Should You Self Publish a Book?
You’ve written that brain child and want to gain recognition as a writer. Should you go the self publishing route?
Every writer has probably faced this question at some point. In the modern age, self-publishing is becoming easier and easier. Why spend all the work sending off a manuscript after manuscript only to get rejection after rejection. I mean, it’s simply easier to write your novel then send it off to a vanity press and get your novel instantly published…for a price. Or you can opt for the many online self publishing services. These services will even put the book onto an online store so you can start reaping instant profits. They practically promise your literary and commercial sucess should you go ahead and pay them to publish your novel. So should you go the self publishing route?
No, I do not feel this is the path you should take, should you wish to be a “Writer.” There are two types of writers out there: writers and published writers. If you want to be the former, by all means self publish. But all the “real” writers are published. Real writers have readership. Sorry if that stings, but it’s the bare truth.
Now, there two types of self-publishers out there. The first type are those who want to create a vanity project, with no aspirations of readership or literary success. You can probably throw in those who write a book that has no chance of being picked up by a major publisher because the book has low salability — it’s eclectic or some sub genre that won’t attract to much readership. If this is these are case, then self publishing may work for you. The other type of self publisher are those who want to gain commercial/literary success with their writing but aren’t willing to put the work in to get published.
Now, sorry if this sounds rude, but I feel this is absolutely true. Oh, I’m not saying that these types don’t spend the time to write a book to the best of their abilities. But these types are unwilling to endure the growing pains of becoming a Writer – growing pains that include constant publisher rejections, rewrite after rewrite, and years of writing without seeing any tangible results.
If you are considering self publishing and want to be a Writer, with the capital sense of the word, then don’t self publish – you are shooting yourself in the foot. The problem with self-publishing is that many writers want an easy path to becoming a Writer. That’s fine. But like anything in life, most things worth having or achieving take some god-honest work. In life, there are no shortcuts – this applies to writing as well. I know there are many writer types out there that feel going the published route is giving into the “Man”, that true artistic merit cannot be judged, blah blah blah. These types of self-published authors remind me of those kids who show up on the American idol auditions with delusions of their singing prowess. They are only fooling themselves.
Now, I’m not trying to offend self-published authors here. I’m just stating the facts of how it looks from my side of the fence. Many self-published authors absolutely believe self publishing is a path—or an easier path–to commercial or literary success. I am simply stating in my experience, it’s not and it will probably lead to a dead end or at least delusions of success. What’s the difference between unpublished authors and self-published authors? A string of rejection letters over the years and a hell of a lot more hard work on the part of the published author. Most published authors out there have a plethora of publishing rejections under their belt. They use each successive rejection to improve their writing and storytelling abilities until they get to the “publishable” level. This can take years, maybe even ten years, of single minded dedication.
If you think that simply having a book that you can feel in your hands instantly puts you on equal footing prose-wise or storytelling-wise with writers who have spent years getting rejections by professional editors and using those rejections to improve their writing craft, think again. Any self-publishing website that tell you otherwise is flat out lying.
Now I know there are those lucky few that don’t go through all these hurdles, but these are an exception to the rule. Most published authors can list off a litany of publishing rejections – for writers it’s some what of a in joke to list their battle scar rejections.
But ironically it’s these rejections that help you to get published. There is a lot to say having a pro editor look over your work and offer critiques with the rejection – these rejections and critiques help the writer improve their prose and storytelling, and make each new book effort more likely to meet with success.
Now, if you want to self publish and you know what you are getting into, I truly wish you the best. I’m sure there are many good reasons for doing so, and I am sure they are all valid ones. But if you want to find commercial success and gain a readership as well as social respect, consistently self publishing books is not the way to go — indeed, self publishing your books may only be stunting your growth as a writer. As an experiment while honing your writing chops, sure. But if you want to be a writer with readers, no. If you want to go the self-publishing route, by all means, self-publish away, but make sure you at least understand exactly what you are doing when you do so.
Makes sense and, on the surface, I agree with most of your argument. I would disagree, though, that your “experience” and “facts from your side of the fence” equate to this being an opinion (rather than just experience or facts).
That being said, the “automatic” connection you’re making between having a stack of rejection letters and being a published author doesn’t completely add up to me. I’m not new to this discouraging anecdote along the author’s (or Writer’s) journey, but I still don’t see its relevance. If you’ve stacked up a pile of rejection letters, but still have received no deals, then all you have is a stack of rejection letters. That, in itself, doesn’t necessarily mean anything, nor should it indicate anything to an agent or publisher other than you have persistence. While persistence is an admirable quality in a human being, it doesn’t mean you are a decent writer (or have a decent book).
The number of rejection letters you’ve received, honestly, should not impress anyone or be worn as a badge of honor, yet somehow the tradition continues. Its flag is carried on the backs of blog entries like this.
