A Story of Self Publishing Success

Presented at HOPE X (2014), July 20, 2014, 4 p.m. (60 minutes).

Just days before HOPE Number Nine, John Huntington released a self-published version of his book, Show Networks and Control Systems. Several months before, his publisher had decided that they were not interested in an update after three successful editions, so Huntington got his publishing rights back and did a whole new edition himself using Amazon's Createspace for printed copies and Kindle for e-books. And it's been a success - Huntington has made far more money self publishing this one edition than the royalties on all three of the previous editions with the publisher combined. More importantly, he has had a far higher level of engagement with his readers, and has been able to do things he never could have done with the publisher, like putting free lecture videos for each chapter on his website, or giving copies away (which he will do at the end of this talk). Huntington will share sales figures, compare the economics and issues related to both printed and e-book editions, and lay out the challenges, pitfalls, and successes of this process.


Presenters:

  • John Huntington
    John Huntington is a professor of entertainment technology at New York City College of Technology (Citytech/CUNY). He also works as an entertainment technology and show control systems consultant, author, and sound designer/engineer, and chases tornadoes in his free time, while blogging about entertainment technology at www.controlgeek.net.

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