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Writing and Publishing, Part 19:
Becoming your own publisher:
The decision to self publish:
This decision is basic to the rest of this series. Unless you
intend to self publish, the rest of this series will be of limited
interest to you; good for conversation starters, perhaps.
I must begin by assuming that you have something to publish. This will be a book of some kind; either fiction or exposition. In short, you have something to say. If you really have something to say, self publishing may be your best alternative for getting a forum. The reason is that it is very difficult to get even an excellent manuscript a hearing with a publishing editor.
I am aware that newspapers and journals like Writers Digest are forever publishing "new writer" success story articles. I have read some of them. In every one I have read, I discovered, in the details of the story, one common fact. The new writer had an inside track of some kind. He either knew someone in publishing or he was part of the industry in some way. In truth, most of the new writers who get accepted by these big houses have found an inside track of some kind; or they got very lucky.
The fact is, large publishers receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of queries and unsolicited manuscripts every month. Most of the manuscripts are dumped into what is called a slush pile. They are never read. They are not responded to. To get any response at all, a query letter is mandatory.
Luck is what happened to Ms. Rowling. A poor, deprived editor discovered, one day, that he had no luncheon appointment. In desperation, he took a manuscript from the slush pile to read. It turned out to be the first Potter book. Thus, out of slop creek luck, a celebrity was born. How many other excellent books remain in that slush pile to never, ever be read? We don't know.
Even as a small publisher, I receive queries from writers on a regular basis. Most of these are via E-mail. I respond to all of them as helpfully as I can, but I am not ready to publish other people's manuscripts yet. The simple fact is, I still have several of my own books in the cue. I would love for Wesoomi Publishing to be profitable enough to publish other writer's books, assuming they are good enough. However, I did not create this company to publish other people's books. I created it to publish my books. I believe this is true of the majority of small publishers.
So, there you are. You have a book and you want people to read it. You have followed the rules. You have tried the big houses and been rejected. You have tried the small publishers and been more kindly rejected; but rejected nonetheless. Beyond giving up, there are still two options open to you.
One option is called vanity press. This is really self publishing in drag. The vanity press people call themselves publishers, but they have no marketing capability. They are nothing more than book manufacturers; usually second rate book manufacturers. They will typeset and manufacture your book for a fee. then they will ship the copies to you. This leaves the marketing completely to you.
The second option is to publish your own book. If you want to be guaranteed that your book will be published, this is the only sure way. Now, what are the expectations and pitfalls.
First, you should not expect to make money. Some folks do. Most don't. Self publishing is a tough, tough, tough road. Most small publishers are not making enough money to pay their bills. They are what we call time-and-a-halfers. As the cliche goes, they have kept their day jobs. They are in publishing just for the joy of it. Here is the truth. For the hours I put in, I could make more money working in a fast food place. If I put in the same hours, I would probably be running the place in a year.
If my goal was short term wealth, I would not be in publishing at all. I would be in real estate, like Trump. Real estate is a completely nonrenewable commodity. It must go up in value with the increase in population. It is an area where you cannot help but follow the maxim, buy low, sell high.
The biggest pitfall in self publishing is that you will produce a book and be unable to market it. You will end up with a garage full of books. That has been my experience to date. To be sure, a garage full of books was not my goal. It is just what happened. In truth, on my bad days, looking at those books is quite ego crushing. Nonetheless, I continue. I still believe my books are good. It is my marketing which is bad.
In the end, there is only one justification for self publishing. That is in the satisfaction of having your tome manufactured and placed between real book covers. You no longer have a story or a manuscript. You have a book. You can hold it in your hands. If that does not put a flutter in your heart, you have a stone heart. Do not try to self publish.
My own decision to self publish was the result of reading between the lines of the "Writer's Market" book. I had written my first book (The Wesoomi Gardening Journal). I thought for sure it would be useful to other gardeners. I scanned "Writer's Market" and could not find a publisher which seemed to be a fit for the book. Then I scanned the general interest publishers and found a few.
I also found, through careful reading, that, even if my book was accepted, I might die before it was published. It seems that the mean delay time from submission to actual publication is about two years. This is for the large houses. At that time, I did not know about small publishers. I thought large houses was all there were. This is when I thought it might be possible to publish my own book. I was sure I could do it in less than two years.
That is how I came to read my first book on self publishing. I found the book in a Barnes and Noble's book store. The book seemed straight forward enough and it made the whole process sound easy. Like any damn fool, I jumped in with both feet. I did manage to get my first book manufactured and I have published four other books since then. I have also learned a great deal along the way.
I am here to tell you it is not easy, but it is very satisfying. That is not to say that all days are good days. Being thwarted at every turn in my attempts to market has been very discouraging. Looking at a garage full of books can be dismaying, to say the least. The point is, I continue, because, on the good days, the feeling of purpose and power cannot be duplicated. I have something to say. I created my own forum to say it, and I'm saying it.
If you have the courage, come on and join me. There are no constraints and there are no bosses. It's just you and the world, Don Quixote. Good luck!
Next time, I will begin discussing some of the basics of starting
a legitimate business.
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