Self publishing: The Happy Pumpkin Experiment
You may have seen and heard (sorry for the blown speakers) “The Happy Pumpkin”. It was included as part of the Fred O Ween episode of Channel Frederator.
The video was posted to YouTube two weeks ago. In that time, it has received nearly 200,000 views, was commented on 365 times, and was favorited 468 times. While it’s no “Internet People”, it’s no slouch, either.
Anyway, given the response the short has received, I thought it would be a great candidate for an experiment in self publishing.
What’s self publishing? Well, it’s basically the artist publishing material themselves instead of trying to get a publisher to do it for them. It’s like YouTube for paper.
I’m using a service called Lulu.
Basically, you set up an account, pick an item you want to create, upload the content, and set your price. When you sell something, they send you a check.
I’ve never self published before, so I’m not too sure how it will go. Want to help test out self publishing and help support independent animation in the process? You can buy a poster of the happy pumpkin or the scary skull here.
Be sure to post your experiences with self publishing in the comments section.
-Floyd Bishop
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On October 29th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Congratulations Floyd, you deserve it. Regarding Lulu: We’ve happily used it in the past for the Channel Frederator Awards and a Wubbzy art book. And I just found out about a service they’ve offered for a while that allows you to post your published items on Amazon. Good luck.