Re: Aussies are cool (re: Kazaa)

[John Paul Davis <johnd at antioch-college_edu>]

Dan Temmesfeld wrote:

> 
> if all major labels went away... well, that'd be
> fine.... just fine.  all you really need is the
> distribution houses.
> 


Word.
  I was leafing through an old issue of "The Source" (a hip hop 
magazine) in Dino's Cappucino's last night, and buried in the multiple 
ads portraying weathly young black men as crinimals and pretty black 
women as sex objects, was an actually interesting article about the fact 
that *most* musicians barely break even when making albums through 
record labels, and a good many actually end up going into debt.

I've thought about this whole deal often while working on my novel; do I 
want a big publishing house or not? Do I want to do it myself? The main 
problem with the DIY route in publishing is that where people will 
respect an musician who goes that route, people look down on "vanity" 
publishing.
But corporate publishing is just as bad as record labels - i could get 
stuck with a shitty editor who barely passed English but got the job 
because she had a connection. I could get categorized as someone who 
won't make the house much money, get a rotten advance, and no royalties 
and no control over the cover art and no real marketing money.

Or, I could do it myself, make the book beautiful, and do the Ani 
DiFranco thing: travel all over the country, giving readings, trying to 
get bookstores to sell my book. Sell via the web.
I've actually thought about assembling some kind of editorial collective 
of people whose judgement I think is good, and we all volunteer editing 
services to each other - my book would get five editors, all of us good 
writers.

But: my wife is pregnant and due in August. I don't know how much I can 
afford to take that risky route.

John

np: "Nation of Slaves" - Jospeh Arthur


-- 
John Paul Davis
Center for Community Learning
Antioch College
http://www.antioch-college.edu/ccl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The benefits of helping somebody is beneficial

- George W. Bush
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.johnpauldavis.org

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