Now, I don’t consider myself a literary hippie (as you imply of trying to duck “The Man”). I knew (and know) of the self-publishing stigma, and gave it considerable thought before moving forward with it. As I said before, the goal is/was to have a project working for me rather than sitting idle while I wrote another book. I don’t expect a self-published book to catapult me to the top of a bestseller list, garner me an audience on the first try that will follow me for life, or make a million dollars. All I really ask of it is to garner some attention. When my tireless attempts at collecting rejection letters ultimately merits me a book deal, people might have already heard of me and become interested in what I’m working on next.
I’m not resigning myself to self-publish for life, but it is an acceptable alternative this early in my career to do so while I still have a lot of irons in the fire. It’s also taught me a lot about the industry (editing, rewriting, and the technical aspect of typesetting and publishing) while I’ve been writing and reading.
If your premise is that self-publishing is a complete waste of time, then I have no choice but to disagree. Of course, I am a bit biased, but in all seriousness I think there are valid uses for self-publishing (particularly in this economy) that you’ve dismissed too easily.
Comment by Todd Newton — April 13, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Hi. Thanks for the comment Todd.
No, I do not feel that self publishing is a “waste of time.” But as someone who get’s hordes of self published novels sent or emailed to me to review, I do have a tiny bit of experience dealing with self published manuscripts — though I don’t claim to be a published author who has walked down this road.
It is my opinion (and I’m very open to being wrong here) that many self published authors opt to try to self publish instead of going through the traditional channels, either because their writing is not good enough to be published (yet) or they are afraid of having someone honestly look at their work and reject it.
Now, if someone wants to self publish, that’s fine and of course each person can do what they wish. But many of these writers get sucked in (or maybe conned) by certain vanity press websites that this is a path that will lead somewhere. For the most part, I would have say (in mu opinion), it’s a road to nowhere. But, I would love to be proven wrong here and I’ll eat my words if self-published authors can state I’m wrong and that in fact self publishing books can lead to book deals. I know of only one case where someone self published a book which was later picked up by a publisher, and one other case where someone sucessfully self-publishes (bad) fantasy books and actually makes good money. However, the thousands of other authors with nothing to show but a dent in their pockets and broken dreams lead me to at least try and warn some authors away from this publishing model.
Comment by admin — April 13, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
No, you’re right, and it’s a fair stance to deter uninformed people from thinking self-publishing is the quicker/easier way to “get published.” While I admit it is a little gratifying (etc.) to hold my book, I’ve researched and read up on all the connotations that go with it. I just think it’s not right to dismiss S-P entirely, as when used in conjunction with the amount of work you’re talking about in this post it can be a valuable tool. It can be part of the learning/growth process, among other things, but should not be used as an escape route. Do the work to gain the respect, whether you’re self-published or not; that’s what I think.
Comment by Todd Newton — April 14, 2009 @ 6:08 am
Hi,
To be fair, I have only recently self-published my own novel through Lulu.com, but i don’t feel its a bad move at all.
To be honest, I feel that it has been a more rewarding experience overall and I enjoyed the process. I still have a long road ahead of me, I know. Now I have to market and everything else besides, but again, I feel that in the long run, having put that much more work into getting my book out there will have a longer standing reward for me.
Anyone can write a book. Fair enough. Anyone can self-publish, true. But for authors who self-publish and then put the work and effort into making themselves known, that is the differentiating point.
If you write a book and it eventually gets accepted somewhere, what work do you need to do? Other that writing letters and sending submissions, there isn’t much involved. The publishing company (if they are decent) get it into stores and market it for you. Some even handle your fan mail
If you self-publish, you have to work that much harder. You are still, effectively, working on that book, long after it has been published. And I personally like that. As do other authors I know on Lulu.com.
Self-publishing is far from an easier path, in my opinion, it has and always will be in my mind the more difficult path. The work you have to put in is constant. If you take a traditional route and are successful, then what more do you really have to do?
You also have to remember, that self-published authors have new ideas, new styles. Traditional publishers will turn them down, not because they are not good enough, but because they are different. More and more, publishers are looking for things that they know will sell. I enjoy browsing self-published works to find all the different things out there. Some I have looked at and while the concept is good, it hasn’t been written well enough for me to read, but I let the author know where possible. I have a particular issue with book formatting and to an extent, grammar.
Have you had a look at some self-published works? I have recently read a few previews that grabbed me better than any book I can get in a bookstore. The authors in question are hopefully looking at distribution, for it is my belief that they will do well.
I know what you are saying when you say that many believe that self-publishing is a quick and easy route, and those are the sorts of people who will never do well.
To leave you with a little something, here are some very well-known authors/books that the world loves… and they were all self-published:
Beatrix Potter: The Adventures of Peter Rabbit
When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple (a poem we study in school)
Tom Peters: In Search of Excellence
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn
T.S Elliot
William Blake
Stephen King
Alexandre Dumas
Len Lamensdorf
Christopher Paolini: Eragon
Graham Taylor: Shadowmancer
Leo Tolstoi: War and Peace
Edgar Allen Poe
And there are many others besides… These are just authors who have written things I have personally read and loved and know have been successful
Comment by Hannah Chacko — June 8, 2009 @ 7:17 am