Self-Publishing Wins

I know I've discussed which is better: traditional publishing or self-publishing. At the time I gave the pros and cons of both. That discussion left out a few points which tip the scale toward self-publishing.

For example, I neglected to point out that most of us will probably end up using a small press if we go the traditional publishing route. This process takes much longer than it would if you self-publish. Much longer. I've been waiting months for my first novel to be released. And while the publisher has made progress toward that end, my book remains available for pre-sale only.

Since time to market is an important factor -- another point I failed to cite -- I don't see the advantage of the traditional publishing model. I suppose some small presses are better at keep a schedule but I suspect that most every scheduling issues.

The other thing to keep in mind is that self-publishing requires you make the quality of the book job 1. This means have the story professionally edited and pay for a quality cover. If you do those two things, you should be able to handle the rest of what you need to do yourself.

So I'm thinking that the rest of my novels will be self-published. That's assuming that the first one is ever released.

Selecting a Publisher

If you are self-publishing and have no interest in a more traditional approach, this post is not for you.  But if you want some assistance with the process of finding a publisher, keep reading.

Selecting a publisher, one that you'll enjoy working with is like selecting a car to drive, or a college to attend, or an employer -- it requires work on your end to do the research you need.

You need to do this research up front in case they accept your submission.  I almost never do that work because I almost always get rejected.  Almost.  And, of course, the one time I don't do that work up front is the one time I am accepted.

Not that is a big deal.  Even if you want to do the research after you are accepted, most publisher deals are limited to a number of years.  So if you decide to go ahead and take the deal, it won't last forever.  Additionally, it is often hard to know exactly what a publisher is going to be like until you work with them, despite the research you do.  In this way, selecting a publisher is like going to work for someone else, which you are in a sense.  I all the jobs I've ever taken, I never know what it is like working there until I take the job and work there.

Still, you want to do some research up front.  For example, you want to know which companies regularly publish in your genre and which companies accept submissions from new writers.  Writer's Market is a source for some of this information.  You can also search online.

From experience I can tell you, you'll want to focus on small presses.  These are small publishing houses that rely on new talent to grow.  Note that not all small presses are  equal.  I find some are really no more than one person doing most of the work.  I call these place micro presses (like a microbrewery).   I'm not a big fan of micro presses but like everything else there are good ones and bad ones.

Above all, check the web site Editors and Predators to stay away from know bad publishers.

You also want to talk to people who have published with the press you are thinking of using.  The simple way to do this is to contact them through their author web sites.  You can get a list of names by checking the publisher's category of published writers.

If you find an author has no web site, then try Facebook to see if they are active there.

So good luck with your search; hope you find what you are looking for.

In an Age of Self-Publishing, Do Publishers Still Have a Place?

Democratic ideals pervade our society; we believe that everyone should have a right to decide things for themselves.  That's how our politics work -- well sort of.  And increasingly that's how publishing is working.  In fact that's one of the appeals of self-publishing because it does an end run around the publisher, who has traditionally been the gatekeeper.

Some writers today don't want someone else to decide whether their story is good enough, particularly since the decision is subjective.  Instead, these people want to publish their work and let readers decide.  In this way, each story should be able to find the audience most likely to receive it well.  But the internet is huge with billions of pages and terabytes (or more) of content.  It is very hard for me as a writer to be found by just putting up a web page and advertising.

That's why sites like Smashwords exist.  Readers go there to find content to read.  Goodreads in another place readers congregate and where a write might find an audience.  Scribd and Wattpad also come to mind for find readers, but my experience suggests that none of these sites get enough traffic to help me enough to sell my work.  What I need is either a large following or a spot on the Amazon home page.

And so despite the trend toward self-publishing, the only way I can see of reaching enough people to really sell my book is by using a publisher.  And the minute I say that I must be ready to give up some of the royalties I would receive otherwise.  But that's not a big deal; Smashwords wants a cut too.  And the one advantage a publisher has that Smashwords does not is the publisher will promote my book and help me promote my book.  Smashwords gives my pointers and tips for promotion but it's not the same.

A publisher will also be able to give me feedback on a draft of something which for me is great.  I need that feedback to stay on course.  One reason my first book took so long to make it really good is I kept going off the road without realizing it.  It is was only the constant rejections that made me realize something wasn't right.

But using a publisher isn't all roses and sunshine either.  They tend to be slow.  It's been three weeks since my publisher first contacted my about a contract and I am still waiting for the final version so I can review it and see what they are offering.  In that same time, I could have written and published several chapters in my next novel.

Still I'm thinking I'm better off with a publisher than without one.  Many other writers think otherwise.  And I understand their reasoning.  Frankly I'm struggling to come to terms with this point.  I guess it will depend on the deal I am offered.

I Have a Dream Too

Today is a holiday in the United States to honor a man who had a vision and dream of a better world for all.

It would be hubris to compare myself to such a one but I too have a dream-- a writer's dream. I dream of being published. While that time may be close at hand it does not feel that way.

