10 Reasons You Should Skip Traditional Publishers and Self-Publish Ebooks Instead
1. Nobody Can Stop You from Publishing Your Book. Along the path to a legacy book contract you’ll be confronted by hordes of gatekeepers: literary agents, acquisition editors, editorial committees, bean counters, and publishing-house CEOs, all answering to the international conglomerates that actually own most major “American” publishers. Odds have become vanishingly small that you can run this gauntlet without being stopped dead in your tracks by a rejection letter.
Sadly, Gatekeepers are seldom this hot.
You see, rather than gamble on fresh, challenging works by unknown writers, publishers prefer to play it safe. They invest mainly in the few established, best-selling authors, and they exploit trendy fads by releasing formulaic knock-offs of past bestsellers. So after Thomas Harris we were fed countless serial-killer tales. John Grisham’s success launched the “legal thriller” subgenre; Tom Clancy inspired armies of “techno-thriller” clones; Stephanie Meyer gave birth to legions of vampires. Now, E.L. James is making adult porn—oops, “erotica”—the literary dalliance du jour.
Ironically, many of these same best-selling novelists couldn’t buy a publishing contract early in their careers. Grisham’s A Time to Kill, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Stephenie Meyer’s first Twilight installment were buried in rejection slips. So were such classics as Richard Adams’s Watership Down (17 rejections), Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (12), Irving Stone’s Lust for Life (16), Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull (18), Vince Flynn’s Term Limits (over 60), and Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen’s blockbuster Chicken Soup for the Soul (a staggering 123 nays). Yes, the esteemed gatekeepers deemed these and many others unworthy of publication. If you want a good belly laugh at their expense, read about Chuck Ross’s famous hoax.
But modern self-publishing has changed all this. No longer can paternalistic curators stand between the writer and his readers. Any book can be uploaded easily and gain within days a global sales platform on Kindles, Nooks, and other ereading devices.
Doesn’t a lot of junk get published? Sure. But it always has. And now readers—not self-appointed arbiters of literary merit—get to decide which books are worthwhile to them. Now they have many more books to choose from, and many more authors are making a living writing them.
I’ve worked with publishers and without them, and I can tell you: Do the work yourself. It’s more rewarding in every sense of the word. I’ve never seen a profession that deserves to be eradicated as much as that of the publisher. It’s not ebooks or the Internet that’s making them useless. They’ve always been useless. It’s just that now even an idiot can see it.
It’s long been my contention that the structured way a book comes to print was both a necessary evil along with a major hindrance to getting good writing to print.
By that I am referring to the socio-political nature of the human-being. If the publisher, or their agents don’t like you, you won’t get published. If they like your work but don’t like you, you won’t get published. If they don’t like your work but like you, personally, you won’t get published. I’m simply describing the proclivities of human frailty that affect everything we do when we have to interact with others.
If you are politically incorrect, you won’t get published. And so on.
The marketing world is filled with self-proclaimed experts who think they know better than anyone what others want to read, hear in music or wear for clothing. Mainstream Media has already shown us how harmful it is to a thinking public, why should mainstream publishing be any different? The publisher wants to have their company represented by a certain type of author or set of authors. Therefore they have a set criteria and agenda, much like the MSM. Therefore, even if a brilliant piece of writing crosses their path, they will pass it by and the reading public will never get exposed to a potential bestseller. I’m sure history has countless examples of such things because of the time-tested, inefficient, heavily biased methodology whereby the individual must place their fate in the hands of another.
Whenever that’s the case, the individual suffers. There can be no better example today of true freedom than this age of technology where I can sit and espouse my opinion on a blog that is read by thousands, without having to go to a newspaper, have my letter read by some editor who decides if it’s worthy of exposure, ink and time. Nope, I can put it here and as long as it’s not filled with hate and threats, it’ll be put up there for all to read and even comment on. Wow!
For authors who wish to be published, this is the time to do it. Be self-sufficient, get your work out there and see if it flies. By eliminating the barriers, more and better authors will find readers. It can only be a good thing.
All of Mr. Bidinotto’s observations are correct, but he slid past the consideration that caused me the most agita when I attempted to scale Pub World’s high and well defended walls: The genre / category marketing system.
Pub World’s marketing of fiction is indissolubly tied to the array of recognized genres. A book that fits into one of the known genres comes pre-equipped with the elements of a marketing campaign. In addition, the typical physical-book reader is a genre allegiant: he tends to shop within specific genres. Thus, if your book is plainly of a particular genre, Pub World will deem it marketable, at least potentially. The inverse is also true: If your book is a genre-bender — i.e., if it combines themes, motifs, and settings from two or more of the recognized genres — Pub World will see it as unmarketable.
There are, of course, examples of cross-genre works that have succeeded in the traditional market. However, such works are rare. In many a case, the author was already known for other, more easily categorized books. So the writer who sets out to create a novel that combines ecology, space travel, romance, anarchism, and Christianity is predisposing Pub World against his efforts.
The indie writer has no such barrier to surmount. Of course, he has to undertake the marketing efforts that Pub World has spurned, but that’s inherent in the nature of independent enterprise. And most gratifyingly, it has developed that those willing to read indie fiction are considerably more tolerant of cross-genre stories than the archetype readers to whom Pub World’s offerings are aimed.
My experience exactly – frequent lavish praise for my writing followed by “but we can’t market it”. And I’m a borderline insider in the publishing world. This is liberation, and I don’t care whether I make any money out of it or not.
Dittos on both you and Poretto.
Poretto: if getting good sales requires PC flip-flopping back and forth like you do between he/she is required, count me out. And you’ve lost a sale with me for doing so. He/him/his in English are the collecive gender pronouns as they are in Latin languages. Catering to the mind-benders disgraces you.
Excuse me? Do you have any idea to whom you’re speaking? I’m the #1 defender and promoter of the he/him/his convention! I have no idea where you got the contrary notion, but your arrogant ignorance offends me. Read this essay, whic I wrote last year, and then go sit in a corner and meditate on the virtues of humility and charity.
Sorry. I should have addressed the comment to BINIDETTO.
Old grey head . . .
My sincere apologies.
The comment is, however, a good one and meant for Binidetto, the article’s author.
But he didn’t “flip-flop” — he used the masculine pronoun for the writer, and the feminine for the agent, and was consistent throughout his piece in doing that. Bit of a hair-trigger on the outrage there, I might suggest. It’s a valid complaint in general, but a touch mistaken here, methinks.
Calling the author “he” lets the author be of indeterminate gender.
The only reason to call the agent “she” is because he knows it is a she.
But it was a general reference. Therefore ALL agents must be female.
Clearly, the writer here intended to bow to the PC crowd by throwing in a “she” as though that pronoun too was collective for either gender.
if you want funny and trampy, consider Jenny Mccarthy. or Lily Burana, who is also vastly patriotic- being married to a military officer and instructor at West Point.
Jim Carrey thinks Jenny Mccarthy is funny.
Or Gypsy Rose Lee,who was friends with both Harper Lee and Truman Capote. I haven’t read her work- but she did work on her writing- which is more than we can say about Ms Fey. I don’t think she’s the inspiration for Lorelei Lee of Gentlemen Prefer Blonges, but she might be. Anita Loos is also funny, and not afraid of trampiness- theirs, not hers.
Or Collette, if you’re all about the French.
This seems like a lot of wishful thinking.
For every Wool, there will be a thousand pieces of poorly-written pap.
For every Hunter, there will be a bajillion books that don’t sell at all.
Nonetheless, I’m interested. How does one properly monetize self-published ebooks, especially with the threat of piracy hanging over their head?
There always have been thousands of “pieces of poorly written pap,” put out by major publishers. So what’s new? But thanks to the ability of readers to pre-”sample” books on sites like Amazon, and also to read customer reviews, the truly bad books sink and vanish, while the good ones rise to the top.
There’s no ultimate impediment for the author of a good book to getting attention — not if he’s willing to learn some basic marketing techniques and work hard. But it’s a myth that a major publisher will do all his marketing for him, as the survey of published authors (mentioned at the end of my piece) shows. Even if you have a publisher, you still have to do the promotional work to get your book noticed. If that’s the case, what else do publishers offer that a writer can’t outsource for flat fees?
Regarding piracy: Indie publishers, including very successful ones whose books are in hot demand, find that piracy is far less a problem than you might think.
First, most of those who download without paying wouldn’t have paid for the book, anyway. Second, the quality of pirated books often is awful, filled with formatting errors, sometimes not even containing the complete text. (You get what you pay for.) Third, the convenience and ease of getting a book from a legitimate online site like Amazon or BN.com beat the pirate sites cold.
