So, DU should just start our own publishing company shouldn't we?

[shadowknows69]

Just a thought that flashed upon my brain pan I thought I'd share with you and get some feedback on. Skinner and EarlG, you should pay attention because this applies to you obviously. It occured to me that we have so many talented writers here at DU; many unsigned (Ooh, ooh, Mr. Kottter!!)and just waiting the chance to spew volumes of text to an unsuspecting world and even many published greats like Mr. Pitt that perhaps someday we could woo to our fold. I don't pretend to understand the financial mumbjo jumbo and legal matters that would need to happen for this to exist but as DU is already an LLC I'm sure it could be morphed in some way or the publishing company made into some convenient, tax protecting, subsidiary (hey, it's the game. we should play it as well as the other guy) and hit the ground running. Another radical idea, and again I have no idea how this works, but make it a public company somehow so we at DU could potentially invest in the beginning for a solid stake in the company's future.

Just love to hear your thoughts and that of the Master Mods themselves. Needless to say I'd pledge "The front lines from the back seat" to DU Publications' capable hands if they wanted to print it B-)

What say you?
S

[orleans]

1. i'd love to see a paperback with lounge threads, and fun gd threads

and another book with some snappy title that covers the serious topics & crimes we've covered and discussed elsewhere on du.

and of course another du book of jeffr's duzy awards.

and a book of the top ten conservative idiots lists

(skinner, are you making a note of this? go to lulu.com and you can typeset and sell books through their website! at least i think it's lulu.com--something like that. and the money make could go toward the upkeep! it's a win-win proposition)

[RC]

2. And after making it big in book publishing business, start a couple of

magazines, start your own news network! Imagen in this day and age a real truthful news source people can turn to for the facts.

[mmonk]

3. Funny you should mention that.

I was thinking of taking time off to write a book and was going to ask for suggestions on some publishers that would take a look at my transcripts. I would imagine there's a lot to starting a publishing business though. Given that, I'd still be for it.

[shadowknows69]

4. Kick for a daytime crowd

n/t

[warren pease]

5. Well, if my experience is any indicator...

When I was writing one or more columns a week back around 2002 - 2003, I collected what I felt were some of the better ones into a self-published broadsheet that I called "The Warren Report" -- actually just an 8 1/2 X 11 plastic-bound primitive looking thing about 1/4 inch thick.

Long story short: I wasn't able to quit my day job. I got Powell's Books in Portland to take a couple of dozen on consignment and, after only four sold in two weeks, I sheepishly came back and collected the rest. They now enjoy life in some recycled paper product somewhere, and they're probably doing more good there than in their original incarnation.

I don't have any way of knowing if the appearance or the content was the main inhibitor to sales, but when you've collected $12 whole dollars (I priced them at $5 each, minus Powell's' 40 percent consignment fee) for a fairly serious amount of work, you really have to wonder about your business model.

Anyway, I'm inclined to think that a collection of DU humor -- and the one-liners around here are often so hilarious that I have to stop reading until the tears dry up -- would find a fairly broad audience. Same with much of the serious stuff; people here are among the most literate, intelligent and creative anywhere on the Web, and have often posed absolutely unique and workable solutions to some very tough problems. I'd buy such a book, although I'm somewhat biased.

Finally, although satire has become ever more difficult as life has become so consistently bizarre that it's hard to out-weird daily events, there's still enough seriously warped people here for whom the truly bizarre is just a starting point. That, too, would be a book I'd have to have.

I've no idea how much money it costs to launch a boutique publishing house, nor how to estimate return on investment. However, I'm sure hundreds of people here know exactly how and it would be great to hear from them. A self-sufficient, self-funded DU would be a fairly nice raised middle finger to the wingnuts who see us as the great incubator for leftist devil spawn.


wp

[hfojvt]

10. four in two weeks does not sound that bad to me

Of course, I am from a small market and my biggest seller was perhaps Scott Nearing's book, of which I sold about 13 copies over 7 years. I am not sure if I ever sold more of any single title. I mean, four in six months would kinda suck, but why give up after two weeks? Did you do any promoting, like on radio shows? Although I talked to Lori Wick when she was just starting out and she said autograph sessions were a waste of time, but she did not start out selling like gang-busters.

[warren pease]

20. Yeah, I suppose not...

I didn't really see it that way at the time, but I appreciate your perspective as a book seller. Unfortunately, those old articles aren't really all that relevant any more, except as one very pissed off guy's take on BushCo's first three years. I think most of the articles predate Iraq, as well as all the truly amazing and appalling offenses these vile bastards have committed every single day since my last piece sometime in mid-2003.

