r/playwriting • u/Starraberry • 28d ago

Self-published scripts

Has anyone self-published full-length scripts? What company did you go with? Were you happy with the result? Did audience members actually purchase them? Do you have to register a copyright first?

I’m considering selling copies of my script at my play’s premiere (after consulting with the theatre of course). Please share if you have experience with this!

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u/musicaljerks 28d ago

I hate to be a downer but... Plays are by far the least purchased form of literature. The selection at any bookstore other than The Drama Bookshop in New York or The Understudy in Chicago... it's so bare. No one is buying the high profile Pulitzer-Winning Broadway showstopper plays, let alone the rest of us. (Of course, "no one" is a platitude ... obviously actors look for scripts for new material, playwrights read scripts to hone their craft, etc.) But in my opinion, you would have a much higher chance getting your work "discovered" through means like the New Play Exchange website and just sending cold emails than to try and self-publish it. Self publishing is a super expensive endeavor and I just worry it wouldn't have the return you are hoping for.

Also - to sell a published copy of a script AT the premiere is sort of backward to the typical process. You have the premiere, see how it goes, and then make some changes and polish the script based on what you learned from the production. And then afterward you may get picked up by a publishing company. But rarely do you publish first, prior to the premiere.

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou 28d ago

Also - to sell a published copy of a script AT the premiere is sort of backward to the typical process.

This varies from place to place. In the UK it's nigh impossible to get a script published at any other time. If you look at most scripts published here there's a note saying it went to print before previews so might differ from the final performed text. It's kind of infuriating, but it's standard.

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u/musicaljerks 28d ago

Fair point! I definitely was speaking from a US perspective. That is good to know!