Running the Gauntlet
March 29, 2008 04:52
Running the Gauntlet
by Ian Thomas Healy
Hello, my name is Ian, and I’m a self-published author.
“Hi Ian,” you all chorus.
A lot of people are curious about self-publishing. What is it? How is it different from conventional publishing? And, of course, can you make any money with it?
To answer those questions, I’d like to share some of my own experiences with dodging the pitfalls of the self-publishing industry.
The Backstory
I am a four-time winner of the National Novel-Writing Month competition – thirty days of scheduled insanity every November where you attempt to write 50,000 words. My 2004 entry was a crazy little book about alien abductions and how a sword-swinging milkman, a reporter, and an army of bikers manage to save the entire world. After completion and a reasonable amount of time passed to let it ferment, I went through it, edited it, and began sending queries around to agents.
Naturally, it got rejected, because that’s what happens by and large when you query projects. The few non-form rejections I got back all said more or less the same thing:
“It’s a great, fun story, but we don’t know how we could sell this.” I was, of course, disappointed, but stayed undeterred and continued to write, instead focusing on other projects. The Milkman went back into the drawer.
Research and Development
In late 2006, I learned I would have a bit of extra “fun money” to play around with, and began to consider the notion of self-publishing The Milkman. There are several talking points around self-publication, but first and foremost has to be cost. It does indeed cost money to publish, although some places charge more than others. But even using someplace like CafePress.com or Amazon’s CreateSpace, which have no set-up fees, you will still have expenses.
Do you like to edit? Are you any good at it? Lots of writers freely admit they hate editing (myself included) and would like to assume their words are perfectly-cut diamonds dropped onto the page. Sadly this is often far from the case. A stigma in the self-publication industry is poor quality. I’ve seen self-published books with numerous errors, from misspelled words to poorly-used punctuation and far worse. Very few self-published authors get their work professionally-edited, and the main reason is that professional editing is expensive when you have to pay for it yourself. Many self-publishing services are happy to offer various levels of editing from content to copy, at ever-escalating prices. So unless you’re willing to pony up the bucks to get some solid editing done, you’re going to have to either do it yourself or have a friend you trust do it. I mostly edited The Milkman myself, along with help from a few readers. Even after the third and final revision, I still know of four errors that crept into the final product.
Let’s say you get your book edited and still have money burning a hole in your pocket. Are you a graphic designer? Do you know how to create an eye-catching cover which will appeal to a prospective buyer? When you’re self-publishing, you have three options. One is to hire someone to design a cover for you; another is to try to do it yourself; or you can take the chance and let the self-publishing company do it for you. Again, you get what you pay for.
Lastly is the unknown expense – that of promotion. Self-published books are not aggressively-marketed by the publisher. They don’t get into chain bookstores or grocery store racks. They don’t get highlighted on book websites. The onus of marketing lies squarely on the author. Want to see your book in a Barnes & Noble or Borders? You have to convince the buyer to stock a couple copies, and often you’ll have to provide those copies yourself to be sold on consignment. Want to get your book reviewed in major publications? You’ll have to send out copies of your book yourself and even then there’s no guarantee you’ll see it, or that the review will be favorable. How much is your time worth when you’re doing legwork, making connections, shaking hands, kissing babies? Because you’re going to have to do it all yourself, or else pay someone to do it for you. You’ll need physical copies of your book, which your self-publisher will be happy to sell to you at a deep discount, which you will most likely be giving away at a complete loss.
The Final Analysis
Is self-publishing worth it? Well, if you want to see your work in print, and you can do so without dropping an arm and a leg (and a spleen, and four fingers, and a retina, etc. etc. etc.), there’s definitely a satisfaction of holding in your hands a book which you wrote yourself. You’ll get to sign copies for your family and friends, and you’ll feel like a million bucks. Will you ever recoup your costs in money and time? Realistically, no. There is a reason that you get an advance from traditional publication. The publisher is willing to risk X amount of money marketing your work for Y in anticipated sales, and Z represents your share of those sales. Publishers have been doing this for a long time; they know how to turn a profit with a book.
One final question to ask yourself … why are you not going with traditional publication? If your book is good enough to sell, somebody will want to publish it. If you’ve gotten nothing but rejections, perhaps your work simply not good enough, and that’s something self-publication will never fix.
Ian Thomas Healy is the author of The Milkman. His manuscript Deep Six: A Just Cause Novel was a Top 100 semi-finalist in the 2007 Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award contest. He blogs regularly at http://ianthealy.blogspot.com and http://popcornprinciple.blogspot.com. He also produces a daily webcomic, The Adventures of the S-Team, found at http://ianthealy.comicgen.com. Contact him at ian@ianthealy.com or visit his website, www.ianthealy.com for more information.
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