Still, I've got a lot of new material, much of it drawn from DU posts and saved in my journal. I could turn quite a bit of those rants into articles, I suppose. And if there's anything whatsoever good about BushCo, it's their unique combination of idiocy and villainy that functions as a full-employment act for political satirists, stand-up comics and politically oriented hacks like me.

It's not like I'm expecting my political essays and polemics to replace my day job, after all. It's just interesting to see if anyone's actually willing to part with a small sum for my political writing. Kind of the classic capitalist validation, in which dispensing money is how people show you they appreciate what you're doing.

So thanks for the encouragement. I'll see about coming up with "The Warren Report II -- Dispatches from the American Fascist Occupation." Or something like that. And I'll try to be a bit more patient about sales, or lack thereof.


Best,

sg

[booley]

6. The real issue is distribution

It's not that hard to get a printer.

The real issue is getting a distributer. The market has concentrated just like everything else today and so small distrubuters are being squeezed out. Which means going to the big publishers, the ones owned by the coprorations that fund a lot fo the problems we discuss here on DU.

I am not saying it cant' work. but one would need a solution for that problem.

[shadowknows69]

7. The word of mouth marketing we'd get just from members here

would be impressive I'll bet. I think Amazon would be a viable outlet, not sure of their criteria but if we produced several novels in print someone would have to take notice. I'm not even saying restricting it to non-fiction, political stuff. I'm sure there are many amazing fiction writers among us. I have a few twisted tales I've been wanting to tell I know that much.

[shimmergal]

17. It's fairly easy to get listed on Amazon.com;

I know some people whose self-published books are listed there. For the rest, the Internet does partially solve the distribution problem: no, you don't get massive "market" saturation, but people can order print copies without going thru a series of middlemen (distributor, wholesaler, retailer, etc.)

[shadowknows69]

8. Another shameless kick

I think it's a good idea so I'm going to nag this thread to death for about a day or two. Appy polly loggies in advance and thank you for your time and attention.
S

[hfojvt]

9. perhaps you've heard of "Snake Bites"?

Apparently not. Apparently still available.
http://www.cafepress.com/du_store.20271230

Aren't books kinda passe though? So much wasted paper. I do so much of my reading on computer. It seems to me that a 1,000 page 'book' can be put on a CD for far lower cost. It would be more profitable for $10 than the smaller book for $19.99. Plus, there is not the necessity to print 1,000 copies in order to reduce unit cost, and then be unable to sell them.

[shadowknows69]

11. I did not know about that

and heeeere's anothere shameless kick from your friendly neighborhood....oh wait....Who know's what evil lurks in the hearts of men?.....Ooh, ooh! Mr. Kot....Ter!!!!

[hfojvt]

12. speaking of shameless promotion

going off our ideas, I made a little collection of some of my humorous posts and some of the threads are funny too.
So far, it is not selling in the lounge. Too much work perhaps, to click on an old link.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6505311&mesg_id=6505311

[shimmergal]

18. There's no longer the necessity with print books

anyhow; that's the great thing about print-on-demand technology. Not nearly everyone will willingly read 1,000 pages on computer! Yes, you can put out a CD (or even sell downloads) for less and still make money, but you need to have a print copy available too for the rest of us.

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. I had a similar thought/idea a few weeks ago, but it involved a TV/Cable

broadcast. I wonder if it could be done? Would enough people help support it? That's some TV I'd watch... DU'ers on the air!

[CK_John]

14. Your on to something! But it needs to net centric to make it today. n/t

[shadowknows69]

15. E-books

but we should shoot for print as well. People still buy books and if we could get just one on Oprah's book club we'd set B-)

[Book Lover]

16. The ony way for this to make financial sense is for

the owners of this website to franchise their brand name, "Democratic Underground" / "democraticunderground.com" to an established publisher. No other option will make DU any money.

[shadowknows69]

19. That was the idea

But a strategy to allow people to invest in it could be put in place for start-up capital. Skinner and Company being CEOs of course. I'll bet they could staff the whole operation with people right on this board. And as I said before we have many fine amateur writers that could pump out our flagship novels.

[Book Lover]

21. Actually, your idea is pretty different

What I'm describing actually does not put DU at any financial risk - I suggested an already established media house should purchase the rights to distribute content under a DU imprint. That does not require any initial investment from DU or DUers.

[shadowknows69]

22. Oh, got ya

I understand now.