But finally, piracy mostly is a product of the exorbitantly high prices many traditional publishers charge for their ebooks. Customers by and large are willing to pay $2.99 – $4.99 for an ebook. But they balk at paying $12.99 or $14.99 for an ebook that they know costs far less to produce and market than a print edition. And that’s why they turn to pirate sites.
Thanks — I just might give this baby a try. Problem is, I’ll have to learn how to market, as well as pay for a decent cover (gotta go the extra mile, you know.)
Know how much a decent cover artist usually costs? I know they’re expensive, but I’d want my ebook to pop.
depending on what you need done, and if you’re not wanting original art, anywhere from $50 to $200. It gets exponentially more expensive if you want original art, however.
Regarding original art, how exponential are we talking? Thousands and thousands of dollars exponential?
depending on the artist, yes
I disagree that it needs to cost a bundle.
I got ALL of my ebook and print covers, plus my blog header, plus my business logo, from one talented young artist at around $500 total. You can get terrific contract help for any aspect of indie publishing that you need, and at affordable prices, if you shop around.
How hard is it to locate the talent and supplies you need? Can you click your mouse button here? http://bit.ly/HYpB0I
Oh I agree it doesn’t _need_ to cost a bundle. I’ll do a cover for $50 if I don’t have to do a ton of work. It _can_ cost a fortune if you’re not careful, however.
What about using a high school artistically talented or even somewhat talented student to do the cover? How expensive can they possibly be? And they might get some pro bono assistance from their art teacher who is usually a professional outside of school.
Jeannine, one thing that’s important for all aspiring indie authors to do is to avoid making their work look amateurish, in any way. Readers are alert to subtle signals that a book is poorly written or hastily produced, and too many options exist for them to gamble on such a title. So, if you want to compete with the publishing pros, then you must take pains to produce a book that doesn’t read or LOOK “self-published.” You must think like a professional, in every aspect of your writing, production, and promotion.
That means your book should have a good cover that could easily have been produced by Random House or Simon & Schuster; good editing, proofreading, and formatting of the text; a compelling, sizzling, carefully PROOFREAD product description on your book’s Amazon/Barnes & Noble product page; a decent-looking website or blog; etc. No, you don’t have to spend a lot of money for any of these things, but you’d better be sure to seek and accept nothing less than high quality.
I had a murder mystery published by a small press. They put me in touch with the cover artist, who worked with me to get the kind of cover I wanted. Cost me $400, and I own the rights to the cover picture. Believe me, getting a good artist is worth the price.
Be sure to engage an editor. So many of the books that I downrate in reviews are ruined for lack of editing. Good ideas only go so far. When a book is rife with punctuation and grammar errors, it is hard to read.
I absolutely agree, Sharon. Going indie doesn’t mean going unprofessional. In fact, you must work hard to compete with first-rate titles, professionally produced. Good editing and proofreading is essential.
How do I find a good editor, especially one that can keep up with e-technology?
You are correct–successful books like Hugh’s, Robert’s, and to a lesser extent mine, are the outliers. But that has always been the case. Self-publishing is a chance to take your fate in your own hands.
And there are more stories of independent bestsellers by the day–real bestsellers by industry standards, not the con artists that try to claim “bestseller” status by how many books they gave away.
It’s truly all a matter of how much sweat you’re willing to put in. First, to create an exceptional book. Second, to market it to those who will be interested.
Cover art is hugely important. For my novel Pandora’s Grave, I was able to get original cover art for right around $130.
We need the legacy system to support some types of books, however it’s not all wishful thinking. There are a lot of indie bestsellers now, more all the time. Many indie authors already hit the jackpot. Think of JA Konrath. Now there are a lot more with his success. But look, all the indie hits are plot-driven “genre” books. I can seriously imagine the new Stephen King or John Grisham being an indie. That’s the Kindle market. Pop fiction. Page turners. But the new Faulkner or Tolstoy? Not sure you can recommend the indie path for those who write those kind of books.
I would simply observe that few famous writers of “classic” literature ever broke even while they were alive. If anything, they’d have a better chance of doing so independently without a publisher jamming them into a pigeonhole.
If what you said were true then B&N classics would not be in the top 100. I don’t know about Kindle, but nook supports a built-in dictionary, highlighting, notes and commentary. It makes big, complicated works more accessible. And hotlinks- chapters, endnotes, footnotes- I have one Ann Coulter book with all of that. It’s the easiest Ann to study, that I’ve got. I’ve got three of her print books, and it’s hard flipping around, checking footnotes, checking online sources, remembering which chapter. It is all easier on the nook. The one fall down is the index- no page hotlinks, just a list of names and words. That’s the publisher’s fault, not hers.
Big books are built for the kindle and nook. Episodic novels, like the giant Indian-English ones ( A suitable boy- a brick!) are perfect for reading tablets.
Besides, regular lit novels are the smallest section, and lowest selling rate, type of books right now. Most of them make editors happy, but not readers.
And, that whole early adopters thing. Early Adopters like technology, are usually male, and are used to tech: so, engineers (sci-fi) and military guys(military thrillers). And young people- so- YA. Wives- their husbands buy these for them- it’s techy, small,expensive electronics. Did you buy a stereo for your girlfriend, in college? Did you make mixtapes? Same impulse, new toy.
Some schools are now requiring tablets.
This seems to prove my point. Self-publishing or indie will benefit the writers/readers of sci-fi, military thrillers, and YA. But the writers/readers of classic literary fiction, not so much. B&N classics are old public domain titles, that’s different. New authors with such a book to bring forward? Not going to happen without traditional publishing and their care. Frankly, I don’t believe this hype. And on PJ Media, you would think they would know better!
silly! I am going to point out the mouth-breathingly obvious, even though I shouldn’t, and just ought to enjoy playing in the sandbox alone….
after early adopters come adopters. it’s an open market for everything other than that.
I don’t know if kindle supports a dictionary function, but were I to put out a complicated book on nook, I would be sure to include in the intro that this book has been dictionary-checked: the words are guaranteed to be in the dictionary function. I’ve already seen books link within the story to wikipedia, so that the un-informed know whereof the author speaks on something exotic. small,light, fantasy books.
students are being trained to read in tablet form. they are used to links, they are used to notes. that’s the future audience. wives needing books for small purses. books with embedded small videos.
this is only just now getting started as an art-form.
Several people have noted that a good career in the up-and-coming age might be online editor/reviewer. Basically the e-equivalent of a publishing house, but easier to start. (The one things that bugs me about self-publishing is that every writer needs a good editor). If readers find that they can trust your taste and judgement, either they or writers will pay you for your review.
But the ebook titles with traditional publishers are also “forever”, right? So, it’s really the printed hardcopies that can quickly disappear. Also, most books are still bought and read through hardcopy, many in stores, and that can get an author’s name out. The problem with ebooks is drop in the ocean. Even if you have a good book, how on earth to get it noticed?
Overall, however, self-publishing compelling on many fronts.
well, write a good book. it just has to get noticed by a few people- who tell a few people- who tell a few people- who tell a few people. I bet you’ve never heard of Rebecca Shelley.
She writes mid-list middle school books. An established blogger interviewed her. She sounded terrific- esp for $3 or $4 dollars- and she is. She has a series- so, my kids. Their friends. My friends with kids. Their friends. Their kids friends. Kids in big families, b/c she writes about resourceful, funny, bright kids….really, check her out. The books are affordable. That’s huge.
I have no idea how much she makes, but she’s better than Wimpy Kids, and far happier and more normal than anything promoted by patterson or grisham. It’s all kindle and nook.
Really- she’s terrific-
OK, so tell me, how do I find these books. I’ve stayed away from ebooks bacause, aside from finding the format incovenient, they don’t seem any cheaper, as I never buy new hardcovers. (Yes, I wait a year for the paperback.)
So, where do I find these wonderful, inexpensive books, and how can I preview them?
Rebecca Shelley publishes to Kindle and Nook. She might have a POD option on Amazon, for a higher price. On nook, the stories bounce between $4.99 and $3.99. Last Christmas, one of her books was free.
