As I said in last week’s blog, I’m considering a venture into self-publishing. It makes sense. At least to me. I’ve been reading and studying the options off and on for more than a decade. Currently I feel like the childless couple dispensing childcare advice or the bachelor voicing opinions on marriage. I know what I read and observe and I can speculate what would be good choices, but I haven’t experienced any of it. It is time for some experiential learning.
Self-publishing has a bad rep. Is it deserved? Is it an admission of failure when an author decides to self-publish? Are those authors really the ones who couldn’t make it, or didn’t even try to make it, in traditional publishing? Or are they entrepreneurs who are swimming out to catch that great oncoming technology wave that they will then ride in to a lucrative beach? Depending on who you listen to, you’ll get either side of that debate. (Guess where I fall?) If you do decide to self-publish, how do you avoid being bitten by the sharks? How do you know which “wave” to pick up and ride?
The negatives of self-publishing are real. Most self-publishers do not edit or vet in any way the books they publish. As long as the author will pay for it, they will print it. There are atrocious self-published books out there. Books with horrendous grammar, books with no plot or cohesive theme, books with very little of value under verbal tons of muck.
There is at least one (maybe only one) self-publisher out there with a different business model. At the moment, I am on the outside looking in. My perception may be incomplete or even erroneous, but I am seriously considering Booklocker if/when I have my cookbook, or anything else, ready to publish.
From what I can gather after 10+ years of receiving their newsletters,Booklocker is not in business to make money selling the author anything. (At least that is what they say.) They, like their traditional publisher counterparts, are in business to sell books. They only accept books they think will sell. They work with the author to edit and polish the book into something of quality. They provide an online “store front” through which to sell the books. In these ways, they are similar to and build on the positives of traditional publishers.
They use the positives of self-publishing by charging the costs of publication to the author. They avoid the negatives of self-publishing by keeping those costs minimal. They avoid the negatives of both traditional and self-publishing by not confiscating the copyrights from the author. I could continue to elaborate, but they explain it much better than I in an article from a few years back.
The water looks great. The surf is up. Watch me as I ride this wave!
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9 users responded in this post
Hi Stephanie, I know how you feel. I too have seen some excrable work in print and cringe when I do. There’s no quality control with self published books. (Having said that, I’ve seen some awful books published by traditional publishers, too. I wrestled with the idea but finally took the plunge. As I write this, my novel, “The Woman at the Light” is at the printer’s. My reasons for going POD were that I wanted to see it in print now, not 3 or 4 years from now. A few years ago, when I ‘thought’ my novel was finished, I sent it in to numerous agents who all rejected it–justifiably, it turns out. It still needed a lot of work. I’ve since done radical re-editing, polishing, and added a whole new ending. It just might pass muster now, but frankly, I can’t be bothered going through all that again. I’ve gone with iUniverse, and so far am happy enough with them, though I find these POD companies want to sell you a lot of expensive services, like editing and copy polishing. (I used to be a copywriter and have been writing a weekly food column for the past 10 years, so I didn’t feel that was necessary.) The other reason I went this route is that a friend here published a crime novel a couple of years ago. After two years of reasonably good sales, his publisher let the book go out of print. My book is a niche historical novel, which I’m hoping will have life for several years.
Good luck with your book!
Hi Stephanie.
I’ve been there, asking myself all the questions you asked in this post. In the end I made the decision as an entrepreneur and decided to cut out all the middle men. Different than what you’re considering (and what Joanna decided to do), I decided to cut out all the middle men and establishing my own publishing company. This way, I interface directly with the printer and don’t deal with any self-publishing company.
I took a long time to make the decision, and I did a ton of research before I made it – but in the end I did decide to swim out and catch that wave. I decided to take literary fiction indie and I spent a long time preparing before I actually caught the wave.
Joanna made a very good point – which I think should be reinforced. Writers don’t usually think about how many title publishers let go out of print. Or how quickly that can happen.
As an author of literary fiction this was one of the issues I considered deeply. And now, I know my publisher won’t print 3000 copies of my book and never give it a chance to catch on.
I wish you the best of luck and am glad to see posts like this. Even if they don’t choose to take advantage of the options available, they should know what they are.
Thanks for a great post.
