Self Published Author John Haines - and the Print on Demand Experience

A year ( and a half )in the life of self published author, John Haines

Crosby, Liverpool (PRWEB) February 25, 2006 -- As part of the fall-out of a great literary explosion around eighteen months ago, a great many new writers have been unleashed upon the world, among them, John Haines ( occasional pen name, Josh Rogan ) , of Crosby, Liverpool, in the United Kingdom.

Josh Rogan, as he is known when publishing his own fictional works, has written one novel, a magic and fantasy tale - ‘Mike Miller, Son of Pendragon’. This has been made possible by a new phenomena, Print on Demand, or POD. This is where unpublished writers can upload and sell their work online to the world, in either hard copy or download formats.

Due to advances in the printing industry, there is no longer the need for stocks to be held, as each book is newly printed when purchased. There are even similar facilities for publishing and selling music CD’s, DVD’s, and calendars.

The initial costs when joining a self-publishing website vary tremendously from site to site, but it would appear that the best model is also the most inexpensive; so much so, it is free. This site, Lulu.com, makes its money from the sale price of each item, which is admittedly higher most of the time than shop-bought books, but surprisingly not that much more; and sometimes, it can be less.

Although the POD phenomenon is with us for good, this does not mean that there is instant success for the writers on this particular bandwagon. But it does provide an avenue; a platform for struggling writers to get off the mark, no matter how little comes of it, which has to be said is not the case with the traditional route - or perhaps struggle - for most unpublished writers.

After a slow start, Josh’s novel has now began to sell, slowly but surely, as the Internet community of readers and book buyers come across the book either by surfing, through internet chatter, or by word of mouth. This last avenue has partly been created by Josh himself, as his guerrilla marketing techniques; including limited geographical/strategic give-aways, plus a more recent involvement in ‘book-crossing’, which is the leaving of a book in a public place to be found by the public, as well as simply letting people know in any way possible, are now all bearing fruit.

Two to three sales per month is not a lot, and quite a number of self-published authors manage more than this; but to any new writer who has, without any outlay at all, been able to upload the manuscript onto a self-publishing website, along with self-designed covers, and see it turned into a high quality purchaseable product which is then indeed bought, is a very definite achievement.

Josh’s online store is at Lulu.com, and is the anchor to the Josh Rogan machine. But these small but significant sales are not entirely down to the online experience, as many other copies of his novel to date, have been locally printed, given to people to read, ( and sold at a very low price ); this then directs people to where the ‘deluxe’ copy can be bought. Josh has even managed a flurry of sales via EBay, where the interest is very definitely in the signed copy, perhaps because the buyer hopes the writer will one day make it big.

Since writing and publishing his novel, Josh has also published several short stories, some poetry, and even makes available a self-penned folk song for free download at Lulu.com. This is
’ The Skipper’s Lament’ - and this has been consistently popular - yes, it’s free, but people do not download free garbage, and the song is well liked by most who hear it. So much so it is on the regular playlist of Radio Curtin in Perth, Western Australia, and has been for almost two years.

The POD experience is treating Josh Rogan, and countless other new writers, very well indeed, low monthly sales notwithstanding; and as the now seemingly rusty traditional publishing model begins to slow down, Josh and his well-placed fellow journey men and women, as well as many more in the cyber pipeline, will be waiting to take up the slack.

Josh now has ‘Mike Miller, Son of Pendragon’ available through all major global online bookstores, such as all regions of Amazon, as well as Tesco and WH smith and Waterstones in the UK.

All of Josh’s other stories, such as ‘The Old Man’s Trousers’, ‘Backwater Blues’, and ’ Haines, Rogan, Words…. and a little music’ and more, are all available from Josh’s online store at Lulu.com. Please go to http://www.lulu.com/josh-rogan for more details.

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