Spouse bought a nook for me for my birthday. So far, it’s a family device. Angry Birds,a radio, we haven’t subscribed to netflix yet, or hulu…the early -reader daughter likes narrated books, or ones she can read and record, and then check her pronunciations, ( I have a recording of my oldest son saying ” My mom is the coolest mom in the world.” I intend to preserve it forever) the middle boy likes the R-Shelley books, the oldest likes RShelley and Suzanne Collins. They both like the suggestions button for what to read next. B&N gift cards are kind of a feature of holidays now. They weren’t, before. They’re reading the Hobbit, LOTR, Enders Game, none of which I’ve suggested- it’s all ” if you like….then you might like….”
Oh, little girl is reading A Secret Garden b/c Smashwords puts out collections of out of copyright books. They are kludgy to navigate- but $3 for 25 novels? Any of which the kids can read, no questions asked?
At some point I’ll get a kindle, too, or figure out how to download Kindle only books, b/c Mr Bidinotti’s book sounds terrific. And- Vimana, which is a series of Hindu-based Sci-fi- the author interviews alone sound terrific.
I’ve been able to get Brad Thor books- on Kindle they cost $9.99, but in hard-back- they’re, like $25, and the paperbacks don’t have margins at all. I can read them at night from the glow of the screen. Which is awesome, since I’ve got insomnia like crazy, and the computer is in the bedroom- so bright, and the tv is loud, no matter what, and sheep-counting gets old.
I can get back-listed books. Valerie Franckl writes funny romance novels. They have either sold out entirely or have never been stocked at B&N. I’ve read her essays- she’s hilarious- so this is a big treat.
I can think of three authors gearing up for the middle-school market, just getting started, who are aiming for e-books only, since that’s what their kids read on. Happy, optimistic, religious, conservative, kids in stable family, stories, since that’s not what’s on the shelf, right now.
Agency priced books from authors you’ve heard of run from 10 dollars on up. Independently published ones have lower prices- mostly, they aren’t paying for warehouses, or truck-drivers, or editor’s retirement packages. The quality is uneven, but the good ones are both really good, and they sound different than anything you’ve read before.
I know for kids books, since I check, that the wince that comes from some kid having to justify his parents divorce- and the chapters where the kid goes off the rails—not having those chapters is such an incredible relief. It’s like not getting hit on the way out the door- you don’t notice it’s not there, b/c it’s always been there before. Books where the mom is competent, the dad is manly, the brothers and sisters are competent ( quarrelsome, but not evil) that things WORK- these books are such an incredible relief. The oldest boy mentions that e-books, there’s not “death, dying, destruction, divorce” so he’s more likely to be eager to read a book. He likes books about funny, competent kids.
Hey, Crisis, just because you’ve only heard of the handful of mega-successful indie authors doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of others doing well, if at a more modest level. See this list of self-publishers who have sold more than 50,000 books: http://bit.ly/yzEG90 – and it’s by no means a comprehensive list.
Robert, great post.
Thanks for the list, Lexi. I’ll be sure to keep it in mind.
I sold 10,000 copies of my novel on Amazon in 10 weeks last spring. It was #2 behind Michael Connelly with my homemade cover, homemade editing, homemade everything.
So I was contacted by a Hollywood producer and an agent told me it would be good to nail down a trad pub deal before the movie deal. Okay. I let her send it around, expecting nothing and that’s what I got. Out of the 10 top editors she contacted, 4 replied. The most famous said the suspense market is saturated. When’s the last time you saw a suspense novel that was illustrated with watercolor French hens and ended with a recipe? It’s a light romantic comedy/women’s fiction, yeah a lawyer is killed but trust me, no one misses him.
They’re ninnies and nitwits in tradition publishing. They don’t know what they’re looking at, most of them don’t seem to know how to read for meaning, and you get stiffed on the money side. They’re arrogant and rude and after publishing 15 books traditionally, I still have nothing particularly positive to say about them.
So the reason to do it is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?
Indie pub. Write the best book you can, get the best cover you can afford. Rinse and repeat. Please the readers, that’s your new Seal of Approval.
Brava, Bonny!
*Applause*
You are my hero. Awesome stuff, Bonny!
Well put, Bonny.
What’s the best month to release a serious, non-fiction book on Kindle? I know that there are definitely seasonal variations, and ideally, you start with a bang.
I have the similar question – if you want to publish something of the non-fiction, even academic variety, what then? You’re bypassing the peer-review process. OK, only journals are strictly peer-reviewed, but getting published by a major university press carries the cache, at least.
The problem is that the academic presses seem terribly confused at the moment. I approached an academic press that has published a number of books by me, and their reaction to My Brother Ron was that it would be too popular a book for them to publish. (Yes, they were afraid that they might sell more than a few thousand copies–and what’s the point of that?)
I must say, Clayton, the market is so much in turmoil that what was true last year doesn’t seem to apply to this year. Indies constantly try to figure this out, but I think there are too many moving parts in the retail environment right now to give advice about timing.
Besides, the fact is that “ebooks are forever” (to quote indie sage Joe Konrath) means that you don’t need a huge launch. That’s Big-Publisher methodology — necessary for print books going into bookstores, but far less important with ebooks. They have a “long tail” of sales, and the trend line usually rises gradually. I wouldn’t worry about the timing of the release so much as I would other factors. The main one: Write the best damned book you possibly can.
I’ll discuss the marketing end of things in future posts.
So how do I go about posting something for sale on these e-book sites? What I’d like to be able to do is make it available to all potential customers regardless of what device they use.
Easy as pie to do, Kevin.
For Kindle devices, you go through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP): http://bit.ly/K1QfdT
For Nook devices, go through Barnes & Noble’s Pubit division: http://bit.ly/pCI47w
To distribute to Apple devices, Sony Readers, and just about all other dedicated ereading devices, I’d suggest going through Smashwords: http://bit.ly/IBX9C2
Each of them offers easy-to-follow instructions. And both Kindle and Nook offer free “apps” that can be downloaded onto a host of smart phones and other devices, allowing you to buy and read their ebooks that way.
Hope that helps.
In my observation, editing is a major problem in e-books; they just aren’t being done well. And people who edit themselves deserve the results they get. Hemingway’s advice to writers was to “murder your children”, i.e. remove those bits that you think are so cool, but mar the narrative. Most writers don’t have the stones to do that. And there is this to be said for traditional publishing: rejection is good for writers –it discourages the gutless and disciplines the rest, motivating them to do better. There is no rejection –in this sense– in the e-publishing world, as far as I can see. One great thing about Amazon is the “read first chapter free” feature: it has saved me from many a bad purchase. That and always reading the bad reviews first. I look at this issue from the reader’s standpoint, as you can see.
Amen to that. Bad editing ruins an otherwise passable book.
I saw the post that Howey posted on Kindleboards.com about it, I think it’s cool that he managed to get that kind of visibility.
I’ve been doing this since 2008, and I’ve never wanted to be traditionally published, I always wanted to be in control over my own work. I waited until technology caught up with my desires and went from there. I now have 7 novels on the market(writing 2 more, and have another rolling around in my head), 1 or 2 were misfires and some people thought they were crap, but it helps to learn from negative reviews and it taught me to write better. I write what I like to read – fast paced, to the point, without all the inane minutiae that I find in a lot of novels that could be half the size if it wasn’t for the Traditional Publishers insisting on a lot of novels being over 80k words just because.
I’ve sold or given away over 25k of my novels, and average about 100+ a month just on Kindle and B&N combined. I don’t have the visibility, but I think I’m doing pretty good for myself.
Cliff, you certainly ARE doing well for yourself. Since your ebooks won’t ever go “out of print,” consider the cumulative sales over the course of five years — especially if you keep writing and publishing new books. Each book finds new readers, many of whom will seek out your previous books. And this means that, over time, your overall sales level tends to rise.
Keep up the great work.
I’m still waiting for negative reviews of my debut novel (http://tinyurl.com/792oqpd) but haven’t gotten any from the 1000+ people who’ve downloaded it. I’d LOVE a negative review, so long as it wasn’t just ‘this is crap,’ which is totally useless as well as being pointless. Incidentally, a great resource for budding authors is the free site http://www.scribophile.com, which requires one to review the work of others before being allowed to be reviewed, so it both helps in learning how to edit more effectively and provides criticism. Grammatical errors and typos are what I fear the most in my own writing, and I reckon the best way to learn how to get rid of them is to help others do the same.
So far being an indie writer is exactly what I expected–no quick bucks, lots of hard work and a difficult learning curve. I’ve got two more books almost ready to fly, and they’ll both be joining my first on Amazon, B&N etc. The fact that it’s difficult only adds relish to the challenge. Perhaps before decade’s end I’ll be making a living from it. You never know.
okay, so is the prose similar to what you post here?
