisher identifier; • the title identifier; and • Read More …

Baby Jane finds support in independent bookstores

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Cover of the novel "Baby Jane by M. A. Demers." A broken doll lies in a spooky stairwell that appears to lead to another dimension.

In the excruciating slog through the treacle that has been the implementation of print distribution for my novel, Baby Jane, there has been one bright spot: four independent booksellers around my home near Vancouver have agreed to stock my book. While the likes of Amazon give me access to the huge U.S. market, and (eventually, or so I’m told) to Canadian markets outside of my home turf, having my local bookseller give my book a go is particularly satisfying. It says, more so than anything, “We support you.” And I Read More …

Who decided we’re boring?

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When I first began pitching my novel, Baby Jane, which is set in Vancouver, Canada, to American publishers, the first question always asked was “Are you married to the location?” — the assumption being that Americans won’t read a book set in Canada: everyone thinks we’re boring, that our country is boring, and that’s if they’ve even heard of us. So foreign publishers don’t want stories set in Canada, they won’t publish them, and because they won’t publish them the assumption is never challenged and instead perpetuated. I decided to Read More …

The battle for ebook supremacy: Amazon versus everybody else

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While self-publishing my novel, Baby Jane, to Amazon’s Kindle was relatively easy, publishing to the other devices is proving more challenging. Sony, who own the eReader, Apple, who own the iBookstore, Kobo, which is mostly owned by Indigo Books and Music Inc., and Barnes & Noble, who own the Nook, have all adopted business policies that exclude small publishers and self-publishing authors or, as in the Nook and iBookstore, have installed barriers that make it difficult for non-Americans (or non-Mac users) to sell on the their sites. Sony and Kobo Read More …

Why I chose to self-publish

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The first thing you learn as a writer is that writing is the easy part; getting published is the long slog. When Amazon embraced ebook technology and opened their format to self-publishers, ebooks exploded into popular culture, taking the publishing world by storm — and many by surprise — with its rapid growth. New writers see in the ebook format a way to bypass the gatekeepers and build their own audience; established publishers see a new revenue stream with minuscule manufacturing costs. But the decision to self-publish shouldn’t be a Read More …