Writing and publishing a book has always been difficult. But opportunities to be published by mainstream publishers are becoming more and more rare.
The big houses are under great financial stress now. They’re going to be placing their bets on sure things. They’re going to be looking for authors who have a lot more to offer than just a great manuscript or proposal.
Of course, they want those things too. But what they’re really looking for, increasingly, is an author with a platform: a healthy number of RSS subscribers or Twitter followers or a big mailing list or regular TV appearances.
It’s easy to believe that self-publishing your book is just another way to build your platform. And maybe it is.
But if your main goal is to be published by a mainstream publisher, you could be hurting your chances by self-publishing if you aren’t able to move a serious number of books. Consider that Kaza Kingsley sold 30,000 books on her own before her series got picked up by Simon & Schuster.
Once your book is self-published, you begin to establish a track record for yourself via the book’s ISBN. If your sales are meager, well, you’ve already tested the market for that book. And Random House isn’t going to pick up a book that’s already proven it has no market.
If you have a platform—a blog with a big following, regular speaking engagements, a known expertise—trust me, you won’t have to go looking for publishers. They’ll find you. An author with a platform holds all the cards, in fact, they can most likely self-publish successfully and may not even find going with a publishing house necessary. I think you’ll see more and more of this as epublishing gains mass acceptance.
So who should consider self-publishing hard copies? Here’s my opinion:
• Poets. Poetry is all but impossible to get traditionally published, although you may find some small presses that take on poetry collections.
• Nonfiction writers with a platform. Self-publishing can work extremely well if you’re considered an expert in your topic and appear regularly before crowds where you can hand-sell your book or market it via your blog.
• Writers who just want books to give their family and friends. In this case, check out Blurb. I think they’re doing really cool work and the books have more of a custom look than you’d get with a POD service.
• Organizations that want to sell books within their community, as I wrote about here.
To the fiction writers, the narrative nonfiction writers, the essayists: Why not try epublishing out before investing in hard copies of your book? There are so many amazing free tools available to writers now: Why not try to Twitter your book like Matt Stewart? Or podcast your novel like Seth Harwood? Or build a popular blog like Chris Brogan? Or develop a readership on Smashwords?
None of these things will hurt your chances of getting traditionally published, in fact, if you’re successful they’ll win you the attention of publishers.
The No. 1 mistake self-publishers make is not developing an audience first. Your readers will let you know when it’s time to go to print. The path to success as a writer no longer begins with a book.
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Very nice! Please keep this stuff coming! :-)
Seriously (not that I was being insincere about enjoying your post), there are so many variables here it’s hard to keep things straight. To the question of publishing, publishing on demand, self-publishing and e-publishing you then have to factor in what you’re publishing, who you are, who your intended market is, what you’re trying to get out of the process — it’s maddening to the point that I start thinking about writing on bricks and looking for windows. (Sure, it’s against the law, but think of the buzz!)
Regarding your advice above, would you add short-fiction writers to your advice to poets? One of the things I’d like to publish is a collection of short stories, which seems to me very much like poetry in the current marketplace.
Thanks Mark. Seriously. :) It is a lot to take in, but basically my advice boils down to this: Use the free tools that are available to you on the Web first before you shell out money to publish hard copies of your book. Make sense?
Short-fiction does fall into that impossible to get published category. If you were to publish hard copies, who would you sell them to? Do you have a marketing plan? Why not check out Smashwords first and see how that goes? They have a relationship with a POD company if your readers want hard copies.
Publishers need to be smart – they need to see that if a self-publisher is able to sell 1000 copies of a self-published novel, this represents significant interest because it’s so much harder to unload books. The standards for a successful self-published book are nothing like the standards for a mainstream-published book.
And if you’re able to sell 30,000 copies of a book self-publishing, who cares about a mainstream publisher? You’ve already made it. You don’t necessarily have to be obscenely successful to prove there’s a market.
Another interesting article, Maria, thanks.
It’s an interesting take, that some forms of authorship (like blogging) might improve your chances to get that elusive contract, while others (ebook publishing with a traceable ISBN) might hurt your chances.
I’m inclined to agree with Henry. If you can sell 30,000 copies self-published, you have acquired that rare commodity–leverage.