The first, simplest thing you can do is comb through your sentences. The ones that have a sentence with one idea, and then the word “and” followed by a semi-related clause: that’s two sentences making an unwieldly caterpillar. That is usually the biggest difference between home-prose from your grandma, and polished, professional prose.
The second usual is adverbs, but you don’t seem to have that problem.
Third: using have or got. Just thesaurus-ing out all the forms of those two words elevates your prose.
I counted several sentences with the ‘and’ sentence caterpillar. It’s like being stuck at a party with someone who won’t shut up. You want to get away- there’s no race-car energy, but the poor person just keeps droning on and on and on. So, instead of even risking saying hello, you simply avoid that person at all costs. that’s sample readers not buying your book, basically.
Clip those, and I think you’ll be okay.
see what I mean? “clip those” an imperative sentence AND (like making a left turn onto another road) AND “you’ll be okay”- a comforting non-sequitor.
Two totally different tones, two different sentences, add an AND and getone awful portmanteau, about like what your grandma would write on a postcard.
Sorry, ma’am, but your covers look terribly cheap. A good cover will cost you between 500 and a 1000, and a professional one, done by an artist who works for publishers, will be about 2000 (for a front cover) and 2500 – 3000 for full cover/spine/back.
A good cover doesn’t have to break the bank, as many highly successful indie authors know. My cover has been widely praised and has sold a hell of a lot of books, and it cost me well under the $500 that you say is a minimum for a “good cover,” let alone the $2000 you say is the minimum for a “professional” one.
Such arbitrary declarations are part and parcel of Big Publishing’s self-serving warnings to writers: “You can’t do it without us, kid. We know what we’re doing. You don’t. We can afford quality. You can’t.” Etc.
All completely false.
Speaking of “covers”. The best selling book of all time (supposedly) is the Bible. And guess what. The front and back covers are usually simple black….always have been and probably always will be. (Just an observation):)
My covers cost me about 175$ when I had my first publisher’s in-house artist do them, and about $100 for my last three, when I paid my brother, the professional graphic artist to work them up. He started with my own photographs, though. He charged me $35 an hour, he does about the same for other projects. Depends on how much tweaking of the images he has to do, and how picky about the final image (to include the back-cover text) I am.
He did a lot of work on this one – we wanted the look of a Japanese wood-block print with a Western theme.
http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Heart-Celia-Hayes/dp/0934955875/ref=la_B002BM1QHG_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1338506031&sr=1-8
Kudos to all self-published authors who make it.
But it’s not the route that’s right for me.
Robert, this is just the encouragement that indie authors need. I’ve just finished my first novel, Hindsight, and will be releasing it this summer on Kindle, Nook, and iTunes. As eBooks continue to pull readers away from paper books, legacy publishers will grow more conservative in their risks. They are going to stick to their big names, because they know that works. Publishing is expensive and they are having to cut back everywhere. Taking a risk on an unknown isn’t very attractive. You can still hook a publisher, though, if you prove your own merit on sites like Amazon. If they see that your stuff sells, then they’ll take a chance on you. Even then, though, you’ll have to choose between the freedom of self-publishing and the greater promotion of running with a publishing house. If it comes to that with me, I’m gonna have a hard time letting go of the reins.
Well put, Owen.
I’m not the least bit worried about future competition from Legacy Inc. They have a huge competitive problem. If they lower their ebook prices significantly, they’ll be slashing the royalties that each of their authors gets per sale. As I indicated in the post, a typical traditionally published author nets only about $1.49 on a $9.99 ebook. What happens if the publisher cuts his ebook’s price to, say, $4.99? He’d net less than 75 cents. Meanwhile, if he were to self-publish that same ebook at $4.99, he’d net $3.49!
How are publishers going to retain their authors if they do that?
And if they try to increase the royalty share for authors, what happens to the profit margins, upon which their entire business infrastructure rests?
No, the big publishers are caught between a rock and a hard place. That’s why they are fuming so bitterly against self-publishing (and Amazon, which is the indie authors’ main platform of choice). They can’t compete; they know it; and they are terrified about their future.
Touches on THE biggest problem, but doesn’t face it head on:
Book publishing attracts earnest incompetents who “luv books!!!” but hate “business” and “money.”
The only staffers who can afford to work at a publishing house tend to be either very young (and stupid) or older beta males who never had much ambition and talent to begin with and subconsciously sabotage authors’ success.
Anyone listening to the Adam Carolla podcast these days has heard (again and again) the saga of the battle he had with editorial over the wording of a joke on the back cover.
One of his guests revealed that her name was misspelled on the bottom of every single page of her book (which was released by a VERY big house.)
All for the privilege of making a buck a book, a year after its sold, if you’re lucky.
What I would like to know is this; HOW do you market a self-published book/ebook?
Numerian – writing the book is only half the job for indy writers; marketing it is the other! I’ve been in an on-line indy-writer mutual support group since 2007, and one of our members is Janet Elaine Smith, who has been tootling along for decades, writing and marketing. She has 19 books out there now! One of them is her author marketing ebook – http://www.amazon.com/Promo-Paks-Nearly-Free-Marketing-Improved/dp/1932993878/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338474450&sr=1-3
- and she has always given us good advice about marketing. Number one – have a dedicated website and blog for your book. Have postcards, flyers, business cards with your book and contact information on you at all times. (Admittedly, easier for a woman, with a purse and all)Never pass up a chance to tell people you are a writer, and tell them about your book(s). Do talks on the subject of your book, post blog entries about your book’s background. Heck, even keep a box of your books in the trunk of your car. Have an author table at craft fairs and festivals, be agreeabe to doing book club meetings. Figure out where the readers are for the book that you are writing or have written, and go where they are, either physically or on line. Cultivate reviewers. Set up an author page on Amazon. Have your books available in print and in all the popular e-book formats.
That should be enough to keep you busy…
Oh, and Janet Elaine says that every time a reader finds a book that they enjoy the heck out of … they’ll go looking for more by the same author. Every book you have out there is a force-multiplier!
Thanks very much for the advice Sgt Mom – I just ordered a copy of Janet Elaine Smith’s book.
I’ve written two police-procedural novels with off-beat back-stories, found a literary agent without much difficulty, but was rejected by legacy publishers for strange, vague reasons — “didn’t like the voice” (eh?)and “subject too controversial”. So I’m ready to try something else.
By the way, are you in the military? My son is serving in the Army.
Tell him ‘ooorah!’ from me! I was career Air Force, retired from active duty a bit ago, and started writing for a mil-blog. One thing led to another … and now I have six HF novels out there. As my daughter says, “Gosh, mom – now you’re a real arthur…”
Thanks Sarge, there is a lot of useful and inspiring information in your post.
I have three completed books and two more nearly completed. I’ve had good reviews after publishing random chapters on another political blog and many requests for my work in book form, but the formatting into ebook form seems to be an overwhelming process. Do you have any hints that might help?
Semper Fi
Smashwords – they have a very good guide for those doing e-books. It took me a couple of tries, but honestly, if you follow through, it works. It’s free to those publishing through Smashwords.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52
A lot of what is standard for print … is totally different for e-book.
Numerian, Sgt. Mom is right, as far as print books go. I do all of that. However, the vast majority of my sales (and those of most indie authors these days) are ebooks. And for that, there are several key things to do, which I’ll go over in future posts here.
I look forward to reading your future posts, sir.
Most writers are idiots. But then again, so are most readers. Millions of people buy mindless crap written by Dan Brown. And now Amazon lists the “religious artifact quest thriller” as a genre. (As the great John Gardener once sagely observed: “In order to write junk fiction, one must have an authentic junk mind.” The same may be said for those who enjoy it.) Perhaps e-publishing will enable good writers and readers to find each other more easily, and even reduce the volume of crap that’s out there.
There will always be lots of crap published, and eBooks won’t change that. Marketing them right now is pretty ad hoc, but the signs of change are everywhere and soon enough the ability to find writers will become very easy.
“A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others.”
–Leo C. Rosten
The real question, of course, is whether there’s anything worth understanding in any writer. We all think there is, but then we’re each pretty biased. The innate and inevitable arrogance of the artist afflicts writers as much as those of other media. Yet I think it’s almost the only way to truly understand and be understood. A writer reveals much more than intended when writing, especially in fiction, so that reading a non-formula novel remains the closest approximation to seeing the inside of another mind. We all see the world with a unique viewpoint, and as Adam Smith wrote, we judge others based on our own sensory perceptions, because we have no other way of doing so. Writing is not unique; other forms of art reveal less of the artists, though in all cases more than those artists necessarily desire. What it does that no other art form can is let the reader envision the world from behind another set of eyes, and perhaps really glimpse the workings of another mind. It helps if that mind is not twisted and diseased, but even then, the glimpse is not useless. All art is deception aimed at revealing truth; before engaging in any form of it the most important goal is to learn a truth to illustrate. That’s the failure point in most art, because it’s too easy to simply spit out a formula that reinforces prejudices instead of trying to really look deeply into reality. Personally I think the struggle is worthwhile.
