Metapost: eReading and Writing Polls

Some polls for my benefit when planning posts.

Do you read electronic books?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

Are you interested in writing and self-publishing?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

8 comments:

Yamikuronue said...

I actually do both: i have a kindle, but most of my reading is done on the go on my smartphone since I don't carry my kindle around.

Redwood Rhiadra said...

I put "maybe" om the second question - yes, I'm interested in writing, but I'm not actually *good* at it - I don't really have much other than a lot of partial outlines, scene fragments, and two or three completed prologues (without actual stories following them).

If I ever *did* succeed at writing something, I would investigate the self-publishing route, especially with the way it's become so much easier in recent years.

depizan said...

I have ebooks on my iPad, but I'm doing a terrible job of actually reading them.

Writing, though - I do lots of that on said iPad. If I ever get back to writing publishable things, there is a high probability that I'll go the self publishing route. I want to tell stories and entertain people. Money and publishing contracts aren't nearly as important.

chris the cynic said...

Ditto.

SherryH said...

I do read books on my computer (Kindle for PC), but most of the reading I do on my computer is online - blogs, articles, a random forum or two. The reading I do for pleasure is *usually* paper books after the computer is shut down. FWIW, I have a desktop, so it's not exactly set up for portable reading. Maybe, if I shift over to the laptop and go traveling, I'll have more incentive to read books on it. I've enjoyed the ones I've read.

I... have been interested in writing. Every now and then I have a surge of interest/ambition, and then it goes away. For the past couple of years, I've mostly wanted to read and absorb. Attempts at writing have petered out, and I'll be the first to admit I've let them do it.

I'm not sure whether or not I'm interested in self-publishing. The advantage of having a publisher is that someone else is doing a lot of the ancillary work - promoting, distributing, tracking.... Having an editor and a proofreader seems like it would be helpful, too. The advantage of self-publishing, as I understand it, is that you don't need to sell your concept to someone, you maintain creative control, and if you do print-on-demand, the cost per book can be quite reasonable. (Please note, most of this is impressions picked up by osmosis while cruising the web. I probably couldn't even find a lot of the original sources from which I formed said impressions. I'm willing to be educated on any of these points.)

Angelia Sparrow said...

I used to have a Sony. Now I have a small, offbrand tablet that is a pain. I read ebooks on my phone.

I just got word that my 11th novel has been picked up. (my 10th will be out in July and my 12th out in January) I've been writing ebooks since 2004.

Self-publishing is a tricky thing. I have a small reprint house right now. All my stuff has been previously edited, but I still hire an editor to go over it before I publish. POD publishing is reasonable. I pay about $5/book and sell them for about 15.

Having a publisher means you write the book. They send you the edits for you to make changes. You send it back. They find a cover artist, hire a line editor to chase out all the weird formatting (we call it hunting the Book Bears) and maintain the website where it is sold. They also send you 1099s, instead of you paying quarterly taxes.

graylor said...

I'm not sure about the first: does fanfiction count? Most of the short stories I read these days are fic, and I've read lots of novel-length fics over the years... many of which blow Twilight out of the water. Not that that's a high standard, but still. I've never dowloaded a proper novel, though, and I don't own an e-reader other than my computer.

Ice said...

That second question really kind of touches a nerve for me (in a good way!) right now. I recently made the decision that I was going to commit to writing, and get a draft of my WIP done most ricky-tick so I can start figuring out the self-publishing thing and get my story out there... In other words, this poll has piqued my interest, and you have my full attention!

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