If you’re the one speaking this phrase, make sure you tilt your head forward ever so slightly, shaking it gently back and forth, and infuse your tone with the right mixture of scorn and pity. If you’re the one the phrase is spoken to, resist the urge to scream, spit or cry. You’re not playing football here, so there’s no need to go on the offensive or defensive.
Traditional publishing today is facing the same sort of difficulties already faced by the movie and music industries. From the inception of the first video tape recorder and the subsequent morphing into DVDs, to the advent of mp3 players and online music libraries, the entertainment world has found itself at the mercy of the digital age. The production of the first e-reading device and digitalized books has forced book publishers to reevaluate their own place in this computerized world. We’ll discuss the ebook revolution in a future post. Today, it’s all about self-publishing.
Trying to change people’s perceptions about self-publishing is a lot like trying to teach a four-month old black Labrador not to chew on furniture. You expend tremendous energy for very little, if any, reward. (Trust me on this one. I consider myself an expert on labs and chewing. A year and a half later, we are still finding that rawhide chewies are less appealing than the leather loveseat or dining room chairs. My suggestion? IKEA.)
One notion particularly seems to be prevalent in the minds of the hard-core traditionalists. “Independent authors will glut the market with mediocre books.” As the writer of one of those mediocre books, I’m afraid I must object. While I know my novel is not the most exciting mystery ever written, it’s certainly not the worst. In an attempt to support the cause, I’ve read quite a few mysteries by self-published writers and many of them are as good as, if not better than, some books published in the mainstream market. What it boils down to is that it doesn’t matter how it’s published but how it’s written.
Years ago, self-publishers were referred to as the vanity press. This was a pretty accurate description. You paid the vanity publisher several thousand dollars and, in turn, you wound up with cartons of your printed masterpiece taking up space in your basement, garage or living room. Having spent all that money on the printing process, you had nothing left over for promotion. So, the book you poured your heart and soul into became holiday presents for your family, friends and anybody you saw walking down the street.
Today, the smart independent author goes a different route. Print-on-demand (or POD) publishing offers the author a chance to get his book into print, in many instances, for free. You upload your manuscript, create a cover, view the galleys, email back the proof, and the book files are sent to the printer. Many of these POD publishers will offer a distribution plan at a fairly reasonable cost. (By reasonable, I mean under $100). I purchased such a plan for my first book at Wordclay. Within a relatively short period of time, the book was showing up in several U.S. online bookseller sites and then began appearing in many international online stores, as well. I certainly didn't have the resources at my disposal to accomplish that. But is it going to sell? Well, that’s up to me.
The downside to self-publishing is that you, the independent author, bear the sole responsibility for promotion. Organizing book tours, landing a spot on a national television show, and having hundreds show up for a book signing are all lofty goals. For the self-published, though, they may not be realistic goals. But even with limited internet skills, you can find places to review your books, learn how to build your own website, how to write your own press releases, engage in a virtual book tour, and how to blog and Twitter until your fingers bleed. You can even find places to host your book for free while you make a name for yourself. Basically, there are no limits on how to form a marketing plan to get your book “out there.”
All of this technical information is great, but I realize none of it really addresses the “Oh, you’re SELF-published” issue. When someone says this, you need to focus on several things. The most important is that you wrote a book. You devised a story line, created characters, developed the scenes, wrote a beginning, middle and ending -- all from the inner sanctum of your own mind. If this isn’t an accomplishment, I don’t know what is. Often, the person tossing out the comment has never written a book. But even if he or she has, you can’t let the comment minimize what you’ve done.
Second, the implication from this phrase is that your work is subpar and, therefore, not worthy of attention. To dismiss something without knowing anything about it is not unusual and not solely directed at independent authors. We are, unfortunately, a society where it’s easier to denounce something without bothering to look into it. Take the comment for what it is: a limited knowledge of what publishing today is all about. The comment is not about you and it’s certainly not about your book. It’s simply someone’s opinion.
Third, if the comment is a reflection on your lack of financial reward, as I mentioned in my last post, writing cannot be about the money. For most of us, there simply isn’t any. We write because we want to write. If someone reads it, fantastic! If you make a few bucks along the way, that’s a great, big “Woo hoo!” But making or not making money doesn’t change the fact of what you’ve accomplished by writing your book. Don’t confuse success with the almighty dollar.
Nothing written here is intended to lessen the significance of having your book accepted for publication through traditional means. That achievement is one of which you should be extremely proud. The odds are clearly stacked against you, and to have succeeded puts you in a very special place. It is a dream held most sacred by anyone who puts pencil to paper, whether they admit it or not. But knowing the odds and the wealth of talent with whom you compete shouldn’t cause you to drive over your computer or use your pencils for firewood. Don’t let the competition discourage you from finding alternative methods for sharing your work.
Have you written a book? Good for you! That’s the important part. Now, get it out there in any way that works for you. Someone needs to read it. Are you SELF-published? Yup. And darn proud of it!
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