I agree about bad writers and readers that deserve them. (A realtor friend uses the expression, “There’s a pig for every pen” to describe the ability to even the crummiest property to eventually find a buyer.) But I would not expect epublishing to reduce the volume of trash. A good historical example is what the invention of Gutenberg (and others) did: it turned a medium written by and for elites into something that the masses could afford and enjoy, and which therefore increased the volume of elites who could write and get their message across.
I stand corrected: e-publishing will not stem the flow of dreck.
Robert,
Great article. My copy of Hunter is on its way from Amazon. I’m really looking forward to reading your thoughts about marketing (an area where I have almost no skills).
After writing my book and collecting several rejection slips, I self-published on CreateSpace and later on Kindle Direct. The total cost for both was around $100. My cover art was free. There’s a lot of artwork available on the internet at no cost other than an acknowledgement to the source; mine came from NASA. And I set up a simple website where a potential reader can download the first three chapters of the book. Sales haven’t been all that good, and I got a really bad review on Amazon from someone who didn’t like my “right wing rants”. But writing the book was really fun and satisfying.
It’d be nice though to learn some marketing skills and sell a few more copies.
John, as far as marketing goes, stay tuned: I’ll go into that in future posts here, okay?
As a reader, I couldn’t disagree more. The e-book slushpile is at least 95% garbage. The only way to find something that’s guaranteed to be minimally readable is to wait for other readers to push a book to the odds-breaking top. Traditional publishing isn’t perfect, but it filters out the worst.
Also, there seems to be a lot of fiction writers here, but if you want to write serious non-fiction, you’ll need an advance from a major publisher for the expenses of conducting research.
Congratulations to all who have had success in self-publishing, but I think you mislead some of these hopefuls who probably actually do need a good edit.
For tons of advice and info on self-publishing, e-publishing (including info on marketing, cover art, self-promotion, etc), and writing in general, visit Absolute Write at http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php. In particular, the appropriate sub-forums:
Self-publishing – http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=47
E-publishing – http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=208
One final word of advice: do NOT go with an outfit called PublishAmerica. They make their money by charging authors to buy their own books at very high prices.
Being able to ‘look inside’ or read a sample of a prospective purchase is a wonderful decision-making tool, arhooley. And a bit faster than waiting for the good stuff to rise to the top, too.
As for PublishAmerica and other POD outlets – The best way to self-publish print books – that is, if you are totally serious, willing to educate yourself and to do more than one book – is to set up as your own micro-publishing house with an account at LSI. (Lightning Source – http://www1.lightningsource.com/ )For e-books: set up at Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/ ) which will publish in all e-book formats – and if you format correctly and follow their directions, they will distribute to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.
I don’t think I misled anyone; see my caveats at the end, and here in the comments.
First of all, readers aren’t children. They don’t require a priori “screening” and “filtering” of their reading material. In the world of indie publishing, the quality-control vetting process is not left to a handful of self-appointed gatekeepers, but to paying customers. The main retail outlets for self-published books are online sites like Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords — all of which feature “customer reviews” for each item. They also allow the reader to sample several chapters of the book before purchasing. Many customers rely on these services in deciding which books to purchase. They can determine what is “garbage” for themselves.
Second, I made it clear here that editing — in fact, all aspects of professionalism — are vitally important to a book’s success. I dispute the claim that they need a publishing house to provide those services, or that the houses are even particularly reliable in providing them.
Third, as for getting a publisher’s advance to research a nonfiction book: If you don’t already have a serious reputation and a track record of other published books that have sold well, good luck.
I agree with you about PublishAmerica. There are many other unsavory outfits poised to take the money of the unwary. For print-on-demand books, stick with the reputable ones such as CreateSpace and Lightning Source. For ebooks, you don’t need ANY big intermediary; you can hire contract help and upload the book files yourself, easily and quickly.
As for where to get the hired help and other resources you need, try here: http://bit.ly/HYpB0I. Also check here: http://www.newselfpublishing.com/index.html#blog
This ain’t rocket science, folks.
If you did a book with say, Createspace and it was on Amazon, would you coordinate an epub you put on Amazon yourself with Creatspace, or would the two be separate acts?
If I understand your question:
Uploading an ebook to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) — which is Amazon’s division that handles self-published ebooks — is one act. It requires a file that’s formatted for the Kindle family of ereading devices.
However, if you also want a print edition, then that requires you to upload a different set of files — files containing a page layout and wrap-around cover that’s appropriate for a print book — to CreateSpace. That’s Amazon’s separate division for self-published print-on-demand books.
In other words, these are two separate editions — ebook and print — each requiring its own sets of files, each handled by separate Amazon divisions. KDP and CreateSpace will keep separate sales records and pay you separately, too.
However, as far as the Amazon customer sees things, all separate editions of your book (even including audiobooks, if you have one) will be listed together on each of their respective Amazon product pages, as buying options. So, no matter which product page that your customer goes to — print, ebook, or audiobook — he’ll see all three options available.
Does that answer your question?
It does I guess but it was more of a promotional thing. I wanted to know if I should publish an ebook on Amazon and not even worry about letting Createspace know or if it’s better to tell them before you’ve put out an ebook on Amazon or afterwards if you’ve already done it.
I want to know if Createspace should in anyway know what else I’m doing with the same material or if it’s irrelevant.
Fail, you should probably try to integrate the editions. If you do this correctly, both will appear on the same Amazon product pages, as options for readers to consider.
You misunderstand one thing, Robert. I don’t mean to infantilize adult readers by saying they’re incapable of choosing books for themselves. Rather, as a reader who has picked through the self-published shelf, I will say looking for a quality book is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and that’s even with blurbs, summaries, and sample pages available. Those things take time to pick through. In that time, I could find twenty books I’d want to read by cruising reviews of traditionally published books.
Compare it to politics: what if everyone who thought they had a great idea could put themselves on the ballot for the general election? Voters would be perfectly free to read all their statements and ideas, watch YouTubes of them, etc. No filters for us grown-ups. Instead, thousands and thousands of confident people who disdained the grubby process of traditional electoral politics sitting on a phonebook-sized ballot for federal office. Good idea? Or would you just go for the guys who had been vetted by the evil process? And I know there are limits to that comparison, but overall I think it’s valid.
Sorry for saying “misleading” — it might be stronger than I intended. But I think you could be a little more emphatic about what is really involved when you’re responsible for all your own QA, and the difference a profe$$ional eye makes in the finished product. The cost of hiring a good editor for developmental editing and copyediting is HUGE. And the importance is huge if you want your precious time to pay off. Uh-oh, I said “pay off,” so I’ll have to do another paragraph:
Many folks here say they’re not interested in huge profits or bestseller status. I can only plead with writers to value themselves and to treat their “hobby” with respect. Writers, your time and talent are precious. The marketers, publicists, artists, and lawyers you may need certainly won’t be as breezy about the value of their time and talent as you are!
For one example, check out the costs of a decent literary publicist. Then, if you want to hit the print world — a necessity if you want to write for the incredibly lucrative Young Adult market where the authors of the Twilight and Hunger Games sagas struck gold — find out about the costs of distribution, and the near impossibility of getting bookstores to stock your books, never mind airport kiosks, Wal-mart, and CostCo.
As an example of the value industry experts can add to your project — and please don’t laugh — I give you Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series. Her publisher told her to turn her original standalone book into the first installment of a possible series. Ms. Meyer had to go back and do some rewriting, create a love triangle where there had been none, and redo her ending. In addition, her B.A. in English from BYU plus her educated beta-readers didn’t save her from submitting a manuscript loaded with typos and misspellings. What did the industry insiders do for her? Well, they helped her to a nine-figure empire.
In conclusion, look at the value that traditional publishing offers. There are some beastly compromises, yes, but don’t leap for self-publishing without doing some serious research on what you’re possibly giving up.
In the information I share with writers, I make abundantly clear that when you choose among publishing options, there are trade-offs.
