"I saw your forum question about self-publishing versus Quill, and I wanted to help answer some of those questions. Self-publishing would probably ensure a faster timeline, and you’d have more control over the process. However, the strongest benefits of Quill, aside from working with a copy editor, proofreader, and interior designer from our side, is that a) your book will have more visibility from rights buyers (foreign, tv, audiobook, etc.), and b) your book will be listed in our catalogue for distribution, and it’s very likely that accounts like Barnes & Noble would stock copies. If those sell well, they’d re-up."

So there you go, Inksharers! I hope that assuages any fears and clears up any concerns! Best of luck in your campaigns.

Inkshares was publishing at least one Quill book a month, though I don’t know of any coming out after this month’s Sync City. Still, one a month and a backlog of 39ish books is quite a wait.

Okay. As some of you know, I’m currently battling cancer. While my treatments are going as well as can be expected and I’m optimistic, there are obviously still concerns. And, while looking at a calendar listing dates of Quill funding, MS requests, Quill publication dates, etc... I realize that there’s a very real chance I won’t be alive to see my book’s publication through Quill. I know I only reached funding 4 months ago, but I haven’t even been asked for my manuscript yet, and who knows how far down in the queue I am. So I guess I just want to be pragmatic and look at the options.

In my case, what are the benefits to having my husband possibly publish through Quill after my death instead of self-publishing myself beforehand? As far as I can tell, we are in charge of our own marketing, cover design, and editing process in either case, right? I realize that Inkshares offers copy-editing for Quill publications, but I already paid to have The Last Faoii professionally edited months ago. On top of that, the profits for the first 250 sold copies in Quill go completely to production, which is not the case in self-publishing.

The biggest difference I can think of is that with Quill I can at least promise my readers signed copies-- except I can’t even promise that if the worst comes to pass before my turn in the queue.  (Luckily, I already made signed bookplates for my readers as a contingency plan, so my warriors will still walk away with something worthwhile at the end of it all-- but I don’t see why I can’t send those out in either scenario). Am I missing something? What are the benefits of publishing through Quill?

Sorry I saw this too late to offer advice. However, I’m working on an article about working conventions. I attended my first one recently as well, and have some other authors here answering questions for me. I’d love to get your input on the experience too if you are willing to share — you’ll get credit in the article and I’ll provide links to social profiles or book pages of yours. Let me know if you would be interested.

Cheers,

Robert