Running Hot / Nick Lethbridge

Running Hot
... and POD Publishing

category: science fiction, humour, author:

Nick Lethbridge

original copyright 2010,
read in December 2010 (and before, quite a few times)

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Less a novel, more a short story. The first published fiction from a promising author. Running Hot could be the start of an exciting new career.

Could this reviewer suffer from bias? Could it be that the author is too willing to provide a positive review for his own work? Read the book and find out :-) Spend less than one US dollar (the minimum price that could be set) and there may be more books to follow!

Online Publication

It was an interesting exercise in online publishing... Over several days, Agamedes examined the offerings of three, very different publishers.

Lulu

Lulu has a huge range of books for sale and a huge range of self-publishing options.

Unfortunately, the range of offerings makes it difficult to find a simple process. Admittedly, I'm currently suffering from very slow internet response times. This made it very difficult to try and retry various possibilities. Loading to Lulu is currently on hold -- until my response time is back to normal.

Nevertheless, the Lulu process is far more complex than the website claims. There are large gaps in explanations. The extensive support and help information is too disorganised to be of much help for a first-time publisher.

I received an error message -- possibly an indirect result of slow internet response; I may have missed some vital instruction. But the error message did not tell me what error had been detected!

An email arrives. "We're sorry but we've encountered a problem..." No indication of the type of problem. No help at all, other than to tell me that I failed.

On the other hand:

Lulu offers a wide range of printed publications: books, calendars, photo albums, all different sizes and shapes. And, almost as an afterthought, ebooks. The emphasis is on POD (print on demand) hardcopy. Much of the support documentation would (probably) make more sense to an expert in format, layout and printing.

For the "pure" author -- a person with words and ideas but no publishing experience -- Lulu is very complex. On the other hand, Lulu offers plenty of for-a-price expertise, in all the essential areas past the initial committing of words to paper.

Lulu offers free-up-front POD publishing for those willing to start with a struggle. Plus expertise at a cost. I started with Lulu because a published author named it and uses it. I will go back to Lulu -- to try again, with faster internet response! -- to prepare a hardcopy. For vanity, for friends, perhaps even for sale.

Smashwords

In just a few hours, I had a ebook ready for publication on Smashwords. Just a short story (Running Hot) but a complete novel would have taken not much longer.

If ebooks are the way of the future then Smashwords is a good way to get there.

I found Smashwords via a link from Lulu... A series of helpful posts in response to authors' questions; one post lead to the poster's own website... Social marketing :-)

One of the best features of Smashwords is -- there is an easy-to-follow guide to publication! Download the Style Guide, follow it from beginning to end, publish online.

Most of the style guide is an explanation of how to format your document for an ebook. (Essentially, clear all formatting and keep it simple.) Add a cover, load text and cover, publish.

It really is -- almost -- that simple. It did take me a few tries to correct some strange formats, in text that I had to add at the last minute, beyond the story itself. The corrections and republishing were simple and the process was easy to follow.

As an ebook publisher, Smashbooks encourages simplicity. No need to lay out text to fit a physical page. Format all text to be free-flowing and flexible. The website process -- and the instructions -- are are simple as the ebook format.

I will return to Smashwords for future ebooks. I expect that the process will be even simpler, the second time around.

Xlibris

I spent just a short time with Xlibris. There is an Australian office, an Australian presence, I always like to try local.

It took a while to find out just what Xlibris is offering.

The website is very strong on marketing... By that I mean, lots of promises of success but the actual product takes a while to identify. I was especially annoyed when I was asked to provide full name and contact details -- in the expectation of getting a guide sent to me -- and the guide was just a download from the website.

Still, the guide did clear up what Xlibris offers: pure vanity publishing.

Nothing -- as far as I can tell -- is free, with Xlibris. They are selling proofreading, formatting, marketing... all the services which a professional author requires. But the author pays for it all.

Nothing wrong with that. Plenty of books are overlooked and ignored by publishing houses, books which deserve to be published. It would be nice, however, to have a clear(er) statement of services on the website.

Having entered my contact details, I had a phone call the next day. The caller was friendly, I was friendly, I received more information via email. Xlibris services are not what I want.

Summary

If you want a lot of help -- at a professional level -- Xlibris and Lulu both offer comprehensive services, at a price. Lulu also offers DIY publishing, for those with the time and inclination to struggle through a very steep learning curve. For pure ebook publishing, Smashbooks is quick and easy.

And I have no idea whatsoever about the market reach of any of those sites.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.