For example, self-publishing excludes the possibility that your print-on-demand book ever will be carried in chain bookstores. It excludes the possibility that it will ever be reviewed in major journals. It excludes the possibility that your print edition will ever appear on a bestseller list. Traditional publishing is the only way to go, if you want any of those things.
For those who care about such things, traditional publishing also offers (to those who can get in the door) more “legitimacy” in the eyes of many people. It offers people to take much of the work off your shoulders, with professionals handling all aspects of production (including editing and covers) and most aspects of distribution, sales, and marketing. It offers advances against sales. And it absorbs the costs of most of the preceding, as well.
HOWEVER…for the typical author (i.e., if your name is not Stephanie Meyer, E.L. James, or Stephen King), most of those advantages turn out to be far less than Legacy Inc. would like them to believe.
First, your odds of being accepted for publication are small. And the time you’ll wait after finishing your manuscript, before you find that publisher and actually be published, will be measured in years. Your “advance” as a newbie author will likely be $5,000, for what may be years of hard work, and it probably will be paid in three installments stretched out over a year or more.
Even after publication, your book’s time on bookstore shelves typically will be very short, just a few weeks, and positioned “spine-outward”; then it will be replaced by something else. The odds of getting any significant reviews is very small, and of getting on a bestseller list, vanishingly small. Maybe you’ll have “legitimacy” in some people’s eyes; but if your book sells 1200 copies while mine sells 50,000 in 35 days, I’ll prefer my “legitimacy” with my banker any day.
And while Legacy Inc. will take a lot of work off your shoulders, you’re dreaming if you think it will take marketing off your shoulders: Except for the very top authors’ works, most traditionally published books get little or no marketing support from their publishers. That task is still on your back, if you want significant sales.
Add to get those meager advantages, consider all of the significant trade-offs you make in rights, long-term royalties, time, creative freedom, and other things I mentioned in this post.
So, except for the top ranks of anointed authors, traditional publishing turns out to be an increasingly bad deal for most writers.
Today, traditional publishers are counting on writers’ ignorance about the options and insecurities about themselves. Their pitch to aspiring authors relies more and more on the latter — especially the “prestige” factor. Check out that author survey I mentioned at the end of the post, in which 61 percent of those surveyed regarded “prestige” as a significant goal. They remind me of millions of drones in corporations who will settle for such crumbs of compensation as an inflated title, or an occasional mention in the company newsletter, in the place of a decent salary and other tangible benefits. Many are selling themselves short.
So are writers who yearn for Legacy Inc.’s “validation,” rather than actual readers and royalties.
I completely agree about legacy publishing and marketing. They will put some effort in, but if you want your trade book to actually sell well, plan on spending $5000 a month on a competent PR firm.
I am about ready to abandon the legacy publishing industry. Or rather, they seem to have abandoned serious public policy books, unless you are already famous.
You are assuming that traditional publishing still happens for serious non-fiction. I am not so sure that this is still the case.
I’m happy for this article because it will mean more people will self publish and people who can’t write will stop clogging up the slush piles at real publishers. Good luck to all of you.
Bad news: real publishers seem to be getting out of the business. Real publishers have published six books by me. Yet this book can’t find a publisher. My agent has pretty much given up, because publishers aren’t interested in serious books about public policy, even with a human interest angle to them.
And yes, I’m impressed with the books that do get published. And not always favorably.
I was tinkering with the idea of going the traditional route, but this article nixed that. Just about done with my fantasy trilogy and I can’t imagine waiting all the time it would take to get it printed up on dead trees. REALLY can’t imagine dealing with fussy, arrogant editors and agents. You might say I have problems with authority, and anger issues to boot.
No money right now, but willing to work on my writing until the story is as good as I can possibly make it. Same with the cover. When I was working in the world and providing for my nieces and nephews I liked to say I would do whatever it took to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Club baby seals, burn down nunneries… whatever. But my patience for petty fools is nearly zero.
$100,000 in a few weeks sounds sweet, but damned unlikely. I’d settle for being able to pay my part of the rent. Sounds like the ebook route might just let me do that. Now if you all will excuse me, I need to write.
I’d have more respect for self published authors if they didn’t sound so stupid and arrogant. If you get shot down by publishers, which 99% of self published authors have been, then just say so. Don’t say, ‘oh, I never wnated them anyway!’ it makes you sound stupid. Also, don’t insinuate that eBooks are more environmentally friendly than paper books. They’re not. Do some research on what goes into the creation of an eBook reader. I like ebooks just as much as the next guy, but when people start spouting how environmentally friendly it is, as if that’s their reason for turning their backs on the major presses, it just makes you look ignorant.
I have never published, but for years I have detected things in books and bookstores that made me sense that something was wrong.
First, it’s rare to find fiction written by someone with a surname like Bidinotto unless it’s a translated work by a foreign author or has some ethnic angle. As I looked at the surnames on the fiction rack, I always wondered what happened to all the Wieszniewskis, Hasendorfers or Bommaritos in large American cities who write novels. They can’t all be bad! Looking at the racks would lead to the assumption that it is rare for people with non-Anglo-Saxon surnames to write good English fiction, but I don’t believe it.
Practically every “serious” contemporary novel has a Jewish character, a gay character or a gay Jewish character, and this character is usually emotionally tormented. I started to get the feeling that these characters may not have been gay or Jewish when the novel was submitted to the publisher.
Titles follow the same general patterns, for example:
1. [verb]ing [noun] in [place]
2. [noun]: The coming [fill in the disaster] and [result or solution]
I started to get the feeling that a lot of literature gets mangled on the way to the shelf.
What you are seeing is a consequence of a highly inbred publishing industry, far too focused on New York City and its culture. And yes, the famous New Yorker cover, while amusing, really does capture what’s wrong the publishing industry.
Attempts to create a mass market for conservative publishing has been not terribly successful, as the publisher of my sixth book was discovering as we went to press. If you aren’t already nationally prominent (because of politics, celebrity, or a national radio or television show), they have some problems selling a lot of books. Unfortunately, conservatives are apparently not big on this book buying concept.
That old New Yorker cover occurred to me often as I looked at books, because the settings of the novels are so frequently either New York or places where New Yorkers would like to go on vacation, which is rarely anywhere between the coasts.
For a while I was curious about who reads books in the “Young Adult Fiction” category, because most teenagers I know read grown-up stuff, as did my friends and I when we were that age. A novelist I know claims that many “young adult fiction” novels were intended by the authors as grown-up fare but that the publishers recategorize them because they are low on sex and obscenity. I wonder if that’s true.
One reason conservative political books don’t always catch on is that they are so often rehashes of issues and events that informed people already know about from the Internet, newspapers and TV. After having gone through enough unsatisfying books of that type, a year or two ago I chose to limit myself to only two books of that genre per year.
You raise an interesting hypothesis concerning YA fiction. But then again, if you are trapped in the world of that New Yorker cover, the idea that a book does not need to be awash in deviant sex and foul language might be a bit radical. Hard as it may be to believe for some, but many of us get through not just days, but even weeks and even months without engaging in earthy language. Perhaps it is because we have sufficient vocabularies.
Are you suggesting that Vance, Bradbury, Lovecraft, C.A. Smith, Hamilton, McDevitt and Heinlein are somehow de facto affirmative action babies? That don’t wash with me.
I notice that most of these authors were published a long time ago, before the industry became quite so smugly insular. I also notice that many were horror or sci-fi writers, and thus outside the respectable category where the smug insularism is most apparent.
Could I cash in on this by using the name of Horsi Annapandamamanda?
I wrote and have published my novel, “Benjamin and the Paradise Project” (a YA dystopian si-fi thriller, through CreateSpace, Amazon and Kindle. I used a professional artist do to the cover art. The process of self-publishing was not hard at all, though it takes a good chunk of time.
Of course, everything is your responsibility. If your writing is bad and your book has typos, it’s on you.
The big problem is finding an audience, so I look forward to further input on that!
Kevin, are the typos everyone is always complaining about with Kindle the fault of the software used to place stories on Kindle somehow or simply sloppy copy-editing, no different from typos in a txt. file?
Typos are an increasing problem not just with self-published books, but with books from the professional publishers, too. This is the reason to have either a professional editor look over your book, or have many skilled amateurs do so. Individually, each amateur may only catch 5% of the problems, but collectively, they will do a pretty decent job.
I distinguish the problem of typos from bad grammar and unclear writing. Enthusiasm is no substitute for experience on fixing the latter.