For another take on this same theme, check out: http://www.marinbookworksblog.com/2009/09/5-good-reasons-to-self-publish-your-book/
Thanks Maria. Makes sense that writers would seek to develop a following irrespective of their publishing platform. Its cool that we can test our relevance online without spending a whole load of cash.
Interesting and informative. Thanks for this post. Puts things into perspective.
cheers, Pam
Very helpful. The key for some is whether they want their first book to be their FIRST book, or if it is something that fell into one’s lap and may be the ONLY book.
I have been working with a small publisher who considers his business to be a joint venture between an author and a publisher. He offers several options but is not a vanity press. I had initially planned to make an investment and shoulder all the risk however finances got in the way. The subject of my book is of particular interest to him and a good fit for his company so he wants to make it work.
Your articles have been very valuable in distinguishing the differences between self publishing, vanity publishing, e-publishing and traditional (pursuing an agent). I’m sure I’m not the only one that has benefited from the information.
I’m with Henry on this one, too.
In an effort to get some early success stories going for the Vault I’ve queried publishers like Kensington and Sourcebooks on Vault authors’ behalf, and I’ve found that the editorial staff are actually quite impressed when the book in question is selling anywhere on the order of 100 copies a month or more. I think they realize that a self-published author is at a great disadvantage when it comes to marketing reach, and they appreciate what a big accomplishment it is—and how much it speaks to the desirability of the book—when an individual author can achieve numbers like that consistently. Buzz and reviews (both from readers and the editorial type) seem to figure pretty prominently into the equation as well. Even a very modestly-selling book can impress if it’s also got great buzz and excellent reviews from trusted sources.
You seem to be saying that a self-published book that can’t perform at the same levels expected of a mainstream book will be viewed as a failure by publishers, but that has not been my experience at all. Perhaps that’s the reality when you’re dealing with a Random House or Harper Collins, but I’m not sure publication through conglomerate publishers such as those is a realistic goal for most self-published authors anyway. Increasingly, the biggies seem to be the exclusive turf of blockbusters, brand name authors and debut authors who are coming on the scene with a whole lot of buzz and publicity attached to them.
Some authors attract the attention of the biggies with sales numbers that are so huge they’re impossible to ignore, but the biggies aren’t the only game in town and in my experience, posting big sales numbers isn’t the only way to draw mainstream attention. Just my .02, of course. =’)
April, we had Alan Rinzler–who runs Jossey-Bass and still does acquisitions for them–speak at a meeting recently of Bay Area Independent Publishers Assn.
He was quite candid about self-published books but had two surprising things to say. He estimated about 5% of self-published books (that he knew of) were being acquired by larger houses, and he welcomed anyone who wanted to send their book or mss. directly to him, and promised to respond.
It seemed to me he was talking about the kinds of books that are, in one way, “self-published well” in that they are pretty much indistinguishable from those issued by large publishers.
I don’t find the advice to go ahead and self-publish to be that helpful UNLESS you are also talking about platform in the same breath. So I appreciate that you covered the importance of platform so thoroughly here, Maria.
I see a lot of advice about self-publishing not mattering in the long run. But poets need to be forewarned: no journal or contest is likely to accept your individual poems after you have self-published them as a collection. This is what I have heard from a trusted source.
Therefore, I think before we tell, writers—and poets in particular—to not worry about self-publishing, we should be clear which opportunities will no longer be on the table for exposure, reputation, and potential income. All things that are helpful and important to poets.
I would only add that traditionally published authors are generally expected to work just as hard as self-published authors. And if you feel at all self-conscious about hand-selling, I would go the traditional route because self-publishing = hand-selling. Seems to me, as long as authors like Dan Brown can move vast quantities of books, there will be a little money left over to put behind quality writing and quality writers seeking a traditional book deal.
My nonfiction writing students are still getting book deals. Heck, my fiction writer friend, has her debut novel coming out this week. So perhaps rather than a lack of opportunities right now, what we are really talking about is a call for the same things that have always created results: guts, focus, and determination shaken, not stirred with strong writing, a little bit of sales skills, professionalism, and a deep, wide platform.
These still appeal to agents and editors just as they always have.
Having said all of that. If you don’t want a traditional book deal, self-publish (after you build a platform). There has never been as many options as there are today. And for certain kinds of books and authors, self-publishing makes sense. I’d just consider all the options first.
