Tuskers in bookstores.

Here's the announcement.

 http://www.ragnarokpub.com/#!PRESS-RELEASE-SMALL-PRESS-MAKES-GIANT-LEAP-TOWARD-MAKING-DREAMS-COME-TRUE/c7a5/569923460cf210383194a844

I probably ought to explain what this all means.

There are three basic ways you can look to get published. (With many variations.)

1.) Self-published, with or without a physical version of the book. You are sold by Amazon, and through Smashwords, you are also sold in other venues like Barnes & Noble and Apple.

You usually don't get bookstore distribution.

This isn't vanity press anymore. It can be done for very little money. The quality of the book is up to you. The cover and the editing and design are up to you. The promotion is up to you.

Amazon is extremely generous in their payments -- paying up to 65% of the cover price of the book to the author. Can't really beat that. Plus they'll pay you for page reads.

On the other hand, it is just one book among hundreds of thousands, so unless you've got a following, or know how to promote yourself, or get lucky, you'll most likely fall between the cracks.

However, there is nothing wrong with it. You can put your book out the way you want when you want about any subject you choose, and it happens more or less instantaneously, and it is out there in the world at least. You can spend as little or as much as you want.

This was the route I intended to take. But I stumbled across Books of the Dead and that led to Ragnarok, and that might lead to others avenues.

What I give up is the bigger percentage of the retail price, I get a professional platform, expertise, and community and a bunch of other benefits.

2.) Hybrid publishing. I tried self-publishing for a short time. I figure I would have had dozens possibly hundreds of sales. Through Hybrid, I'm getting hundreds and possibly thousands of sales. I'm getting good covers and professional editing that doesn't cost me. They pay for everything. They give me an advance. They produce the physical book, which I can buy for wholesale to sell in my store.

But I write too many books. I fill the available spots pretty fast. So beginning with The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders, I'm going to see if I've established enough of a following to get some exposure.

3.) Mainstream or bookstore distribution.

I had no intention of going this direction, beyond my first sporadic efforts, which only confirmed my suspicions that it was pretty fucked up. (Little to no response from agents.)

See, you have to have an agent. Period.

Plus it's like going from the Indy 500 in speed of things happening, to walking down the street in a walker. Agonizing getting responses and so on.

Plus, well -- I just don't think I fit what they're looking for. I write quirky books, and they don't really want quirky books (no matter what they might say.)

Still -- there is nothing like seeing your books in the bookstores, and the exposure is much higher, and there is the chance...or a better chance... that you'll sell from the thousands to the ten thousands.

Those kind of numbers are unlikely no matter which of the three options you choose above. Some people do extremely well self-publishing, better than they would by the mainstream route, believe it or not.

Anyway, Ragnarok is making the jump from Hybrid to Mainstream, and I wish them luck. It's a risky gamble, but I'm along for the ride!