Lightening Source Publishing

Just for the record, I’m switching my posting schedule to once every two weeks. Hopefully I can keep up with this schedule once school starts again.

I’m getting into the self-publishing gig again, and I’m liking it. Last week, Zoe wrote an article about Lightening Source, which is the best-kept secret in the self-publishing industry, methinks. Zoe has written about this before, but in case you know nothing about Lightening Source, read the article linked at the beginning of this paragraph.

The main points are as follows:

1. Lightening Source is a print-on-demand printer, not publisher. You maintain all rights, etc, as they only print for you. This is what you think you’re doing with Lulu, right?
2. Publishing through Lulu is a nice alternative to creating a micro-press, but when it comes down to it, Lulu is using Lightening Source.
3. All the major publishers use Lightening Source for their back-end printing, why not you?
4. Lightening Source is cheaper than offset printing.
5. Lightening Source already has an in with many of the book distributors, so half of your work is done for you!

Has anyone had experience with Lightening Source? My Worderella on Writing book is through Lulu, and while the quality is nice and I was pleased with how easy it was to create, I have to admit I want more control. May stick to using Lulu for small projects, and then use Lightening Source for actual novels.

For those of you not interested in self-publishing, what do you think about this?

Contest Winner

Don’t think I’d forgotten! The winner of the autographed Worderella on Writing is Kait Nolan! Use the contact form on my website to send your address and I’ll ship it ASAP. Congratulations!

Checking In

Hello everyone!

Yes, I am alive. I apologize for my absence. Graduate school takes up far more time than I realized, and now I am working full-time in an internship that requires too much of my creativity… I come home exhausted yet satisfied.

Loyalty Contest

I realize I’ve probably lost a lot of my readership, so if you’re still around, thank you for sticking with me. Make sure to comment and tell everyone what you’ve been up to lately. One of the commenters will receive a free copy of my “best of” book, Worderella On Writing. The 52 pg book contains my most popular posts for your scribbling pleasure. As a full disclosure, I make one dollar per purchase.

The winner will be notified/announced next week.

Writing

In terms of writing, I was a little burned out from my fiction class this last semester. However, the class improved my writing tremendously, and I wouldn’t give up that experience for the world. Word Nerd was kind enough to provide comments for Trentwood’s Orphan, the entire draft, and boy do I have some work to do. On the one hand, it seems she liked it, on the other hand, I was obviously way too close to the story because what I thought was clear about the characters was actually very muddy.

I have a lot of work to do. But now that I’ve taken a six-month break from the work, and a month-long break from writing in general, I think I’m ready for it. Wish me luck!

Guest Posts

Do you have a topic you’d like to talk about? Are you new to self-publishing, a veteran, or somewhere in-between? Do you have editing and/or writing tips that others could learn? Submit your idea and we’ll work out deadline. Make sure to provide a summary of your idea.