I find myself in the unusual position of disagreeing (partly) with April and Henry on this.
I think self-published fiction needs to be a different kind of fiction from the mainstream. I think Maria’s absolutely on the nose about niche. For me the only fiction that suits self-publishing is very strongly niche (yuri manga, for example, or [as I'm marketing mine] emo).
I agree 100% about using ebooks as part of the reader-building exercise. Which is why I think any new author who charges for their ebooks is making a huge mistake. I’m not going to pre-empt my blog this weekend on the subject, but for me free ebooks are the number 1 tool an author has for getting a readership. And selling your self-published book is like swine flu – it comes in two waves. A global, widespread summer strain (the free ebook) followeed by a more virulent winter attack (the cash-in in print).
Hey guys, I don’t think self-pub is right for every book or every author, don’t get me wrong. ;’)
However, I think the mainstream path is getting narrower and more difficult to enter every day. Unless you’ve got a book with *very* broad appeal, the majors don’t want it—and their definition of ‘very broad’ is on the order of tens of thousands of copies expected to sell. However, there are lots of mid-sized and smaller presses that already serve niche audiences (e.g. Chelsea Green in the eco-awareness space), and if your book is a fit for such a press then it absolutely makes sense to try and partner with them. It also makes sense to sign with a press that shares your vision and passion for the book and truly *will* act as an equal partner in promotion; this definition generally applies to smaller, indie presses, but it can apply to a larger publisher if you’ve already built ana large audience or have a lot of buzz surrounding yourself or your book.
Really, it all comes down to this: what are your goals, and can working with a mainstream publisher help you to reach those goals and reach them more quickly or easily than you could on your own? This isn’t as straightforward a question as it first seems, given that author advances are down (to nonexistent) and authors are now responsible for the lion’s share of their own promotion regardless of who published them—with the exception of ‘name’ authors and specific books the publisher has decided to give a big push. Distribution to brick-and-mortar stores is getting less and less critical all the time, now that Amazon is the #1 bookseller in the world and mainstream publication is no longer any guarantee of seeing your book on the shelf at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble.
The author goals of old (six-figure advances, glamorous book tours, talk-show circuits, seeing your book on the shelf at your local store) are no longer even possible for the majority of authors who sign with mainstream presses. So aspiring authors need to adjust their expectations, and proceed accordingly.
I think nonfiction is an easier sell, both to publishers and the public, and genre fiction is an easier sell than general or literary fiction. And there’s lots of general and literary fiction that may not have broad enough appeal to look like tens of thousands of copies sold to a publisher, but is still worthy of being read and enjoyed by a more modest readership. Of course, the author of *any* type of book who’s built a big following and can demonstrate it to a publisher is going to have a pretty good shot at getting a deal and that’s why platform is so critical. But for everyone else, going back to the indie analogy, it’s sort of like the difference between U2 and Phish. U2’s appeal is broad, whereas Phish plays to a much smaller, but very dedicated audience. Both bands are successful, just in different ways and to different degrees.
BTW, RE: hand-selling, in my experience and the experiences of most indie authors I know, hand-selling is entirely optional. I’ve never hand-sold any of my books, and I know very few self-published authors who do. We just make the books available through various online and brick-and-mortar outlets and focus our efforts on promotion which points buyers to those outlets. Some authors are very, very good at personal outreach, love to do lots of live readings, and can promote their events well enough to drive high attendance. For them, I’m sure it’s an effective strategy. But self-publishing doesn’t mean the author *must* have a supply of books in his garage or car trunk and he *must* go out there and sell them by hand in face-to-face encounters. (Put up yer dukes, Christina! ;’) )
“Use the free tools that are available to you on the Web first before you shell out money to publish hard copies of your book. Make sense?”
Complete sense. It’s the ‘Wordpress Model’ extended to books. :-)
And I must say, it’s also one of the main attractions to this whole problem/issue. I cannot get over how amazing it is that anyone can put content online and have it available worldwide in minutes. What’s the opportunity cost of that?!
April:
This was a bit reassuring to me –
“BTW, RE: hand-selling, in my experience and the experiences of most indie authors I know, hand-selling is entirely optional.”
I really enjoy writing. I really do not enjoy performance of any kind. I don’t like giving speeches, talking in public, reading my stuff out loud, or really in any way being an in-person manifestation of my writing self.