The distinction you reference is that between proof-reading and copy editing. A proofer will spot the mispellings and mangled punctuation (misused apostrophes – grrr!!). A copy editor will help with grammar, syntax, and continuity. While enlisting an army of volunteers to provide feedback will not result in as good a result as hiring a proofer and a copy editor, it is certainly preferrable to self-editing, which just doesn’t work.
Okay Robert,
I’ve got a 25 chapter, 200,000 word novel written that I cannot get a sniff from a literary agent, it’s not the genre d’jour.
So how do I self publish, where do I go with it, and what is the process, I’m all ears as it were.
I’m all ears, too, Robert.
Okay, send me an email: RobertTheWriter [at] gmail [dot] com. I’ll send you a few documents that should help.
I agree with every one of the 10 points. I have a book out through CreateSpace, and getting it out was very easy. The big problem is promotion. It’s a niche book, and hitting the people in that niche is working, but slowly. It’s selling well in that niche, though.
I have published an engineering textbook that went through three editions, using a regular publisher. I really don’t know how I’d have self-published that one. Possibly through CreateSpace, but definitely not as an e-book. Dealing with the graphs and illustrations would have been a real bear.
This seems like a good time to put in a plug for the Editorial Freelancers Association, where authors can find professional editors, proofreaders, book designers, artists, and indexers. (the-efa.org) You can search the directory or post to the job board to find the exact help you need to polish your manuscript. As an editor and a book reviewer, I have seen the difference in self-published books that have been edited and those that have not.
The trouble with self-publishing is that one must know how to sell, something that doesn’t come easily to many of us.
So much bullshit. I should probably expect it from Pyjamas Media, I guess.
1. We publish debut authors all the time. All the authors you cited got publishing contracts. And readers like gatekeepers – or at least, they’d miss them if they were gone.
2. You clearly don’t have a clue about the economics of publishing.
3. Advances are all paid pre-publication. You won’t get any royalties until the advance earns out. It’s easy to budget: just assume you won’t ever earn any royalties. A lot of books fail.
4. If you’re unable to sign a legal document without screwing yourself, and too dim or untalented to find a reputable literary agent to help you, maybe you aren’t ready for business relationships with adults.
5,6. Yes, you can rush a book out if you cut out a lot of the actual work of publishing something effectively.
7. If you pick your own fonts and cover design and stuff, you probably won’t do it as well as a professional who does it for a living, and you will be spending time doing stuff other than writing. Again, if you want to do that, knock yourself out. Your book will probably look like crap, like most self-published stuff, unless you spend money on it hiring freelancers, which a trade published author would never have to do.
8. We don’t change books without authorial consent and my authors appreciate my input. We make books better in partnership with authors. This idea that we’re tyrannical bastards is bullshit.
9. Publishers are just as able to take advantage of the conditions you cite.
10. Publishers aren’t going away. The business model is not threatened in the least, and if you disagree, it’s because you don’t understand it. The guy who wrote WOOL does: he just signed with Random House.
Mr. Publisher, if the situation is all so wonderful for traditional publishing, can you tell me why my agent has not been able to get even a sniff from any publishers for this?
Academic and trade publishers have published six previous books by me. The comment from everyone that reads this teaser is that it is well-written, and the interspersing of the story of my brother with the history of deinstitutionalization humanizes what might otherwise be too academic of a work. This is about a very real social problem that has symptoms in mass murders (such as the one in Seattle a couple of days ago), and in the general cheapening and degradation of urban life caused by homelessness. You really think that there is no market for a book like this?
HA! Nice #10.
I really hope the aspiring published writers here will put in the time to research all the possibilities. One last link:
WHAT IF J.K. ROWLING HAD SELF-PUBLISHED?
http://barbararogan.com/blog/?p=29
I don’t have a problem with gatekeepers; at least I know someone read the thing besides the writer and his mother.
I’m not going to be picking up any self-published “Battle of Midway,” or “Was Bernal Diaz A Liar?” I’m not into researching authors of history – I expect people who write non-fiction to have their credentials vetted by someone with a better view than me – I simply can’t keep track of the micro-environment of every type of history book.
And without Joseph Campbell SF would be a far different and lesser landscape. Publishing is a business, a market place. Of course they’re going to pay authors only what they have to.
And honestly, let authors have their way and you get essays like this:
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0612/thoughtexperiments.shtml
It’s the single stupidest essay on SF I’ve ever read. It sure as hell ain’t Sam Moskowitz – in fact, it’s the lazy opposite.
Any author who disagrees should start a publishing house and pay more than they have to just because it’s nice. It’s a free country to do such a thing in.
Yeah, yeah. Heard it all. And I could do another eleven pages refuting it all.
But Mr. Publisher, if all you so is true, why do I keep seeing articles like this one?
Something that doesn’t happen as often as people would like?
Robert,
Thanks for writing this article. As the husband of a recently self-published author, I know first hand the horribly demoralizing effect these so-called “gatekeepers” can have on a person. My wife has written a wonderful story. Everyone who has read it and given feedback (and no, I’m not talking about friends or family) has had very positive things to say about it. She submitted it to countless agents and publishers and almost universally received form letters that made it glaringly obvious that her work was never even looked at.
There was one literary agent, who to his credit, wrote my wife a truly wonderful critique. One. He declined her book, but we are grateful to him because he actually read the thing before declining it. He also gave a detailed critique with some very helpful suggestions for improvement. My wife took his advice to heart and did a lot of work revising and editing, etc. and now has the story she has self-publised on Amazon. It’s a great story, and this one agent will forever have our gratitude for his kindness and help. He was the only one however who ever bothered to take the time to show some professionalism and human kindness. As mentioned, since putting her work on Amazon, all of the feedback we’ve received from readers has been great.
I recently spoke with a young lady who told me she actually worked for a while reviewing stuff from the slush pile of some publisher (I don’t remember the details of who she worked for exactly). She told me that she would read stuff and decide if it was worth being reviewed by her superiors. She told me that as lunchtime approached, the amount of reading she did on an individual work before deciding it was crap and rejecting it got shorter and shorter. She told me that if she was really feeling hungry, she’d often reject stuff without even reading anything. I could feel my blood pressure rising as she told me this stuff.
So some poor aspiring author has put their dreams at your disposal and you just flippantly toss it aside so you can go grab a baloney sandwich, without giving a second thought to the effect your form rejection letter has on them? That’s the wonderful gatekeeper that’s protecting all of us poor vulnerable readers from being subjected to unacceptable writing? To hell with that!!! If that’s the gatekeeper model the publishing industry champions, then the faster the ebook revolution tears down the gates, the better!!!
I personally read a lot of self-published stuff these days. About half of it is quite frankly pure crap. Bad story, bad writing, horrible spelling and grammar, etc. Fortunately, such crap typically reveals itself pretty quickly and I can simply move on to something else. At the prices traditionally published works go for, I can buy a heck of a lot of self-published books for the price of one from a big publisher. So, even if half of it is crap, the other half isn’t. I’m able to discover a lot of wonderful authors that the “gatekeepers” would’ve otherwise told me I have no business being exposed to. Yay Kindle! Boo Gatekeepers!
I’m not saying traditional publishers are all bad. In the days before ebooks, they were essential. What writer could afford the overhead of printing, marketing, distributing, etc. that a publisher brought to the table? Technology is changing things however. We don’t need them to be the gatekeepers anymore. Nowadays, every one of us can serve as our own damn gatekeeper and decide for ourselves what books we like and don’t like. The free market is a wonderful thing. Viva la revolution!
Cheers,
drsam
p.s. Everyone should buy my wife’s book!!! It’s awesome!!!
drsam, that’s a story I’ve heard over and over again. And the post by “A Publisher,” above, shows why.
Note the sheer arrogance and condescension in his tone. In his point #3, his answer to writers’ budgeting concerns is to tell them, “Just assume you won’t ever make any royalties” above your (paltry) advance, because “a lot of books fail.” Well, that certainly is an inducement to seek him as a publisher, isn’t it?
But his point #4 is the real eye-opener. It’s not the publisher’s fault, you see, if you accept their standard contract terms. It’s your own stupid fault! If you sign a legal document that both the publisher and your agent assure you is just “standard boilerplate terms” (as they ALL do), then it’s not them screwing you; you are “screwing yourself.” You are simply “too dim or untalented” to get an agent who will actually point out what’s wrong with it and represent your interests, rather than his and the publisher’s interests.
Does this jerk actually think that, by admitting such things, he’s refuting my points and making publishers look MORE attractive to writers? It sort of makes his claim in point #8 ring hollow, doesn’t it?
