Heather Goodman has started a good discussion about self-publishing at her site. She’s mulling the age-old writer’s question: When do you self-publish?
Ancilliary or corollary or perhaps embedded in this question: how much do you go with instinct, and how much do you bend to those that know better? (When is changing something for marketing purposes v. changing it to make the book better? Or, when should you pursue self-publishing because though your book is good, the powers that be don’t have a place for it? Or when do you know you should rewrite and fix?)
Heather’s asking the right questions, I think. There’s a big difference between publishers not having a place for my book, and my book being “unpublishable.” This is an important distinction for the aspiring author to make, and one, sadly, that many advocates of self-publishing don’t stress enough.
In her noodling, Heather links to an older post of mine entitled Why Do Indie Authors Get Little Respect? In that post, I wondered aloud why independent films and music get so much recognition, and self-published authors seemingly get so little respect. For instance, there are several awards for best independent artists (like the Spirit Awards) and publications that follow indie artists (like Paste magazine), and this indie network inevitably provides a vast talent pool for the big guys. Writers, on the other hand, don’t seem to get such regard. Yes, Writers Digest has its Self-Published Book Awards. Nevertheless, self-published authors aren’t “on the radar” of prospective industry insiders nearly as much as indie bands and filmmakers. And, unlike film and music, self-publishing your novel can sometimes hurt your chances for career advancement.
Why? For one, there’s an absence of checks and balances. While self-publishing may provide a boost for an author’s ego, these projects often lack “professional” oversight. Say what you will about the machine, having more eyes on your book can’t help but make it better. Then there’s the issue of sales, distribution and advertisement. Accessing retail space is nearly impossible for the self-published author, as is receiving “recognized” reviews and quality air time. All this makes sales a huge hurdle. And “sales” is what drives the market. The self-pubbed author who cannot show significant numbers jeopardizes their chances of ever landing a contract.
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner, in a post entitled Self-publishing and ePublishing, affirms this reality, but says there’s hope:
Many of you [are] right in your complaint that agents and editors often won’t consider taking on a self-published book, but here’s the good news: We may consider taking on a self-published AUTHOR. The book has already been out there and publishers usually don’t want it. If the sales are low, it says “Nobody wanted it.” If the sales are high, it suggests that maybe the market has already been tapped and there’s no place left to sell the book. It’s a catch-22, so the book is less likely to get picked up, but the author is a different story. If you present a proposal worth saying “yes” to, then the answer will be yes regardless of whether you’ve self-published a book before.
So while the self-published book may have a limited life-span, the self-published author doesn’t.
Which brings me back to Heather’s question: When do you self-publish? If what Rachelle says is true, that “editors often won’t consider taking on a self-published book,” then should I ever resort to publishing that book myself? Well, if I’m unconcerned about big sales and/or the book is “risky” or aimed at a specific niche, then why not? Furthermore, if publishing that book can pave the way for me, as an author, then why not? The question then becomes: Can I self-publish the quality of book that will not hurt my future chances? As I said earlier, there’s a difference between publishers not having a place for my book, and my book being “unpublishable.” Discerning that difference, and having the humility and resources necessary to make my book “publishable,” is therefore essential for the aspiring author.
Thanks for continuing the discussion here.
I still don’t think I’d go the self-publishing route, at least not at this point, but I do think it’s an interesting discussion, and I wonder if self-publishing will become respectable in this do-it-yourself world.
I guess in a way, I’m already self-published–my blog. 😉
Number one, it depends upon the outfit you use as to whether or not there is professional editing and supervision. WinePress Group uses and requires a professional editor to go over the manuscript when you purchase a certain package. And they are second to none (including royalty publishers) as far as design for both cover and interior.
Number two, I don’t think anyone should self-publish until they’ve written several novels and truly honed their craft with lots of test readers to corroborate their ability.
Number three, if you’re a poor marketer, it’s very difficult to sell those precious little gems.
However, under the current “regime” of royalty publishing, if you believe you have a good product with a purpose–be it entertainment, ministry, touching drama–it’s rewarding and possible to get a professional grade book published through the right outfit. Selling it is defintiely the hard part.
(Mike, I’m posting on this subject tomorrow.)
Thanks, Nicole. I’ll make sure to check it out.
I’ll chime in, as this is something I’ve questioned and followed the conversation about for a long while. Publishing houses and small presses like us at Relief are all about trust. When an author gets published by say Harcourt, folks think, “Hey, that’s a big company, the book looks interesting, and it’s probably worth my hard-earned dollars to buy it since somebody else liked it enough to put the ink on paper.” A self-pubbed book from somebody no one has ever heard of may not evoke the necessary trust to actually put the dollars on the counter to buy the book. Add that to any previous negative encounters with self-pubbed books that somebody feels robbed by, and the trust is *poof* gone.
I think publishing companies are a form of social and authoritative proof. If you’ve read Relief before and liked it, chances are you’ll come to trust the editors at Relief to put good stuff into each issue and put your dollars down for the next issue. If you don’t like the stuff we put in a particular issue, you probably won’t pony up for it again. The checks and balances that were discussed earlier are important, helping to at least provide some level of quality assurance about what goes into the literary landscape.
I think there are times when it’s smarter to self-publish. For instance , speakers should have a book to sell at the back of the room if they want to capitalize on the engagement, and if they want full profit potential, self-publishing is the way to go. It may not get to be a best seller on Amazon or the New York Times, but that’s not the purpose of that particular kind of book. After hearing a really good speaker, I like to take something back home with me to remind me of what they said. It’s an easy way to have a reference for information, and provide additional value. But maybe that’s more for information-type non-fiction books, and not for the fiction/arts.