Do you still buy real books? Advice sought for my first published book!

Vidya Moksha wrote:im using a nom de plume, for those of you that know me in real life..

Vidya Moksha wrote:Hey Folk.
Do people buy real books anymore?

mudra wrote:Congratulations Vidhya and many blessings.
May that book of yours land in the hands of the people that are already looking for it,
ready to receive all the benefits from reading and integrating it.

I prefer to read paper books much more than virtual ones.
I am probably still from the old school :)
But I believe the electronic version is definitely something you have to go for though.
Friends of mine my age already adopted the convenient system of being able to
carry their library around and read from it wherever they go.

I mostly find my books in second hand shops but if  something really interests me
that isn't present in these shops I would pay the price for it and buy it from the store.

I think the price you demand for the book is quite reasonable.

GO for it  

Much love and success in your enterprise.

mudra

orthodoxymoron wrote:

Thank-you Vidya.
L. Ron Hubbard supposedly said something to the effect that
"There's No Money in Writing Science-Fiction. If One Wishes to Make Money -- Start a Religion!"
Hmmmmm.......Salvation4Sale???

Vidya Moksha wrote:Thanks Seashore, I hope the text is received as well as the cover was.

I think I will have to produce an ebook as well.. as much as anything for the lack of shipping costs, and the ebook should come within your price range... wont i end up selling a couple of e-books which are then copied and pirated ? guess thats one way of getting the book seen !

I produced the book in indesign, so i can export as softcover, hardback and e-book.. what I would really like is for a graphic artist to double the size of the book with nice graphics and sell as a coffee table book... but thats not in the pipeline anytime soon.

Seashore wrote:

Will you have tables or diagrams?

mudra wrote:Vidya I forgot to mention I love that book cover you chose for your book.
It's dynamic and striking.
Very appealing.



Love from me
mudra

mudra wrote:Thank You Vidya.
The few pages available I read made me want to know more.
I was missing that book in my personal library :)
Very glad you published it.
I will buy it from you but it will be a bit later.

Love from me
mudra

Vidya Moksha wrote:

Seashore wrote:

Will you have tables or diagrams?

no tables, the asana section is fully illustrated to show the various poses.

Congratulations, Vidya Moksha, for the completion of your book. The cover looks beautiful and although I'm
not into yoga, practicing those body positions, I'm convinced it's beneficial to many people nowadays and
I sincerely wish you many readers who benefit from your work, put in form and published in this book.

I too suggest an offer of a digital version for sale. I'm in the very early phase of writing a book, by saving
words I wrote in the last 4 years that are in sync with the storyline. My book will be written in the UK.
As a start I've begun to live here It takes energy to organize my life and I do enjoy the summer outdoors.
I'm already a member of the UK library, which is free of costs, only requiring an English address

I'm somewhat familiar with www.scribd.com, in publishing and reading. You can present a book, accessible to
others for a set price. I'm pretty sure there are more of those sites in the virtual world. Also I remember writers
suggesting to offer money for their book, representing the value the reader finds in it, which is a free way of trust.
This of course doesn't sustain the intake of food and drink on a daily base and in the UK life is expensive, as you know.
Good luck with exploring, bookwise and walkwise

B.B.Baghor wrote:Congratulations, Vidya Moksha, for the completion of your book. The cover looks beautiful and although I'm
not into yoga, practicing those body positions, I'm convinced it's beneficial to many people nowadays and
I sincerely wish you many readers who benefit from your work, put in form and published in this book.

I too suggest an offer of a digital version for sale.

B.B.Baghor wrote:

I too suggest an offer of a digital version for sale.

I'm somewhat familiar with www.scribd.com, in publishing and reading. You can present a book, accessible to
others for a set price. I'm pretty sure there are more of those sites in the virtual world. Also I remember writers
suggesting to offer money for their book, representing the value the reader finds in it, which is a free way of trust.
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Vidya Moksha wrote:

B.B.Baghor wrote:

I too suggest an offer of a digital version for sale.