I’m truly sorry for the ordeal that people like him put you and your wife through, drsam. I wish you and her all the best in the future as indie authors. BTW, if you really want people to read your wife’s book, you should come back here and tell us her name and its title!
I was thinking much the same thing as you pointed out after reading the attempt by ‘A Publisher’ to refute your informative piece; his arrogance drips from every word, and I’m far less likely to think about going to one of the legacy publishers after reading his rant.
I thought his #2 was especially ironic; “you clearly don’t a a clue about the economics of publishing”. LOL – actually I suspect that you understand the economics of publishing all too well, and that ‘A Publisher’ is very upset with you for “spilling the beans” as it were. The legacy publishers seem to me to be infected with the same diseases ruining Hollywood, like a fear of originality and a disdain for the tastes and interests of their audience.
I’d also like to say that I read a lot of fiction by well-established writers that is put out by big legacy publishers, and if ‘A Publisher’ thinks it’s being well done, he ought to think again. IMHO most covers are anything but impressive in design, the “professional editing” is often crap, and a surprising number of books – bought in big chain book stores I would add – aren’t even very well printed.
Is there any way I can be notified by email of your future articles? I’m a busy person (full-time job, wife, five kids, four grandkids) and in my scarce spare time I’m busy doing a page-by-page edit of my historical police-procedural ‘Indiana Down’. Out of curiousity I’ve ordered a copy of ‘Hunter’, by the way.
Looks like Mr Bidinotto’s forthcoming post on marketing is long overdue. You wrote an excellent comment. The ps was sweet, but a link would have been smart.
I paid a company about $3,000 to publish my film trivia book “Serket’s Movies.” They provided professional work on the cover and editing. However, I am not very impressed with the company. They are constantly trying to get more money from me by pushing other products or services I can buy. They have done hardly anything to promote the book. I haven’t been paid yet and I’m not even sure how many books have been sold, but I would guess it’s only 7.
I went to a writing conference and it was suggested to me that I make some changes to the book (which I have) and try the traditional path. This way has also been frustrating. I’ve contacted 38 agents so far and none have been interested in reading the manuscript.
Serket, there are much better and less expensive ways to proceed than paying a company that much money to do the production. I’d be happy to share suggestions that I’ve compiled from the most successful self-publishers. Drop me an email: RobertTheWriter [at] gmail [dot] com, and I’ll send you some items you may find helpful.
Marketing strikes me as the Achilles heel of self-publishing – how on earth do you sell a book outside the legacy publishing network? It’s being done successfully, so I’m sure it’s possible, but the answer is anything but clear to me.
More to come on that topic, Numerian. BTW, congrats on your forthcoming novel, and thanks for buying HUNTER.
Fantastic article and congrats on your own success (Great story there, too!)
Just curious: Why did it cost you $1,000 to get HUNTER off the ground? Kindle publishing is free, right? Was it the design work you commissioned??
Thanks again for the wonderful information and your story. Continued success, sir!!
~Ray
P.S. I am a cover artist currently illustrating for “Game of Thrones” on HBO and Ridley Scott’s “Prophets of Science Fiction” on The Science Channel. I’d be very interested in working with you on your books.
Ray, the $1,000 sum went to the artwork for my covers (both ebook and print), my blog/website design and header, a business logo, business registration, interior layout and design of both the ebook and print editions, business cards, and a few other odds and ends I can’t recall off the top of my head. But when I consider what I received in return for that paltry investment, I consider myself to be a bargain shopper. I could have published for much less if I’d wanted to; many authors do.
You’ve got a couple of impressive gigs on TV — congratulations. If you wish to contact me, my email is RobertTheWriter [at] gmail [dot] com. And thanks for the offer.
What a great piece, as someone who is editing their second book in preparation for self publishing and who has decided to avoid publishers on the basis “Never submitted = Never rejected” I love it.
I would one day like to have a book deal, I would, one day, like to have a marketing department booking me signings and readings. But I’d like those things on my terms.
We are the fuel of the publishing locomotive, and until the price of coal goes up, I’m going to look after myself.
Good choice, Tony. The tradeoffs you make in publishing are significant, no matter which option you choose. But when publishers try to minimize what a contract with them will cost you (in time, creative freedom, rights, and royalties), they’re deceiving you.
If a writer can wrangle from publishers exceptional terms and life-changing advances, I certainly am not going to belittle his choice. I’m all in favor of the individual pursuing whatever arrangement makes most sense for his personal circumstances. However, such terms are offered only to a tiny handful of best-selling authors, a minuscule minority even among that small minority of writers who manage to get published at all. For the overwhelming majority of writers, self-publishing makes much more sense.
Thank you for an informative and encouraging article.
Do you have any advice for self-publishing educational materials?
I am writing and designing a worksheet series for young Japanese students (children and teenagers) learning English. The major publishers are not interested in my approach to teaching reading and writing, and I’m not interested in theirs, so I’ve been selling my material in printed form to a few other schools. I’d like to make the material more available.
My biggest concern is the graphics- some graphics are used on almost every page, and are licensed to me, so long as I don’t resell them in digital form.
Thank you in advance, Peter Warner.
Robert, thanks for this essay. I’ve been passing it around to a number of writers I know, as well as one who wrote a 100K-word SF novel, but gave up on it after realizing the hurdles the publishing world – and arrogance like “A Publisher” put in his way.
My story? I wrote a “cozy” historical mystery set in the silent film era. At first I went the traditional way, found an agent and got the thing submitted. The responses? All variations of “we like it, but we can’t sell it.” So after licking my wounds for a while, I scraped up $1000, and with that, hired a designer who created my website, a book trailer and a gorgeous cover for my book. It’s on Amazon and Kindle, and while sales are slow, every now and then I get a nice e-mail from someone saying that they bought / downloaded it, and when’s the next one out?
I’ve got a full-time job. I’d love to write for a living. But I can’t afford it. So my current book (a sequel to the first) will go the Amazon way.
Thanks also, commenters, for the editing and marketing tips. Much appreciated.
Great post, Robert! Very encouraging for rookies like myself. It’s so easy to get down with a lot of the negativity against self published fiction authors.
But I’m pressing on! Last week I received my manuscript from my editor. I had a professional cover done by a talented graphic artist I found on oDesk. I hired to editors because I wanted a second set of professional editing eyes. I should have my first book on Amazon in 3 weeks. Gulp.
I loved your comment: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/05/29/10-reasons-you-should-skip-the-traditional-publishers-and-self-publish-ebooks-instead/#comment-238758
“Going indie doesn’t mean going unprofessional.” Awesome.
Alan
Everyone knows that the established methods are best. That’s why I only buy books that have been hand-copied by a monk in a candlelit monastery.
I think this is overrated and hyped. Have been hearing about the joys of self publishing for a few years now… but when I look into it I see the same old material, books I would never read myself.
I’m not exactly sure how to even find a self-published book, on any subject. The biggest problem for self-published writers I see is marketing and getting their work out there for the public to see.
Hi Robert – I’m late to the party but nonetheless, great post. I don’t believe traditional publishers are out to do anything other than publish books they believe in and make their companies profitable while doing so. But that’s not always easy. It’s all about managing risk and expectations. That goes for publishers and for authors.
I’m repped by a terrific agent but despite her support and track record with other authors my book never did get picked up by a publisher. Maybe it’s crap – who am I to say ? But I believe in it. Amazon offers a great option now with minimal risk, and I’m happy to drink the Koolaid. If you approach it professionally and sensibly, no matter what happens sales-wise, you can at least be the master of your own destiny. There are a ton of resources out there to show you how to do it, and enough success stories to inspire you. The other very cool thing is how supportive the self-pubbing community is – a real pay if forward attitude. Robert’s a great example of this – much obliged !
Interesting article. I’m glad I clicked on it to read–and save for fuller perusal. I do think self-publishing opens doors that were previously closed for many writers, myself included. But I’m not entirely sure that door should close on the commercial publishing world, but rather that it should be considered as another market for the right book.
Also, I think patience is key for self-publishers. Just because you can publish fast doesn’t mean you’ll see results fast–as my own experience tells me. But the good news is that door is always open. No matter what kind of audience one gets or when, one can keep publishing whenever they want. I like that kinda freedom.
Jodi
I’ll wrap up my own responses to this comment section by linking to a just-published blog by historical romance author Joanna Novins. Her story perfectly illustrates everything I discussed in my post here about legacy publishing. For those of you still contemplating going through the Query-Go-Round, hers is only the latest cautionary tale among many I could cite.