If it's tracked by ISBN, there shouldn't be a problem. The publisher has to have a new ISBN for your work. They can't use the Create Space ISBN. Plus, you can change the name of your book which Boyd Morrison did with The Ark when he was picked up by S&S. It's now Rogue Wave. 

Gertie, I actually only self-published electronically, so I never registered for an ISBN because of the exact reason that Kristin Nelson raised: I didn't want publishers and booksellers to see that my books had only sold a few copies if that had happened. I was planning to write more books, and publishers and booksellers look for you by name. They would see the old books that hadn't sold many copies and might think the new book wouldn't do any better, hurting my publishing chances. So there is a risk to registering for an ISBN when you self-publish.

We kept The Ark as the title when the S&S version came out in May. The title of The Palmyra Impact was changed to Rogue Wave.

Oh.

Well crap.

I'm sorry Boyd, I definitely did misread what you were saying. I implied stuff you didn't put into your post. I apologize.

And you make several good points. I agree that most decisions to drop indie in favor of trad or vice versa are not so clear cut. And yes, it is all a risk. Indie or trad. There are no guarantees in this business.

Z

No worries. And I realize that the market has changed dramatically in the past year since I got my publishing deal. I'm not saying my decision would be any different now, but last year the iPad and Nook didn't exist, the Amazon Kindle UK store was a long way off, and the idea of making a living self-publishing ebooks was in its infancy.

I think what everyone is in violent agreement about is that whether to stay indie or go with a traditional publisher depends on your goals and on the financial opportunities that each give. If your goal is just to write and get your books out there where readers can find them, e-publishing lets you do that in a way that doesn't cost you thousands of dollars paid to vanity presses to get a few thousand copies that will molder in your basement. Instead, you can now make some decent money selling ebooks, which will reward independent writers who produce good books that are well-packaged and cleverly promoted. (One story I haven't seen in the media is how vanity presses are probably in even more danger than traditional publishers; I wouldn't be surprised if we see the end of many vanity presses in the next couple of years, and I'm talking about the true vanity presses that take advantage of unpublished writers, not Smashwords, Lulu, or Createspace).

But if you are writing books to make a living (so that you can ditch your old job), you'll certainly have to consider the financial ramifications of staying indie versus going with a publisher. In my case, I wanted to reach as many readers as possible, and though ebooks are growing at an exponential rate, most sales are still currently in stores. In two years, those numbers will be very different, but for right now that's the situation. In addition, I'd be surprised if I ever would have gotten deals for The Ark in UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, and all the other countries without a US publishing deal. Although I'm not anywhere near the league of Stieg Larsson's sales, you can get an idea of how the US market compares to the rest of the world by looking at his numbers: he has sold 4 million books in the US, but he has sold over 40 million books worldwide. That percentage is not uncommon for authors of thrillers, which are what I happen to write. Yes, with the advent of Amazon Kindle UK, I could have put my books on that store as well, but I never would be able to put my books on Amazon Kindle Deutsche because I would need a German translator. And remember that Amazon Kindle UK wasn't even a faint glimmer when I got my publishing deal last year (47 Internet years ago).

So truly take a deep look at what your goals are before you decide to take either the indie route or the traditional publishing route. Either way, you'll get to do what you love, which is write. But the effort, hassle, financial rewards, prestige, and desired readership should all be factors you consider in your decision.

For the Taiwan release of THE ARK, the translator wrote on awesome blog about all the technology I used in the book. Spolier alert! It gives away some of the items that will become important in the story, but if you want to see a massive dump truck literally flattening a pickup, a freefall lifeboat launching, or a video on the monastery at Khor Virap, check it out. The blog is in Chinese, but you'll still be able to get the gist of it. It's so great, I may rewrite in English for my own blog.

http://blog.yam.com/krantas/article/29501791

Ann, I just turned in the final page proofs for ROGUE WAVE. Even after re-reading it for the hundredth time, I'm still very proud of that story, so thanks for posting about it. Also, I just saw the cover image for THE VAULT. It looks fantastic! I can't wait to share it.

The Ark is out in Germany, Denmark, Australia, and New Zealand, and it will come out in the UK in August and Italy in September.

Check out my first blog post for the Huffington Post!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/boyd-morrison/my-publishing-journey-fro_b_614788.html

Still cool to see it in a store. Maybe only two copies means they've been selling them!

And how funny that the Man Skills book above it shows a Swiss Army Knife, which is just a little too simple for Tyler, who uses a manly Leatherman. 

JP, unfortunately my book tour budget didn't allow a trip to Chicago this time around, but I'll try to add it next year.

I'd like to share some good news. So far, the reception for The Ark has been great! In the Wall Street Journal, it's listed as the number 8 hardcover mystery in the country.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268550639498316.html

And the Denver Post listed The Ark as the number 6 overall hardcover fiction bestseller in the city!

http://www.denverpost.com/books/ci_15177639

Boyd:

I pre-ordered and mine came overnight in Cyberspace. I'll download it this afternoon with my NY Times. And I must say, all other reading shall be put aside as you will not even make the TBR list, so long I have waited for this - having missed the original run. You give every Indie hope, having bubbled to the top and arrived. I'm so proud of you.

Edward C. Patterson

Thanks, Ed! That's so nice of you to say. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks, Gertie and Geoff!

How this for timely? The UK Daily Mail is reporting that someone has found Noah's Ark!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269165/Noahs-Ark-discovered-4-800-years--4-000m-mountain-Turkey.html

Is it normal for the Hardcover and Paperback to be released on the same day?  Since I already have the indy release of the Kindle edition, I probably won't re-buy, but I may pick up a hardcover so I have a 1st edition piece of history!

I have no idea why Amazon lists a paperback release. The Ark won't be in paperback until next year. I've asked my publisher to remove it to avoid confusion.

You all who have not bought this book must do so. . . it is worth the $11.99 the Publisher is charging. . . . .

And, Boyd, I'm gonna do my darndest to get to your signing in NY in July. . . . .

Great, Ann! I hope to see you there.

Yes, I'm sure the price will be a turnoff for some people because I know pricing has been a big issue lately. As a debut author in a big organization, I don't have any say in the matter (part of the tradeoff for getting print books out there instead of self-publishing my ebooks), but I hope that the readers who do decide to try The Ark will feel like they've gotten their time and money's worth.

But I have to say, as much as I'm a fan of ebooks, the DTB looks very cool sitting on my kitchen counter!