Here's one way to self-publish: post an e-book on your blog

Fiction writer William Quick has come up with a way to profitably sell books using free publicity generated by a blog. After five years of trying to get his conspiracy novel Inner Circles published by a regular trade press, Quick gave up and posted it as an e-book on his blog, Daily Pundit. The effort cost nothing, not even the 15-percent agent's cut, since it rode free on his popular blog, which carries the tagline, "Rationales for an Irrational World."

In the first few weeks after posting the e-book last September, Quick sold more than 900 copies at $5 a pop, raking in about $4,500. After the initial burst of sales from his blog faithful, sales settled down to about 100 copies a month. Not a huge fortune, but Quick figures his total take will be higher than he would have gotten with a mainstream press -- if he had been able to find one for this particular book.

A typical contract for a midlist title would have included an advance of about $10,000 –- half on signing the contract, and the other half upon publication.

Can any self-publisher do this? Not exactly, Quick admits he’s a special case -- an experienced fiction writer with a track record. He had a steady readership at his blog, which provided a ready audience. (Internet trivia buffs may recognize Quick's name as the writer who coined the word "blogosphere.")

To replicate this kind of success, you’d need to first build up an online readership, and then put out a respectable product.

Since releasing the book as an e-book, Quick has used the self-publishing company Lulu to sell the book in hard copy, a 329-page trade paperback. On Lulu the book is priced at $17.95.

Read Quick’s complete account of his e-book adventure here.




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