One question I am frequently asked is this. Why are you self published?
It is a question that I’m sure many self published authors have been asked countless times. I have seen answers about how other authors were fed up of rejection, and thus self published their work. Other authors have stated that they wanted to be in charge of their own destinies.
Neither of these answers are quite right for me though. I cannot say that I have received masses of rejections as I haven’t. I have never tried submitting my work to a publisher, and only tried submitting my debut novel ‘Beneath’ to one agent, who did reject it, but in a very positive and encouraging way. I do like that I am in control of my work completely, but only because I am very lucky in some respects. My father has been an artist and graphic designer for his whole life. This means that he can design wonderful covers for me, free of charge. I have a friend who is an editor and loves my stories, thus she edits my work free of charge, just to have the pleasure of being the first to read them.
If i did not have these people, and others, supporting my efforts, I don’t think I would enjoy the process quite as much. To quote Uncle Ben (the one from Spider-man, not the rice guy) ‘With great power, comes great responsibility.’ Being a self published author is hard work. I spend as much, if not more, time promoting my work as I do writing it. Writing is my job, that and full time father. My wife works and we need every penny from the sales I make to keep a roof over our heads. If I had to pay for well designed covers and editing, i don’t think we would be in a position to afford it. This is not a poor me kind of comment, it is just a statement of fact.
There are no advances for self-publishing. I make money from sales of my work, and not for at least two months after the sale. The money that comes in from my sales keeps the wolves from the door.
Promotion takes up a lot of time. Seriously, I am permanently attached to my iPad, promoting the book, emailing people about the book, or just researching new ways and places to promote my book.
Some people excel at this sort of thing, and they are the people who should really consider self publishing.
So why did I self publish? I simply wanted to get my work out there as soon as possible. I’m quite impatient, and the thought of hunting for an agent, having them pitching the book to publishers, signing contracts, waiting 12-18 months for the book to be released. All of this sounded like to long a process for me. I wanted to know if people would read my work. If they would enjoy it. If it would gain positive reviews. This is the honest reason I chose the self publishing route.
As it turns out the route has been good for me. My work gets fairly consistent good reviews, and I have a small, but loyal, and ever growing fan base, all eager for my next book.
I don’t think anyone in this day and age should favour one route over the other. Self publishing has come into its own in the last four or five years, and is quickly losing much of the stigma that it used to have. Traditional publishing though is still a valid route, and i would never say that i would not take that route if the opportunity arose. After all, a traditional publisher, especially one of the ‘Big 6’ has a marketing machine that will get your books name to far more people than you could hope to on your own.
However, with the right strategy, and hard work you can now make a success of self publishing. I would how ever advise you not to buy to many of the books that promise to tell you the secrets to self publishing success. They all say pretty much the same thing, and as far as I can see, they are making a success of self publishing by getting people who want to make a success of self publishing to buy their books on how to make a success of self publishing.
Accept that you need to spend time, building up your fan base, and your social media, and attending events, and talking to people who have read and enjoyed your book (especially make time for that one, they deserve your full attention). Connect with other authors, and people in the field. From my experience authors don’t see each other as competition, but as colleagues, and are always willing to talk shop and give out friendly advice.
If you want fame, I would suggest you go the traditional route, as this is still the best way to achieve that.
If you want to write and be read, self publishing is the quickest way to achieve that.
If you want to be rich, then for God’s sake become a banker or a lawyer. It’s far more likely to happen in those fields than writing.
