Local filmmaker Steve Turner debuts his first novel online

To read Steve Turner's recently released book, "Tumbling," you have to go no further than your computer screen.

Turner, a freelance cinematographer based in Jackson, skipped the traditional book publishing process and opted to print his book online instead.

"Because of the state the publishing world is in, I decided to just put it out there," Turner said. "One of the issues for a first-time author is that no one knows me, so it's difficult to publish a book or to find a publisher."

Having worked in the book industry for 20 years as a manager of a Barnes & Noble, Turner has some experience with book sales. He said there are usually not a lot of sales for a first-time author of literary fiction. He decided to put his trust in the Internet instead.

"The Internet creates its own buzz," Turner said. "Someone picks up on the link, then tells their friends."

The book can be found on Turner's website, steveeturner.blogspot.com, where a free PDF of the manuscript can be downloaded. He uploaded it to scribd.com, a social publishing site that allows free uploading and downloading of original documents, and an electronic version on Amazon.com, available for $7.99, can be downloaded to a Kindle or iPad.

"Tumbling," according to Turner's website, is about the patriarchal Taylor family in Southern Illinois with no wives or children to carry on the name. A family member dies and the family reunites to confront its dysfunctional relationships.

Turner said close to 1,100 people have read the book, which he believes is pretty good considering he had no promotion or money involved. Right now, Turner's initial goal is to gather a reader following in hopes of eventually publishing his book in print form.

"I just put it out there and we'll see what happens," he said. "There's no reason not to anymore."

While this might work sometimes, Susan Swartwout, publisher at Southeast Missouri State University's University Press, said self-publishing -- online or in print -- is nothing new and can be detrimental to landing a deal.

"Not many presses want to republish a book that's been published either online or in-print elsewhere," Swartwout said. "Online publishing represents sales that a reprinting would not receive. In other words, the book has been 'sold' to those customers online already. An 'unpublished manuscript' is a valued product because its sales are yet to be garnered; almost all publishers' guidelines call for 'unpublished manuscripts.' 'Unpublished' includes online."

For those eager to self-publish, Swartwout referred to a few online sites that make self-publishing easy and have been around for a while. Scribd, the website Turner used, is one. The other, Authonomy.com, sponsored by HarperCollins, allows aspiring writers to "post large excerpts of their writing and have them assessed by other writers. The favorite ones accumulate points and are more likely to be noticed by a literary agent."

The process of obtaining a book deal is a fairly basic equation.

First, a writer gets a literary agent, as that is the only way to reach out to commercial publishers. While commercial publishers sometimes pay advances and have deeper marketing, they usually will not offer writers a contract and will remove a book from the shelves if it's not making money, Swartwout said.

The independent or university press is another option. They keep their books in stock longer but do not draw in as much money or audience following.

While the equation may be simple, the actual process is tough, due to the amount of people wanting to be published.

"Since the '60s and desktop publishing's mass availability, there are millions of authors who want to be published," Swartwout said. She said the number of authors whose ideas turn into physical books is 1 percent or less and that authors will use self-publishing, website publishing or print-on-demand publishing.

"Should new authors just give up? Absolutely not," Swartwout said. "But they should learn as much as possible about the craft of writing, workshop with other writers to determine audience reaction, revise and revise even more, inform themselves about agents and publishing, and be persistent."

Swartwout said the deciding factor on whether a press will publish a book is the "quality of the writing and the market potential" and the publication's best marketing tool is the author.

Turner certainly has these tenants down, as he is offering his book online with hopes that people enjoy and pass it on. He is currently working on his next novel, hoping to have the majority knocked out by next spring.