I'm somewhat familiar with www.scribd.com, in publishing and reading. You can present a book, accessible to
others for a set price. I'm pretty sure there are more of those sites in the virtual world. Also I remember writers
suggesting to offer money for their book, representing the value the reader finds in it, which is a free way of trust.
[/size]

Maybe this isnt the best time to be replying to this, I am quite annoyed / frustrated with the book publishing at the moment.. the amount of 'stealth' taxes they charge for the books is quite ridiculous. I am the one supporting my book financially at the moment, which doesn't seem right after so much effort to actually write it!

I am working on an ebook still, but having all manner of grief getting that formatted!, and then I will reconsider my options.. maybe offering it as a free pdf with a donate button is the best way forward..I think for my next book I will do this..

I still like real books though...

If sales were guaranteed then taking the book to a local printer would be the best way forward, but you need money up front to do that and have to distribute the books yourself...

I am not impressed with the print on demand service... but what to do if the book is to be produced as a real paper item?

Thank you, Vidya Moksha, for sharing your feelings and experiences, trying to bring your book under the eyes of people.
I know better now, what to look out for, once I'm in that place Are you in Sussex now? Is it raining overthere? I'm at
home (in Somerset) for the first time for hours, with strong wind and showers all the time. Feels like autumn and candle
burning, while warmly clothed in my comfy chair.



I like real books too, like you, better than reading from my laptop screen. Printing a document helps, but it's not the same
as a real book with a cover like yours. I'll share some of my experiences with writing and book-making. Not sure if you find
this useful in your present mood, but alas..... save it for a rainy day? Ahem, oh, not today maybe?

I know of beginning writers, having the same experiences as you mention, investing much time and energy. Even money.
There are crowdfunding initiatives, but I have no experience with them. I think these forms of financing do work, you know.
I'll have to find my way in publishing my book that is still in the early stages. A Dutch friend of mine sells his latest book,
besides a physical book, as an audiobook too. The voice reading this book is his own. This is the link to the site he uses
http://www.123luisterboek.nl/engelstalig/ I'm sure there are many more like this.

How about manufacturing your own book by your own hands? Once, I've bought a Tibetan book with instructions how to
make a Yurt, by a Dutch Yurt-builder who had learned that skill in Tibet. The price was 100 euro, but I felt it worthwhile.
This book is very different from Western books, for it's a bundle of loose pages, with lots of drawings and text, pressed
between thick cardboard covers with ribbons of cloth woven through them, strapping the whole of it neatly together,
very intricate but working rather well.

I've published short stories, online, free readable. Three times 13 chapter-books, in Dutch, of my writing are in my first
website, written in 1999. I'm planning to translate them in English at some point. These I've often printed in the library
and crafted the half a centimeter thick bundle, with illustrations of my hand, into little books on half A4 format, cutting
the paper I chose from secondhand shops who sold that odd paper with holes on the side, once used in those old
fashioned chainpaper-printers. The quality of that paper is very good though. The simplest way I found, making a book,
was by making 2 holes through the left side of the pages (those familiar perforator holes) and strapping them together
with a colorful ribbon. Often I gave these storybooks away as present.

I've once written a text for my first website, shared it on Facebook and was asked by another writer on Facebook, to
offer it for free, so that she could publish it in her online magazine. Inexperienced as I was, flattered also, I agreed.
A day later she did sent me the link to her magazine, with the article in it. What's that? She changed the text!!
Some parts were totally out of the original context, due to that. How in the world?

I was so amazed and felt my text so insulted, I was jumping much higher than little chicken below, wings
I immediately ordered her to remove it from her magazine. She, on her turn, was amazed by my reaction. "Editing is always
done, when you publish a book or article in other people's magazine. They decide how it's best presented" she replied.
Huhhh? When it's my creation? No way I will agree to that treatment! I told her that no point or comma could be changed
in my texts, unless this was discussed and decided in mutual agreement. She disappeared in virtual silence.

I think you'll have more fun if you handle the whole enterprise as a creative process, without any pressure, independent
from a need for an income, or investing it in your book, Vidya Moksha. Am I jumping to the wrong conclusions now?
I can imagine you sitting at a table with a stack of your books on it, signing them for the visitors of the somewhat
"new agey" bookshop, that kindly offers you this chance, in some small village in the UK or elsewhere in one of your
travel destinations. Totnes in Devon has a great bookshop called The Arcturian Bookshop. This is a hippy trippy place
with a huge amount of yoga practicioners, visiting or living in that town. Anyway, good luck and have fun with it!