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The Self-Publishing Debate - Opinions?
Hi, She-Writers! I'm new here, and was wondering if you could help me.
I'm the editor of Trashionista, a chick-lit 'blogazine'. Recently I posted about about self-publishing, as a BBC programme here in the UK talked about the benefits (and disadvantages) of sites such as Blurb and Lulu. I had some mixed comments - some favour the traditional route to publication (myself included), whereas others wouldn't mind self-publishing.
I'm looking to write a follow-up post, with opinions of others - as kind of a debate. I'm wondering if any of you could offer your opinions on this. Would you self-publish, or stick to the traditional route to getting your book published? Is anyone here a self-published author and if so, what made you decide to self-publish?
I would link to your sites on the post along with your comments. Would anyone be up for sharing their opinions? :D
I'm the editor of Trashionista, a chick-lit 'blogazine'. Recently I posted about about self-publishing, as a BBC programme here in the UK talked about the benefits (and disadvantages) of sites such as Blurb and Lulu. I had some mixed comments - some favour the traditional route to publication (myself included), whereas others wouldn't mind self-publishing.
I'm looking to write a follow-up post, with opinions of others - as kind of a debate. I'm wondering if any of you could offer your opinions on this. Would you self-publish, or stick to the traditional route to getting your book published? Is anyone here a self-published author and if so, what made you decide to self-publish?
I would link to your sites on the post along with your comments. Would anyone be up for sharing their opinions? :D
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Hutchings Reed on
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Despite my initial low opinion of self-publishing (for fear it would scream rejected by major publishers), I found self-publication of my novel Courting Kathleen Hannigan, http://www.amazon.com/Courting-Kathleen-Hannigan-Mary-Hutchings/dp/... to be quite satisfying, once I got my ego out of the way. For fiction, self-publishing works best if you know your audience and can find ways to access them. CKH is a sort of "One L" for women lawyers, offering some of the social history of women in large institutional law firms in the mid '70's to '80's, and can be pitched to all women in business and all women in once male-dominated professions. So, with lists and social media outlets, and contacts at bar associations, women's professional networks and the like, I received a fair number of speaking engagements, and meeting my readers and discussing with them their career experiences proved very satisfying. I received a couple very nice reviews (from people I don't know!!!) which helped boost my confidence that I'd made the right decision to publish my work. At the time I decided to self-publish (I'd had an agent for the work, who died), and wasn't finding a replacement right away), Hilary Rodham Clinton was running for president and Michelle Obama was prominent in her husband's campaign. I had much in common with these women (Michelle's first law job was in my group at a large law firm here in Chicago) and expected women to have an interest in how we got to where we are today. I also wanted my mother to have a copy of my book, as she was slipping away with Alzheimers, and indeed didn't recognize CKH as "mine" when I gave it to her. But I choose to believe that she knew, on some level, that the book was for her, as she profoundly believed that women could do anything a man could do (and probably better!). I would also like to say that I think it important that a book not look self-published. Yes, readers judge by the cover, and most of my readers don't know that it was self-published and don't know the difference. I credit my private publisher, Susie Isaacs of Ampersand with that. She made the professional decisions I would not have known how to make if I'd gone the usual self-publishing or POD route. And the last thing I'd say is that I do hope my next novels are traditionally published, but because I self-published, I believe I'll be better prepared to help market my work: I've practiced the public speaking, meet-n-greet thing, for instance, with CKH, and have come to enjoy it as a separate and different part of the writing process. I've also learned some things about how readers read a story that inform my new novels.
So, here's my self-publishing advice:
1) Know your audience and how you'll reach them
2) Be very aggressive as soon as you can in spreading the word. Give away lots of copies. Get the word out there and enlist the help of all of your friends, people you've met at writing conferences, and even strangers!
3) Don't apologize for self-publishing. Turn out a professional product and be proud of it. Enjoy sharing your work and learn from the feedback from your readers.
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Permalink Reply by Susan G. Bell on -
Mary,
Do you advise giving away books to get it out there? In your experience, did that increase sales?
Thanks.
Susan
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I replied just now, but I'm not sure where, now, to find it on SheWrites. Let me know if you didn't see my response.
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Permalink Reply by Michael N. Marcus on -
I'm not a she, but my wife and mother are.
I've been writing professionally for about 40 years. I've had books published by large and small traditional publishers, but I was never satisfied with the book quality or the income.
Last year I established Silver Sands Books with the plan to publish one book. I have just sent out the advance review copies of book-number-six, and am about half-finished with book-number-seven.
Publishing is addicting, and I am infinitely prouder of the books I self-published than of the books that were published for me.
Publishing is a lot of work, but a self-publisher does not have to do all of the work herself (and certainly should not self-edit).
I hire editors and artists and buy photographs. I determine title, page size, book length and pub date. I handle marketing and publicity.
It's nice to have a big to-do list. If I get tired of writing one book, I can edit another, or publicize another, or design a cover or work on a dreaded index, or take some pictures, or think about future books.
