Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
- Napoleon

Monday, June 4, 2007

Lesson Learned

I broke a cardinal rule of mine. I didn't do my research before I submitted something. Shame on me.

Lucky for me it was only the difference between standard publishing and e-publishing. Samhain Publishing is an e-publisher. I don't have anything against that venue. It provides a necessary niche for people who, for one reason or another, don't wish to buy a hardcopy book. I'm not one of those people. I like the whole book sensation. The feel of the book in my hands - its weight, its texture; the smell of freshly bound pages or of long hidden classics; the way the binding cracks the first time you open one and the fluttering sound of the pages as you turn them. It's the whole nine-yards for me. Reading online is so... Bland.

I'm a little disappointed in myself for missing that. I don't want the first publication of any of my novels to be in e-book form. I want to be able to hold them, and yes, even to pet them. So I probably won't accept publication there if I make it that far.

It could have been much worse for me, though. I could have made the mistake with a less-than-reputable publisher. (I almost did once with PublishAmerica but research saved my ass there.) I could have made the mistake by sending my work off to a scam agent, which I have managed to avoid to date.

Oh, sure. The link I followed was a reputable one. I knew the folks who posted the link were published authors, and on the up-n-up. But it isn't up to those guys to protect me, and it isn't up to someone else to make the determination whether something is right for me. That's my job.

And after I spent so much time espousing the need to think for oneself, and to never let anyone tell me what I should think about any given thing. I'm very disappointed with myself.

Lesson learned. I'm just glad the lesson was one of personal taste and not a painful one.

BTW, this post is in no way meant to disparage Samhain, which is probably a very good publisher, and has never been presented to me as otherwise. I wish them and their authors all the success in the world.

Now, I have to go mentally smack myself around for a while.

5 comments:

Tia Nevitt said...

I did the same thing you did, and now I'm doing the same mental head-slap that you did.

Not to worry. By their own contest guidelines, you are disqualified if you don't add your second line when asked. If your line goes onto the second round, give yourself a little cheer, but don't participate. They certainly can't make you send them your novel.

Shannon said...

Don't be too hard on yourself! I have to agree with you on the "real" book thing. Maybe it's just my age, but getting published online would mean nothing to me. It would just be like posting the whole book on my own website. Success to me is definetly in paper form.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Ah yes, but if I were to disqualify myself, I wouldn't know how far I could have gone... It's a Catch-22. I'll probably do what you suggest though, Tia. Thanks.

I'm over it, Shannon. I usually get myself worked up and then burn it out fast. It's probably my age, too, but I'm fine with that. If the younger generation never learns how wonderful hardcopy books are, it will be so sad. My teen loves books, but she doesn't care what form they come in. She'd be just as happy with an e-book as a paper one. *sigh* Her kids will probably be all electronic.

Alex Adams said...

Never fear, check this out:

http://tinyurl.com/2lwdht

Wendy Roberts said...

I've read e-books but they definitely won't replace the print books in my life.