Stephanie, were you at the writer’s group a long time ago when a childrens book author came in and told us her self-publishing story? She sent out her book, collected a stack of rejections, and decided to self-publish by hiring an artist on her own, finding a printer, finding a binder, etc. – every single thing that needed to be done she went shopping for the best service she could find. Her book turned out so well – and the sales were so good because she drove all over the country selling it on consignment at gift shops and truck stops – that publishers came looking for HER. She reminded them that several of them had already said no once and that she didn’t want to trade her 100% of the profits for 10% of sales. It was a great story. Though on the other hand, I have several friends who have yet to make $100 with their POD and/or e-book sales, so you never know how it’s going to turn out.
Good luck!
Love, Kitty
Hi Stephanie, I am a new subscriber to this blog. I am a huge advocate of self-publishing. Your post is very interesting and if you do, indeed, decide to follow up on your venture I wish luck! However, you are not being entirely fair about self-publishing and you seem to be focused too much on the negative. I will completely agree with Joanna. How many books have not been published by huge publishing companies that are complete garbage (i.e. Twilight, Danielle Steele, etc)
Authors just need to be extra careful and find reputable ways to have their work looked at. I spent like 6 months carefully editing my first poetry anthology before it was self-published.
It’s so sad to see so many writers being discouraged by these kinds of posts. I’ll say, if you have something to say and you know there is public for it, go ahead. Do your homework and present your words to the world!
Hi Stephanie,
Wanda makes a good case for true self-publishing. My son has published two books on true crime in the Florida Keys that way and thought I was crazy to go with a POD company. The profits are much higher when you manage everything yourself. It does mean arranging for your own copywrite registration, getting your ISBN numbers, interior design, cover design, etc. He has a local distributor who charges him to place it in stores, but that’s his only expense now. His books will go on as long as there is interest in them. No publisher will let them go out of print. You have complete control. The one drawback is that he had them printed 5,000 at a time (large quantities brings down the cost to the author), so his house is full of boxes of books. I don’t have that kind of space. But if I write a second book, I just might go that route. Maybe. If I do, I’ll just order fewer books.
Wow. Lots of comments! I haven’t been ignoring anyone. Honest. Just a bit busy.
Thanks all of you who have responded. Obviously this is a hot issue. Obviously, it’s impossible for a 500 word blog to even touch on every aspect of this issue. That’s what makes these comments so helpful. It lets us know a little more about our readers and where we need to focus our topics.
I do think it is interesting that my post came across as negative toward self-publishing. It was not meant that way. Perhaps it was the negativity toward many self-publishing companies that came across negative. That WAS my intent.
Sometimes I’m too subtle with my points, so maybe my main point was lost in the set-up.
Besides the assertion that self-publishing is a viable option, I wanted to highlight a very positive POD company, Booklocker. Far from milking authors, they have a high standard and reasonable costs. I hope that came through and that our readers, particularly those interested in POD and/or self-publishing, got that information.
Kitty, I remember that author. That was a great success story. She was well-balanced and honest about all the work she put into making her book successful. Work that a traditional publisher might or might not put into an author/book. It opened my eyes even more to the viability of alternate forms of publication.
Joanne, Heidi, and Wanda, thanks so much for your stories and comments. You are success stories for the wave of the future. I emphatically believe POD is the hope of publishing’s future. That is why I am so enthusiastic about Booklocker. This is a true publishing company, one whose goal is to publish good books that meet a need. They have taken the self-publishing model, where the author foots the bill, and merged it with the traditional publisher model, where the publisher makes the book available to the public. And they do it for under $500 AND the copyright remains in the author’s name AND the author can choose (or not) to list their book in their online store. (For those, like me, who do not wish to learn and take on the entire publishing job, they are a very attractive option.)
Obviously, based on the interest, I’ll be posting more blogs on this topic. Keep watching.
Today, things are becoming easier and cheaper for authors with things housed under one roof. At ONE places, for example:
–You can write your book online with a specific text-editor created for authors,
–You can find editors, graphic designers and marketers who have been rated at the same place
–You can easily upload template cover design or custom
–You can, with a couple clicks, print your book
–Authors can keep 100% profits (no royalties) and only pay for printing
This world is ALL about self-publshing from music, to movies to blogs to books etc.
Thanks
Brent
http://www.thebookpatch.com
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