I get all the blame and all the credit. I am often at my keyboard at 3:30 a.m. -- but I love it. My wife used to be jealous, but now she knows that if I'm not in bed at 3:30 a.m., I'm with a computer, not with another woman.
I can't imagine going back to traditional publishing (but a few other writers have asked me to publish their books).
The cost of self-publishing (usually $600 - $1,000 without new software) is not much, but the potential emotional and financial rewards are enormous.
I highly recommend it.
Michael N. Marcus
author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
author of "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults), coming 4/1/10. http://silversandsbooks.com/storiesbookinfo.html
http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com
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Permalink Reply by Maggie Daniel Caldwell on -
Thank you. I'm self-publishing a kids coloring book and am starting the research on marketing/publicity. This helps quite a bit.
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Permalink Reply by RYCJ on -
I know this was written a while back, but Michael lays it out all so succinctly. And I quote, "the potential emotional and financial rewards are enormous." Something that's appreciated 'after' experiencing both.
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Permalink Reply by Anika Daniels on
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I prefer commercial publishing myself. I don't have $600 - 1000 lying around spare - that is a lot of money to me. Also I'm lazy I just want to write my book and let someone else do all the hard work. I don't want to know about book layouts, distribution channels, and I most certainly don't want to be handselling my books to individuals and bookstores.
Self publishing is great for some. It is but you really need to know what the heck you are getting into. My worry with some of these self publishing companies - particularly the assisted self publishing companies is that people do not know what they are getting into. I think self publishing is good for non-fiction or niche fiction or memoirs - where you have an inbuilt audience that you can guarantee sales to, not big enough for a commercial publisher but big enough for you to make a comfortable profit.
There is a good series of articles here on self publishing here and a good one here
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Hinchliff on -
Anika, your links don't seem to work for me. Could you please post the URLs...Thanks so much
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Permalink Reply by Brooke Linville on -
I think there are a few exceptions (like those stated above), but in general I think that commercial publishing is still seen as the more "legitimate" avenue. I did PR for a short time for self-published authors, and most of it is out of pocket, and most bookstores don't stock self-published books. Having read a lot of the self-published books, I believe that the lack of consistent quality brings the entire list down. "Editing" done by the self-publishing houses is very minimal. So while I do believe you can self-publish and be successful, I prefer to stick with commercial publishing at this point.
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Permalink Reply by Michael N. Marcus on
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Anika Daniels said: "My worry with some of these self publishing companies - particularly the assisted self publishing companies is that people do not know what they are getting into."
They are _not_ self-publishing companies. They are vanity publishers (or author services companies, to be less pejorative).
Just as no one can take medicine for you or commit suicide for you, no other person or company can "self-publish" for you.
The words just don't make sense, and advertising from Author Solutions, Dellate, iUniverse, Westbow, etc. is simply dishonest. These companies provide publishing, but a writer who pays for their services is NOT self-publishing.
Michael N. Marcus
author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
author of "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults)," coming 4/1/10. http://silversandsbooks.com/storiesbookinfo.html
http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com
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Permalink Reply by Corrie Ann Gray on -
I agree with you Michael. While I have no objection to publishing with a major house if the terms were right, I would have no qualms of using my own publishing company to publish my work. Why would I pay a company to do what I can do for myself? I grew up in the publishing world, so that route would make better sense to me. A friend of mine had her first two books published by a traditional press and they did quite well, but she realized that she was better off doing it herself. With her third and fourth book she makes more money per book, she has full creative control, and she was doing the marketing anyway, so now she's reaping the benefits.
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Permalink Reply by Sherelle Wallace on -
Hello;
I have self-published with Lulu. As stated before, self-publishing can be great if one knows what they are getting into, and it's not for everyone. I didn't even try to find an agent for my book, because it is poetry; more specifically, poetry geared towards Bahamian people. Self-publishing was my only option as far as I'm concerned. I'm so happy I did it. The book looks professional, is easy to purchase, POD; which saves so much, and I now get the book to people whom it really matters to.
The only negative is that I didn't hire an editor, which I couldn't afford. I agree that one should never self-edit. There are seven editing mistakes in my book, and as that is seven too many, I think with poetry there is still a bit more one can get away with. For niche market, I would definately self-publish again. I may not go with Lulu because I may not want to purchase their formatting program, but I'm looking forward to doing another poetry book like this, and material which I want to self promote myself. I love doing that ground work. I hate the question; "Is the book still in print?" which one can get from traditional publishers. I like control over my work, so I will continue to self publish while I wait for an agent to pick up my novel series. But, as they are set in the Bahamas, with Bahamian characters mostly, I'm prepared for a long wait.
In the meantime, self-publishing is paying my bills now!
My book, titled THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES is available at www.lulu.com. It is a beautiful insight into the Bahamas, and the feedback I've gotten had been so incouraging. An American told me that the poetry is universal, and that people all over the world can relate to it, and will be touched by it. That in itself, is worth self-publishing.
I also print/bind/promote/market my own books at my office of ENCHANTMENT, which is my defination of self-publishing.
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