Yes, he did. But he's Stephen King and he could sell mimeographs of his grocery list and people would fall all over themselves to buy it. 

Actually, snarky comment aside, he's got years and years of brand recognition in his name, he has the freedom to publish in any format and people already know the quality of his work (whether they like it or not is their own opinion. They know what they're getting.)

For an "unpublished" author, the perception is still that the quality is not there, or that the writer doesn't have enough faith in his own work to persevere.

It's also very rare for a reputable publishing company to touch a book after it has been published via self-publishing in any form.... but it's not completely unheard of. James Redfield's Celestine Prophecy was self-published and was such a word of mouth success that Warner Books came to him and offered to publish a second printing. Ten years or so later, the book became a movie.

So, anything's possible.

Among my collegues at the writer's group I go to, publishing an ebook is frowned upon.

Self-publishing a hard copy book is good for poets and workbooks that support a lecture, but for a fiction novel, the perception seems to be that anything self-published is self-published because it's not good enough that the writer could find anyone to take it on.  And since we all know how crappy some stuff published by some big firms can be, that must mean it's reeeeeallly bad. (Whether it actually is that bad or not, apparently the author him/herself didn't believe in it enough to persevere.)

E-book is further down the totem pole than that. E-books are good as give away teasers, but I can't see people making much money from them at all. As you said, you get to read a bunch of chapters for free. Ask yourself this... after reading those chapters, did you just *have to have* the rest of the book and pay to download it? Or did your attention quickly flit on to the nexy shiny object of your life?

That said, once you have your novel published by a reputable firm in hard copy, I've heard publishing an Electronic copy via PDF is a great way to boost your sales.

JMwriter's group's O

Blessings and prosperity!

Oh, and good luck too!   

Is it allowed to write stories in another persons "universe" not to publish in a book of course but with the intent of sharing with others like on this board?

In the meantime, you are welcome to come play with us on the DresdenVerse Role Playing Forum where we either take up the persona of one of JB's characters, or create one of our own that can exist within the confines of the Dresdenverse. Any ideas you come up with are fair game for JB's future storylines, know that goign in. But it's a heck of a lot of fun and an AMAZING way to stretch your talents and learn the craft of improv writing!

www.hellsbells.freeforums.org


Read the back stories well before you post... the writing is pretty good, and the players are are pretty serious about the integrity of the storylines, but jump in! The water's perfect!

Um... Kathleen... please tell me you didn't actually buy that, did you?

Smoked duck, slamon, sturgeon, trout and oysters are all delicious, so go you.

hmmm... wonder how smoked minister tastes.... must ask the cannibals on my nexy missionary trip.... LOL

Looks like I may have to take up smoking again.... 

Crap!

Went and bought Succubus Blues at Barnes and Nobles this weekend (in the romance section, no less). Haven't started readng it since I'm not done with JB's latest just yet.

Today  my friend who is a copy editor came over for lunch and began perusing through it while I was busy with something.

To keep a long story short, she snarfed it. Got hooked on the first chapter and took it with her when she left.

Good thing I know where she works!