Comments on: BookSurge: The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Ugly http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/ Author, Designer, Problogger Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:06:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: deborah.woehr http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15219 deborah.woehr Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:49:52 +0000 http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15219 Fred: I loved WordPerfect and was quite disgusted when they discontinued it for the Macs. Yes, BookSurge is inferior, based on the majority of the reviews I've read online. I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. That said, I still plan to self-publish my way. Cheryl: Great points. Thanks for stopping by. :) Fred: I loved WordPerfect and was quite disgusted when they discontinued it for the Macs. Yes, BookSurge is inferior, based on the majority of the reviews I’ve read online. I wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole. That said, I still plan to self-publish my way.

Cheryl: Great points. Thanks for stopping by. :)

]]> By: Cheryl Pickett http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15210 Cheryl Pickett Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:21:44 +0000 http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15210 Hi, I just wanted to comment as far as what to do without Amazon. While Amazon did help small independent and subsidy publishers a lot by opening up easy internet distribution, they aren't the only game in town by far. If you are going to sell books successfully in today's market, you'll be driving the interest and traffic for your book. This means you send buyers wherever you want, be it to purchase directly from your site/publisher or any of the other sites that also sell books. Also, if you go subsidy/POD publishing, most companies work with Lightening Source which distributes through Ingram. This means a book is available, at least to order, from a wide variety of outlets far beyond Amazon. Are there shoppers who always think of Amazon first or possibly as the only place they'll buy? Probably. But if they're sold on you the author, have a desire for your book and it's made clear why they can't get it on Amazon, I'd think most will consider other alternatives as long as they are secure. And a quick note for the comment above, the great thing about self-publishing is exactly what you said. You can still do it your way, you just might have to change tactics a bit, so don't let this situation discourage you in the least. Cheryl Pickett www.publishinganswers.com Hi,
I just wanted to comment as far as what to do without Amazon. While Amazon did help small independent and subsidy publishers a lot by opening up easy internet distribution, they aren’t the only game in town by far.

If you are going to sell books successfully in today’s market, you’ll be driving the interest and traffic for your book. This means you send buyers wherever you want, be it to purchase directly from your site/publisher or any of the other sites that also sell books.

Also, if you go subsidy/POD publishing, most companies work with Lightening Source which distributes through Ingram. This means a book is available, at least to order, from a wide variety of outlets far beyond Amazon.

Are there shoppers who always think of Amazon first or possibly as the only place they’ll buy? Probably. But if they’re sold on you the author, have a desire for your book and it’s made clear why they can’t get it on Amazon, I’d think most will consider other alternatives as long as they are secure.

And a quick note for the comment above, the great thing about self-publishing is exactly what you said. You can still do it your way, you just might have to change tactics a bit, so don’t let this situation discourage you in the least.

Cheryl Pickett
www.publishinganswers.com

]]> By: fred charles http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15209 fred charles Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:58:11 +0000 http://www.deborahwoehr.com/blog/2008/03/30/booksurge-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/#comment-15209 This is really annoying. I hate when big companies squeeze out the smaller companies with a less superior product. Microsoft did the same thing back in the 90s when they crushed Wordperfect and Lotus with their lame knock offs that lacked the same functionality. From the reviews, Booksurge sounds inferior compared to Lulu, which I've heard mostly positive things about. This sort of thing makes me want to avoid self-publishing. The whole idea behind POD is that you get to do it your way! This is really annoying. I hate when big companies squeeze out the smaller companies with a less superior product. Microsoft did the same thing back in the 90s when they crushed Wordperfect and Lotus with their lame knock offs that lacked the same functionality.

From the reviews, Booksurge sounds inferior compared to Lulu, which I’ve heard mostly positive things about. This sort of thing makes me want to avoid self-publishing. The whole idea behind POD is that you get to do it your way!

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