Self publishing has a bad rap. Companies that cater to self publishers are called “vanity presses.” People assume writers choose self publishing because their books were too awful to be picked up by a “real” publisher.
I’ll be honest, sometimes that’s true.
But people self publish for a lot of very good reasons. I have found that the more I talk about self publishing, the more passionate about it I become.
Maybe the best way to explain my passion is to start with Once Upon a Time.
Once upon a time, Art belonged to the Artists and the people they shared their Art with. Musicians played for audiences. So did Actors. They knew their audience. When people liked a song, they cheered. When they hated a play, they threw fruit. Writers put their best thoughts and words on paper and published book chapters in the newspaper or walked down to the neighborhood printing press and made chapbooks which they then sold on the corner or in the pub. If it was good, people clamored for more. If it was bad, the Writer heard about it the next time it he ordered a pint. It was the Golden Age.
Then Big Business rode into town and whispered into the ears of the Artists, creating dreams of block busters and platinum albums and best sellers. And Art became a Business, and the Artist was just another employee. Art was not judged on its content, or the passion of the Artist. It was judged on how it would sell to the masses, or which critics it would impress. Artistic decisions were made, not by the artists, but by Executives, Editors and, worst of all, the Marketing Team.
Then the Internet rode into town. It was soon followed by new Printing Technologies. And artists could bypass all the committees and bureaucracies and take their Art right to the People again.
Okay, so maybe that’s not really how it happened. Who’s to say?
The point is, I disagree with the common assumption that a deal with a big publishing house is (and should be) every writer’s goal, and that self publishing is a sort of consolation prize for those with no other options. There are a lot of publishing options available these days and each has its advantages and disadvantages. The first thing a writer has to do is figure out which method is best for her manuscript.
Some of the advantages of self-publishing:
- Maintaining creative control. Some of my favorite authors have actually gotten less interesting (less edgy, more homogeneous) as they have become more popular and have gotten bigger publishing deals with bigger publishing houses.
- Establishing business control. The process of sending out query letters and passively waiting for a response can feel deadening. When you self publish you call the shots, you take action, when and how it suits you. Sure, it’s still an economic decision, but it’s your decision, based on your situation, not someone else’s.
- Marketing flexibility. If you are writing for a specialized audience, chances are pretty good that you, the author, know your audience better than a marketing executive sitting in an office. You know what they want, where they are and how to reach them. And that might not be a bestseller, in a big box store, and with a fancy display at the end of the aisle.
- Cutting out the middle man. A publisher is the person or entity who dishes out the cash and who takes the financial risk, for a book. They are also the person or entity that reaps the reward. For some people, knowing they are getting all the reward for their hard work is worth taking all the risk.
Bottom line, self publishing allows an author to create a book that meets their needs, not the needs of a corporation. Not every book CAN be a bestseller. That’s great because not every book SHOULD be a best seller. Books are written for niche audiences, to support speaking tours, to be given as gifts or sold as fundraisers. Just because they are not giving Stephen King’s latest blockbuster a run for its money doesn’t mean they are not a legitimate book and it doesn’t mean their authors are not legitimate writers.
As a fiction writer, sure, I’d love a big publishing deal. I dream of talking with Oprah about my themes and images. Who wouldn’t?
But as an editor, I would rather work side by side with an author to help them bring their dream to life than labor as a gate keeper, deciding who gets published and who does not. I love the populist aspect of self-publishing. New printing and binding technologies, along with electronic publishing, have taken book creation out of the hands of a few executives and put it back in the hands of the people.
