What Writers Considering Self-Publication Need to Know
Howard and I frequently get asked questions about self-publishing and/or marketing. This is logical since we pay our bills on the sales of books that we have self-published. Our success draws people to us. They ask how we did it, hoping that they can apply what we say to their own projects. So here is what I have to say about self-publishing and marketing:
There is no easy path. Publishing and getting your work into the hands of others is hard. Many people look at self-publishing as a short cut, a way to skip all that difficult submission and rejection. The truth is that you’re trading submission and rejection prior to publication for the labor of text layout, cover design, doing all your own marketing, and rejection from bookstores when they won’t stock your title. None of our books are available in Barnes & Noble or Borders. The only way people find us is if they come looking or are told by a friend. We have been rejected by multiple distributors until we finally found one to carry some of our books into games/comic stores. There are days when I think longingly of having a publisher. Publishing is like climbing Mount Everest. Self Publishing is like soloing up Mount Everest. Neither one is easy, but the solo climber is much more likely to end up in the bottom of a very deep hole.
Your publication choices should reflect your goals. If you want to be a full-time author, you should work to team up with a publisher. If you want to create a book for your grand kids, check out Print On Demand (POD) publishers such as lulu.com. If you want to write a book for your society of gardenia lovers and there are a thousand people out there waiting for your book, contracting the publishing yourself could be valuable. If you wrote a novel and just really want to have it in a book for your family and friends, then you could go with a press offers paid design services. Look around at the options and pick one that meets your goals for your writing.
Self Publishing will take over your life. We began with a single self-published book. Since then we have created 6 more books. The publishing has become a business which requires the full-time labor of two people. I spend hours of time shipping books, managing store software, communicating with customers, writing marketing copy, communicating with retailers and distributors, and physically hauling books around. 1/3 of our home is occupied by publishing work spaces and storage. We also have two large storage units which function as a warehouse. We pay to attend conventions so that we can promote the books. We have reached the point where we almost qualify as a small press instead of as self-publishers. But even doing all that work does not guarantee an income.
Building an audience is harder than serving one. When we publish the Schlock books, we know that there is an audience out there anxiously waiting to buy. We published a children’s picture book and that project is still in the hole financially. It is a good book. We love it. But getting the word out about it has been an uphill struggle. Self publishing is a great way to answer the needs of an audience that you already have. Using self publishing to build an audience is a very different challenge, and one that we have not yet overcome. We all want to believe that if we build something beautiful, then the audience will find it. Unfortunately we know many amazing creators who continue to languish in obscurity.
To speak of our own experience, Howard’s creative work has succeeded brilliantly through self-publication. My work has not and for future projects I intend to pursue traditional publication.
All of that said, I do not regret the hard trek through self-publication. It has been an amazing experience. I would not change it.