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M. Darusha Wehm

Explorer of Worlds Real and Imagined

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  • About
    • Bio
    • Demographic Info
    • Bibliography
    • Press Kit
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  • Contact
  • Short Stories
    • Bodies at Rest, Bodies in Motion
    • Fire. Escape. – Sample
    • The Foreigner
    • Major Tom and the Lucky Lady
    • The Interview
    • Lucidity
    • Fame
    • Chekhov’s Phaser
    • Career Opportunities
  • Science Fiction
    • Beautiful Red
    • Children of Arkadia
    • Andersson Dexter
      • Self Made
      • Act of Will
      • The Beauty of Our Weapons
      • Pixels and Flesh
    • Modern Love and other stories
    • The Voyage of the White Cloud
    • Retaking Elysium
    • The Qubit Zirconium
  • Mainstream Fiction
    • Devi Jones’ Locker
      • Packet Trade
      • Sea Change
      • Storm Cloud
      • Floating Point
    • The Home for Wayward Parrots
  • Anthologies
    • KeyForge: Tales From the Crucible
    • Trans-Galactic Bike Ride
    • Fireweed: Stories from the Revolution
    • Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume I
    • The Dame Was Trouble
    • Dystopia Utopia Short Stories
    • Science Fiction Short Stories
    • Procyon Press Science Fiction Anthology 2016
    • Use Only As Directed
  • Games/Interactive
    • The Martian Job
    • Alexander Systems
    • You Do You
    • if ink could flow backward
  • Books

What Are Publishers?

What is a book?

the content – “I wrote a book”

  • words
  • images
  • information, communication

the container – “I dropped a book”

  • paperback
  • ebook
  • audiobook
  • blog
  • tweets
  • something that hasn’t been invented yet

What is a publisher?

  • “publishing” means making the content public, regardless of the container
  • globally, when people talk about “publishers” (as opposed to indie- or self-publishers) they usually mean the big 5
  • in NZ, small presses are more common
  • small presses and self publishers have more in common with each other than small presses have with the big 5
  • when we use the same tools to marry content and container, the differences between the different kinds of publishing vanish

What’s in a name?

  • there’s a continuum of self-publishing <-> author-publishing <-> indie publishing <-> small presses <-> large presses
  • some self-published work is obvious, some traditionally published work is obvious, but most books are somewhere along the continuum
  • what’s the difference between the self-publisher who hires a structural editor, a proofreader, a layout artist and a cover artist and the small press who publish some books written by members of the editorial staff?
  • what’s the difference between a manuscript that was vetted by an agent then by an acquisitions editor, and an indie book that everyone is talking about?
  • with every passing year, the lines separating the kinds of publishing blur a little more

The elephant in the room

  • quality – if anyone can chuck their novel up on Amazon, how can you know it’s any good?
  • isn’t a book that was chosen by a publisher inherently more likely to be good than one the author just decided to put out there?
  • probably: it’s hard to judge your own work, though there are ways to get around that – beta readers, critiquers, editors
  • just because a book is more likely to be better if it passed through the hurdles of traditional publishing, that doesn’t mean that it definitely will be good
  • big publishing looks for commercial successes, so independent publishing can afford to take a chance on experimental, controversial material
  • self-publishing isn’t new, and it certainly isn’t the death knell for literature

What can book publishers do for authors?

What can an author do alone fairly easily?

  • ebooks
  • creating a professional package (editing, cover)
  • global online distribution of ebooks and print

What is it harder for an author to do?

  • awards submission
  • local distribution
  • print copies in bookshops, libraries
  • being tied to a brand (ie. Tor, Angry Robot, Mills & Boon)

Some authors aren’t interested in or able to do it all for themselves, there will always be a place for people who can help.

Places to find indie books:

  • BookBub (deals)
  • The Fussy Librarian (deals)
  • The Indie View (reviews)
  • Indie Books Worth Reading (Kiwi, primarily fantasy & SF)
  • Feedbooks Original Books (free books)
  • Scribl (“crowdpriced”)

Primary Sidebar

The Qubit Zirconium

Hugely imaginative, powerfully written and imbued with an innate sense of fun and enjoyment that makes everything sparkle with energy…

— The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer

Alien detectives stumble across a mystery that could tear apart their patchwork planet, the Crucible, in this riotous science fantasy novel from the smash hit game, KeyForge

Wibble & Pplimz, the Crucible’s most unusual private investigators, must set off from their office in Hub City to clear the name of a former client. Along the way, their investigation broadens from a simple accusation of theft to include a missing person, a potential murder, and a highly unusual gem.

Learn More

Free Stories

Major Tom and the Lucky Lady

I was balancing a cup of tea in one hand, while hanging on to the side of the companionway hatch with the other. I climbed into the cockpit sideways, compensating for the roll of the boat. I was only … Read More... about Major Tom and the Lucky Lady

Fire. Escape. – Sample

This is a novelette that explores a different aspect of the world of the Andersson Dexter novels. You can get the complete ebook for free when you sign up to my mailing list. It all started with the … Read More... about Fire. Escape. – Sample

Lucidity

last night I had the most wonderful dream Carly moaned softly in her sleep, and rolled over. She dreamed and dreamed, and when she woke, she found that she still had the lingering shadow of a … Read More... about Lucidity

Publications

  • . ….. ..story .. time
  • A Most Elegant Solution
  • A Most Elegant Solution (audio)
  • A Thorn in Your Memory
  • A Wish and a Hope and a Dream
  • Alexander Systems
  • Fear of Lying
  • Force Nine
  • Good Hunting
  • Home Sick
  • Home Sick (audio)
  • Homecoming
  • I Open My Eyes
  • if ink could flow backward
  • Microfiction @Thaumatrope
  • Modern Love
  • Modern Love (audio)
  • Preventative Maintenance
  • recursion
  • Reflections on a Life Story
  • Showing the Colours (audio)
  • The Care and Feeding of Mammalian Bipeds, v. 2.1
  • The Interview
  • The Stars Above Eos
  • War Profiteering
  • War Profiteering (audio)
  • we are all energy

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Other Writing

Poetry

  • . ….. ..story .. time
  • 140 and Counting
  • creation myth
  • Force Nine
  • how to make time
  • if ink could flow backward
  • recursion
  • the chrononaut
  • we are all energy

Non-fiction

  • 90ways.com

Copyright © 2022 M. Darusha Wehm