In fact, I’ve always found it a bit strange that to be a ‘professional writer’ you have to A) be a great salesperson and B) a great public speaker, because none of that flows from the craft of writing — unless you’re a marketing copywriter or speech writer. Sure, Mark Twain could do it all, and other great writers have also been great performers, but that’s not me and it’s never going to be me.
I’m intrigued by the web because it allows me to publish without doing all the things that traditionally-published writers seem to have to do just to get noticed: book tours, on-camera interviews, etc. Since those are all things I really do not like (I am not joking here: they are brutally hard for me and completely unenjoyable), using the web to reach an audience is my only hope.
Of limitations are solutions born. And failures. But I’m trying to stay positive. :-)
Interesting post, and while it neatly encapsulates one person’s view of the self-publishing phenomenon, the post also strikes me as somewhat slanted.
Mostly notably, it does not mention the many independent presses that are still out there that might be more likely to publish a manuscript on its merits, indie publishers who will not place the same unreasonable profit demands on a new author that the corporate monsters will.
There is a large middle ground between self-publishing and Random House.
I self-pubbed my first novel, and though my print-run of 100 copies was considerably more expensive than even POD printing would have been, I don’t regret it. As Ms Schneider mentions in her post, the platform is important, and one of the things I did with the print copies was to send them out all over the world, to various acquaintances, who then photographed the book in outdoor settings: a beach in Australia, the Arc de Triomphe, etc. Those pictures are now posted online.
But before I went online and began to establish myself as a writer – someone deserving of any platform at all – I first had to generate a book to prove I was a writer. Not just the e-book (which is also out there in multiple formats) and the version of it on Authonomy (now taken down) and the samples on Scribd, BookBuzzr, and so forth.
Why? Because until you have your book in book form, you don’t have a book. You have a file, or a manuscript. An e-book is not the same as a book, and it will never be.
My book, the thing itself, is my calling card. Not my smiling face and market-speak on Twitter. My book is my advertisement for myself as a writer. It MUST exist in physical form. My book is still real when the electricity goes out, or when the cable modem is down.
When you have written and produced a book that you can hold up and say, “I wrote this,” then you have taken a very important step, whether or not someone is taking your picture. Self-publishing is not the end in itself unless you are a businessperson and can then sell your books. It is the first destination in a journey.
@George, Why do you have to publish a book to prove you’re a writer? I’ve never published a book but I consider myself a writer.
Ooooh, this is getting even *more* interesting. [pops corn, pulls up a comfy chair] I love a good philosophical debate. =’)
George, I have to agree with Maria. A manuscript still makes you a writer. Other people can still read it – it exists on printed matter. If you publish a book on Lulu that’s read by one person, this makes you more of a writer than a person with a manuscript that’s read by >1? I don’t see it. And ebooks or web-only texts are entirely legit too as a mechanism for getting read and determining yourself a writer.
This is another discussion though. To tie this back to the post – this is old-fashioned: “Writers who just want books to give their family and friends.” Self-publishing has evolved well beyond that old trope. You never know who you’re going to reach by printing a book, so if you’ve exhausted other options, go for it.
@Maria
Allow me to speak more plainly. I don’t think a writer has to self-publish a book to prove that s/he is a writer. In fact, I believe most people who self-publish would be better served by abandoning writing altogether, if they’re in it for fame and fortune.
But I had to self-publish my book because the approach I took required that, as I built my platform through such self-publicity as Jimmy the Traveling Novel (previously mentioned), I have actual physical copies to send out for reviews (for example, to @Henry Baum and his SelfPublishingReview.com, where it was very generously reviewed by another reviewer) … to send to various people overseas to read and then to blog about, or otherwise spread my name and book title by word of mouth, because at this writing my novel is only available in the USA … as a goodwill gesture, to give away signed copies to friends and also total strangers … to send to book contests … and for leaving the books in random locations with a note to pass it along and send feedback to my website.
And for several other tactical reasons I can’t list here, because to do so would be to hog your blog.
In short: I chose to self-publish NOT to prove I am a writer, but to demonstrate that I HAD WRITTEN a novel, and further, to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is WORTH READING, and WORTH PUBLISHING.
Would you like a free signed copy?
