From: nicky.matthews@btinternet.com   
      
   On Tuesday, September 2, 2014 12:03:43 AM UTC+1, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:   
   >   
   >    
   >    
   > 	My rule of thumb: No advance? They're not a real publisher. A real    
   >    
   > publisher believes they'll make money from my book, and they demonstrate    
   >    
   > this belief by giving me some portion of that money up front. If they    
   >    
   > don't believe in my book enough to do that, then I don't believe they'll    
   >    
   > be doing a good enough job with my book to be given the rights to it.   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > 	Self-pub IS going to be a lot more work; I'm doing that with    
   >    
   > _Polychrome_ now, and it's definitely a pain in the butt. Worth doing if    
   >    
   > you want to get it out there, but it'll be a lot of work, and there's no    
   >    
   > one backstopping you at any step unless you're paying for it; getting    
   >    
   > the cover, getting pro editing, etc.? That's gonna cost you.   
      
   >    
   Sadly a number of UK publishers have ditched the advance and those who give   
   one have reduced it radically.    
   I am grateful for all this feedback and I think I've come to the conclusion   
   that I don't want to invest much time or money in what was essentially a throw   
   away story. It didn't take long to write, I don't particularly like it and if   
   I make anything out    
   of it at all it will be a bonus. (I don't want it to go out under my name   
   either. )   
   For those of you who might be shocked by my lack of faith in my own work I   
   must add that it's not a dreadful book - it's OK - pitched at a younger age   
   group than I usually write for, with almost no subtext and a lot of gunk and   
   slime. I will probably    
   never get round to formatting it for self pub and if I leapt that hurdle, I   
   wouldn't be prepared to promote it energetically. The publisher is not a great   
   publisher but the book is not a great book. Realistically, if I don't sign the   
   contract the book    
   will probably sit on my computer until I replace the computer and then be lost   
   forever.   
      
   Thanks, everyone.   
   Nicky   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)