Publish Or Perish Too

Thanks to the Mans from Mars' tip, I spent some time recently checking out the Lulu self-publishing site in order to see what was involved in such an endeavour. It seems like a well-thought-out process, where you - the self-publisher - make as many of the formatting and layout decisions as you feel capable of, and they help with the rest. I was most interested in getting a ballpark notion of how much it would cost, which I was also able to do.

My best guess is that, were I able to come up with the material to fill, say, 150 pages in a hardcover format, I'd probably be looking at around $20 - $25 per copy. For whatever reason, 100 copies seems like a reasonable stash to dip into, over time, as I hand out copies to people who I think would enjoy it. Using that figure, I'd be spending $2000 to $2500 for the privilege of stroking my ego and sort of fulfilling a lifelong dream. (It was that, or monorail engineer!)

Now I get to think about things like, "Would I write a Foreword for the book, and if so, what should it say?" And, "Is there anyone I know well enough, whose writing I'm an admirer of, who I could ask to provide an Introduction for it? Mark Waid, maybe? Or would that be rude or presumptuous of me?"

I also love the challenge of figuring out how to bring all the pieces together, and make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, and do it in the amount of time it takes, instead of having to cram it all into a timeframe set by someone else. I'm becoming increasingly sick of having to rush things, or dealing with people who do a crappy job because they have way too much other stuff on their plate, and so the prospect of working on a project that's going to be done right, instead of quick, really appeals.

Those are actually quite fun thoughts to have. Even if nothing ever comes of it!