@George, if you’re happy with your decision to self-publish your book and the outcome is what you wanted then I think that’s wonderful. All I’m trying to do is get writers to expand their thinking about what it means to be a writer–that a physical printed book is just one of the many tools available to us now, and maybe it’s not necessarily the right first step to take. There are other means–ebooks, podcasts, blogs–that are far cheaper and also open up the possibility for a much wider readership.
Also: the covers of my initial short-run copies are printed on a special matte-finish paper. It photographs very well, to the highest resolutions, whereas the glossy POD copies from Amazon, Lulu etc do not – they show glare, blurriness, and generally photograph poorly in comparison.
There are still analog concerns in this digital world, and in fact the indie/DIY revolution includes hand-made books and samizdat. Writers will not be excluded and silenced. Better to hand out free copies of your book on the street than to allow the corporate world to decide whether or not your voice is irrelevant. Sales + platform does not equal literature.
Thanks, Maria, for a great post!
Best,
George
Thanks for the great post! I’ve been around two other professionals in my geographic area who have self-published their own books and while their book is actually fantastic… they had never built a distribution channel or really even a promotional channel. What they were missing was the platform! I’ll be sure to remember this when I’m talking to other individuals who are thinking of self-publishing with out a platform!
Thanks!
Maria, you say: “Why not try epublishing out before investing in hard copies of your book?”
With POD technology, there is no investment to speak of in producing hard copies and they’re made available just as easily as ebooks. The more media available to readers, the more chances to sell.
@Alan What is the lowest # of books you can order via POD? And what’s the cost of distribution?
Maria -
I self-pubbed thru Createspace. No set up costs, and all I had to buy was a single author proof copy. It was about $9, incl. shipping.
Maria – You can order a single book, that’s the beauty of it. Blade Red books are produced POD directly with Lightning Source – I can order and ship a single books to a hundred different addresses or 100 books to one address, etc. The cost of distribution varies based purely on the shipping costs.
@April, wow, that’s great to hear Createspace isn’t forcing authors to buy lots of copies. Forgive me but I’ve heard so many horror stories of writers being stuck with cartons of books they couldn’t sell from their self-pub experiences. I do feel better about recommending Createspace as an alternative now so thanks for sharing.
And I don’t have to ship any books at all, people just buy my hard copies from Amazon and Createspace ships them out. About a month later, my royalties are direct deposited to my bank account for the previous month’s sales.
@Alan, what about Amazon? Are you able to distribute Lightning Source POD books on Amazon? That question came up a few posts ago and I haven’t found a definitive answer.
Same with LSI – people buy from Amazon (or wherever), the book gets produced and sent out directly. After I’ve approved proofs, I never have to see a hard copy of the book again if I don’t want to.
Sorry, cross-posting!
Yes, once a book is approved through LSI they automatically list with Amazon, B&N, etc.
OK, Alan & April you’ve definitely enlightened me on the current state of the POD world so thank you. Sounds like its definitely changed for the better and I’m very glad to hear that.
It’s the single best thing that’s ever happened to self-publishing. (And, sadly, the worst.) :)
You CAN self publish what you write. I do. I have written about 4 books and two more on the way. I self publish under my business name, Technical Author Services Pty Ltd and have a website set up to publis my work.
Hey it’s not Random House but it works! try it!
Hi Maria – I’ve thought a lot about self publishing a book in the hope of attracting publishers. Thirty thousand copies is a lot to sell yourself but you’d need to sell an astronomical number to make the same kind of money, through a traditional publisher.
Hi Cath, For the record, you don’t have to sell 30,000 copies to interest a mainstream publisher. That is a lot. 5,000 + copies sold would likely get their attention.
I think this is a good post to get people talking. having thought of going the self-pub way, there is the added costs for an editor, illustrator for the cover, literary agent, marketing, not to mention trying to get chain stores to accept your book, as well as the small independent bookstores. as well as the printing costs, cost of gas, phone calls, etc.
Since I am one of the ‘poverty’ stricken that has about 8 manuscripts, besides entering free writing contests, my only hope are those publishers willing to accept from unpublished authors with the hope that one of the big houses will later want to sign me up.
Hence, i’ve posted several of my stories in the Dorchester-Textnovel.com writing contest, under the pen name of Daeanarah.