One of the biggest challenges faced by the aspiring writer is how to get their work out to the market and begin to build a reader base.

Basically, there are 4 routes the aspiring writer can pursue to get work into the market.

Online Story Sites

E-book publishers

Self Publishing

Traditional Print Publishers

Each of these has its own pitfalls and problems as well as its own advantages.

Online Story Sites
There are any number of online story sites that will allow you to publish your work which is then made available to all comers. There is usually no provision made for collecting any fees or royalties on the work and the sites themselves are usually free to the author but depend on ad revenue to operate. This means that the real objective of the site owner is to drive clicks to the websites which advertise with them and the free stories supplied by aspiring writers is the draw to get people into the website.

This can be a quick and easy way to get your work out where people will read it. If your sole goal is to get your work into peoples hands and to get a bit of feedback then this may be the way for you to go.

The downsides is that when you publish your work on these sites you basically lose control of it. Once on such a website it is available to anyone who wants to download it and redistribute it. There is also no means on most of these sites to charge for distribution of your work. If you ever want to publish your work for pay at one of the E-Book sites, be aware that if you have published your work on a free story site, some of the e-book publishers will not handle the work on their sites.

E-Book Publishers

Probably the most popular method of publishing at this time is through the E-Book publishing companies. These web sites specialize in providing authors the opportunity to publish their works and sell them in electronic format available for download or formatted for many of the most popular e-reader machines.
These sites usually charge a royalty for providing the services. This can range from a few cents per copy up to 40% of the charged amount.
Many of these sites provide ancilliary services such as formatting, proofreading and even graphic design for e-book covers.

E-book publishers come in many different levels of service. At the top exist companies like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Getting your work published to one of these level of providers is difficult. They have very strict rules on formatting, graphic requirements and can even want verification of past sales performance on previous work.

There are a few e-book publishers who have a pathway to these higher level services. By publishing with them, you can actually be workign toward getting your work onto one of the top tier services.

If this is the means you chose, it will be in your best interest to investigate thoroughly the services and options provided of a number of the best e-book publishers. You will probably want to avail yourself of the services and help of the publisher to get your work ready for publishing and in establishing a solid reader base.

SELF PUBLISHING or Print on Demand Publishing

Print on demand publishing is a form of traditional print publishing in which the work resides on the publishers website and servers and is printed and bound only when a customer places an order.

This is becoming more and more popular among authors who are producing graphics intensive publications such as coffee table books, travel books, photo journals, etc.

Self Publishing is simply what it says. The author either prints and binds his or her own work and then offers it for sale on their own website or in person. There are vanity press sites that will publish and bind your work. This usually requires a minumum order and can require a hefty investment up front.

Traditional Print Publication

There is still a huge market for tradiational print publications. One need only look at the New York Times best seller list to understand what drives this market. The problem is that publishers are in business to make money and the only want to make money is to sell enough books to cover costs and turn a profit. Publishing an unknown aspiring author is a high risk situation and it is very few aspiring authors who make the cut to become a published author.

We will discuss the means and methods of submitting your work to traditional publishers in another lecture, but suffice it to say that if this is the road you want to travel, we hope that you suffer rejection well.

SO these are the basic options for the aspiring writer. Which ever one you prefer, remember that the means of success remain the same. To be successful published and to build a reader base requires the same attention to detail and the same professional standards no matter which avenue you persue.

Listed below are some websites that have more information on e-publishing, the place that we believe the aspiring author should start.

LINKS:

PublishersGlobal


PCWorld How to Publish and Eblook, Step by Step


Jane Friedman - 10 Questiosn to Ask Before Committing to Any E-Publishing Service



Activity:

After reading the above lecture and then exploring the links show above, reseach a number of the e-publishing sites and choose one that you believe will fit your needs as an author. Write a short report on why you chose this particular publisher, what services they offer that you think will benefit you, and what attracted you to their website. Post your report as a new thread in the forum.