But I am also concerned about the walls that still exist along the road to publication. I think they are still quite high. I may have scaled them at last but many have not. Of course many do not want to. They take the path of least resistance: self-publishing. But I think that's because there is tyranny surrounding the publication process. I dream of a world without this tyranny, one in which all voices can be heard.

Then there are personal dreams of finishing the fantasy series I started. Seven books is a lot to write and I only have partial drafts of Books 4 to 7. So I wonder of I will finish it. I don't have any intention to abandon it but accidents happen. I would hate to leave my readers hanging.

But today is a day to envision the world as it should be and not as it is. To dream our dreams and find ways to make them happen. To strive to make the world a better place.

So what's your dream?

The Climb isn't just Uphill, it's Steep too.

Readers of this blog may recognize this theme.  I've written about this before: namely how hard it is to write and publish a novel.  But I think this bears repeating.  Plus I keep finding new potholes in the road.

First, you have to have a good idea.  That's hard enough.  It doesn't need to be an idea for a story.  It can be an idea for a character.

Next you have to develop the idea into a story.  The story must be well written and must be satisfying to the reader.  Some people have told me it must be exceptional, but this is subjective.

Then you have to sell the story to a publisher or publish it yourself.  If you publish it yourself, you must be sure the production value is top-notch and that it is priced properly.  Electronic distribution makes this easier but I don't think you can distribute exclusive in electronic formats.  You need a paper form too and getting that right can be a huge time sink.  The paper version will also be more costly.

Marketing the story is also an issue.  You'll need to spend the word yourself and that's a lot of work, making hard to find time to write another book.  But you must continue to write.  One book from one person is like a lightning strike.  It's a fluke.  But if you can write two or three or more books than readers (and publishers too) will know you have the right stuff.

This is why many famous and well-known modern writers started by writing short stories and then graduated to novels.  They proved they could do it.  But short story writing and novel writing are different and I have no interest in writing short stories, at least not at the moment.

What this means is this even if you have a good story that is well-written, it may go nowhere because you have not marketed correctly or you've priced it too high.  Or maybe your sample is not interesting enough.  In my case, I know my sample, before I revised the novel this year, was misleading.  It gave the wrong impression of the story.  The new sample from the revised novel should work better, but it has not helped from what I can tell.

So I am forced to conclude that the marketing of the novel is insufficient or poor in some way since I know the story is good (from the reviews I've had) and it has been professionally edited.  Maybe I need a thicker skin.  Maybe I shouldn't let this concern me.  Maybe.  But it does.

I think I need to attract the right audience.  And I need to find a way to do that.  I have some ideas on that score which I've not enacted.  Perhaps it is time I get off my ass and do something.  And perhaps I will once I am ready to announce and relaunch my first novel.

Publishing Strategies

Some weeks back I wrote about self-publishing, saying that it wasn't for me mainly because I want to work with publishing professionals when my novel goes out into the world.  My theory on this is I will learn from them all the little nuisances of publishing and promoting books.

However, nothing is ever as clear-cut or monolithic as it might first appear.  In this case, I was basing my discussion on the assumption that to publish you need to use the same source to publish every version of your book.  And that's not true.

For example:  last month I submitted to a small press that only wanted the electronic rights.  Had they accepted the book, I would have had an ebook of my novel but not a paper version.  Since people still read paper copies, and some people prefer them, I realized I needed to find a way to offer a version in paper.

Suddenly self-publishing seems like the perfect answer.

I also made the mistake of not considering my overall marketing plan.  Don't make that mistake.  Think about an overall marketing plan and, as you consider how to publish, think outside of the box.  Consider whether you want to self-publish and, if so, will it be electronic only or paper or both?  If you want more of mix look for a small press that wants only the electronic rights (this is increasingly more common) and do the paper edition yourself.  Or if you don't want to even consider self-publishing, look for a more traditional small press that will handle both the paper and electronic publication.

And don't forget about an audio book.  (don't laugh; several friends suggested that I do an audio version first to promote the book.  If the effort wasn't so high I might have considered it)  Chances are you'll need to do that yourself or with until your work is wildly successful.  If you do it yourself, your main enemy is background noise.  So you may have to record the book at odd times.  The good news is you can find good theme music for the opening and there are services that will podcast it for you, in case you don't want to do that yourself.

So spend some time, do some research, and plan out how your book will go to market.  It is worth the effort.

Double Standard

It seems to me there's a double standard in publishing. All the small presses I've submitted to reject my work but the work they publish is just as good and in some cases, in my opinion, inferior. And yet others get to live my dream while I'm left scratching my head.

I'm pretty sure my work is good. I've had various people read it. Some are writers like myself. Others are my target audience. How can they be wrong and the publishers right?

The answer is: they aren't wrong. It's the publishing industry that's messed up. They refuse to take risks on new writers. I say this not because I am rejected. I know many writers who had tried to publish but can't. They are all talented and produce good work and yet, years later, they remain unpublished.

I realize, of course, there are a lot of competition. But the law of averages suggests that they should have had at least one success by now.

No one wonder so many people self-publish. Frankly, I'm nearly in that camp myself. I've spent about three years crafting my first novel. If it does not find a home soon I'm going to self-publish and move on to book 2.

