Henry Baum | Self-Publishing Review

About Henry Baum

Author of three self-published novels and one traditionally published (Soft Skull Press, Canongate, and Hachette Littératures). Recipient of Best Fiction at the DIY Book Festival, the Gold IPPY Award for Visionary Fiction, and the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize. He lives with his wife Cate Baum in Spain. He's the founder of SPR.

Publishers Start Giving Away Books for Free

It’s a major sign of the times and evidence that publishing is coming out its slumber. Though these experiments may not work in the long run – i.e. they don’t help increase book sales – it is at least evidence that publishers recognize the important of offering books for free to generate buzz and interest.

This week there have been two major cases of major publishers offering books for free. First, Suvudu.com is a site run by Random House which will release ebook versions of science fiction titles free to the public. The press release reads:

NEW YORK, NY –

[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:26:02+02:00March 5th, 2009|Categories: News|

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

Christopher Meeks is a self-publishing success story. No, he hasn’t landed a huge publishing contract, but he’s establishing a very serious writing career via the self-publishing route – one that could be the model of how to do self-publishing right and how it can be the avenue for serious and entertaining fiction.

I’ve read every one of his books that he’s put out via Lulu: two short-story collections – The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons – and a play – Who Lives? I’ve also seen a performance of Months and Seasons with stories read by […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:26:16+02:00March 4th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Interview: Christopher Meeks, author of The Brightest Moon of the Century

Christopher Meeks has published three books via Lulu: The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea, Months and Seasons, and a play, Who Lives? His first novel, The Brightest Moon of the Century, was just released to stellar reviews, including one from the Self-Publishing Review.

Self-Publishing Review: The Brightest Moon of the Century has its origin in a story in Months and Seasons. Why was this the character you chose to write a longer work of fiction about?

Christopher Meeks: I’d already written a few drafts of The Brightest Moon of the Century by the point I […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:26:34+02:00March 4th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

The Ebook Revolution is Coming

Ebooks and self-publishing are not necessarily the same thing – as the most widely-read ebooks are those that are put out by mainstream publishers – but in some sense they are regarded in the same way. People scoff at ebooks in the same manner as they scoff at self-publishing – that they’re both inferior forms of publishing. For some reason, there is often an either/or proposition when it comes to ebooks: you either like ebooks or you like printed books.

With both self-publishing and ebooks there are arguments for and against both. There is a lot to be said for […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:26:52+02:00March 2nd, 2009|Categories: News|

Sunken Treasure by Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton publishing a book via Lulu is one of the better developments in self-publishing. It further helps to legitimize self-publishing for those who don’t have such quick name recognition, and could spark new interest in self-publishing among people who do. Most celebrities wait out for their huge advance and write one major book, usually with another writer. Given the huge interest in everything celebrities do, you could imagine well-known people releasing compilations of their writing periodically. Publishing could become the new blogging – in which private thoughts are packaged for people to read. That’s a possibility, at least.

But […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:27:24+02:00March 2nd, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

The Shenandoah Spy by Francis Hamit

Note: Guest reviewed by Tom Baum, who happens to be the father of the editor of the Self-Publishing Review, as well as the author of the novel Out of Body, the children’s book Hugo the Hippo, screenplays for film and TV, and theatre. As Francis Hamit is a writer for this site, I thought it best to have someone impartial review the novel.

Charlize Theron, call your agent. In The Shenandoah Spy, Francis Hamit has cast into brilliant light a character from history any actress would kill to play—Belle Boyd, the first American female Army […]

Henry Baum2024-01-23T15:03:54+02:00March 2nd, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

The Japanese Cellphone Novel Phenomenon

“Japanese got Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes.
For all we know and all we care they might as well be martians.”
Elvis Costello, “Tokyo Storm Warning”

That may be a little harsh (though it’s on my favorite Elvis Costello record), but CNN reports on the cellphone novel phenomenon that has swept Japan, a phenomenon that might not translate to the U.S. The story reports:

As the name suggests, cell phone novels are written entirely on handsets and posted on sites like Maho no i-rando (Magic Island), the first and largest mobile novel portal in Japan. The site has a

[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:27:52+02:00February 28th, 2009|Categories: News|

A Reaction to Frank Daniels' Futureproof

There’s a fairly brutal take on Frank Daniels’ futureproof, which seems unnecessarily negative but brings up some questions about how self-publishing will possibly be regarded in the future. One of the reasons I’ve advocated self-publishing is because if the book does eventually get picked up by a mainstream publisher, it’s a story that can eventually be written about the book – self-published writer hits it big.

If you go from small press to large publisher, or self-publishing to small press, there’s less of a story there. And publisher’s like any way that can get a book press. But what […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:28:08+02:00February 26th, 2009|Categories: Features|