I really can't wait for the publishing industry to sit up and take notice. I've got a lot more novels to write.

Code of Silence

I recently received another rejection on my novel. It was the standard sort of rejection. "Your novel needs work. We are going to pass."

Angry that they didn't say more and curious as to what they thought needed work, I asked to do something I've never done before. I asked for specifics. My reasoning here was simple: if I don't know what was wrong I can't fix it.

They responded and told me what they thought was wrong. I won't bore you all with the details suffice to say it stung, worse than the original rejection. But I thought about it overnight and the next morning got to work on my revision.

As I worked, I realized the comments were correct. And then I got angry again because no one told me this before. Let me pause here to say that my novel has been read by several people, all of whom are suppose to be professionals in the publishing world. One of these people, I've come to realize really isn't very good at his job. But the rest of them should have given me some concrete feedback. They didn't and that just fuels my anger.

There appears to be a code of silence among publishers not to give writers the feedback they need to improve. We are suppose to guess or learn by osmosis or something.

It's ludicrous. I could have fixed my novel months ago if someone, any one, had spoken up. I know why they don't. They don't want to be responsible for crushing my dreams of publication. And I understand that. What they don't realize is that I've been writing for years and rule 1 in writing is you check the ego at the door. The critique is on the work not the person. If the writing is not working, then I need to know, I need feedback, to make it better. Vague replies like, "You novel needs work," are equivalent to not responding at all.

So I am now going to make it habit to ask what is wrong so I can improve my work because for the first time in a long while, it feels like the novel is finally on the right track.

Caution: If you decide to do the same, make sure you can handle the truth. I don't handle rejection well at all and it took me about a day to get past the hurt. And if truth be told, I nearly junked the entire novel and gave up.  What stopped me? My own stubbornness and a few good Facebook friends.  If your support system isn't there you might want to wait or have someone  else read your work. Someone who is tactful but honest. That way, you get the feedback you need and don't give up either.

Give me What I Want but You'll Have to Guess as to the Details

The current publishing process astounds me. In order to get something published, I have to guess what my target publication wants without so much as a hint from me. Or I have to write what I like is good and hope someone else agree.

In all the years I've been in the job market I've never seen anything like that except the publishing world. For most jobs, I have see an explicit job description and determine if I fit. More often than not, that works well.

But in publishing, you see a publisher wants a fantasy story so you write one and send it to them. And they reject it because by fantasy they mean a romantic fantasy or a dark urban fantasy and you wrote a story in the swords and sorcery vein.

I know that I'm suppose to read samples of what a publisher has published but that doesn't help because each story is different. If I suppose if all the stories in a magazine are dark fantasy, I have a story of heroic fantasy then I need not bother to apply. But if a small press hasn't published any epic tales doesn't that mean they won't or that they haven't received any to publish?

Seems to me there has to be a better way of submitting stories and novels. I've seen a few places use a database to be manage the content. That seems like a good way to go. But let me propose another.

Why not use the restaurant method? Get your name on a list and have the editor/publisher work through it. When they reach you, they can ask you for what they are looking for. If you've got something you sent it. If not, then they will check with you the next time through the list.

I have no idea if that approach is even workable but it might let writers and publishers develop a rapport which is sorely lacking from the current process.

Or maybe we should reverse the model. Let writers publish online somewhere private then let the editors and publishers link to us.

Or maybe I've had too much Diet Coke today. Whatever it is, there's got to be a better way.

Changing the World

Three months ago after countless revisions to my novel I put it away, mostly out of frustration. It didn't seem to be going anywhere and attempts to sell it failed. Worse still I got angry, mostly with myself for wasting my time writing stories when there are many other things I could be doing. I've been focusing on writing only because I had a belief that I could write well and get something published. But without having any publishing credits to my name, it was getting hard to maintain that belief.

I suppose this was a crisis of faith in myself and my skills. So I devised a test. I set out to write a short story and see if I could get it published. If I could then I would know that I had the skills I needed. If I couldn't, I'd quit and stop deluding myself.

But where to target the story. Well, as it happens, I know someone on Facebook who advertised that any story sent to him would be published. So I set out on my quest and began writing.

I put all my skills into the effort and spent weeks writing and polishing. Finally, I finished it at the end of May and sent it to him. He liked. He liked it a lot, except for the ending. I shared my success, limited, as it was, with others. Then a strange thing happened.

Nothing in my life changed.

I was sure it would. All I needed was one success and I would change the world. Fame and fortune were mine I just need to publish. People would sit up and take notice of me. I would be somebody.

I don't know where I got any of these ideas but they were in my head. And turns out they are all completely false. The only people taking notice of me are the people reading my blog (a growing audience it seems but nothing to change the world). I sighed, laughed at myself for being foolish, and moved on.

The only thing this experience showed me is that I should trust my writing instincts. So I've gone back to my novel now and re-read it. I've revised weak scenes, clarified vague passages, and am getting ready to try selling it again to another publisher.

Moral: Don't try to change the world. Just write the best stories you can.

P.S. If anyone is interested in reading the story I wrote, send me some mail or post a comment and I'll share the URL