Self-Publishing, and Me
For much of the life I can recall I’ve wanted to write a book. In addition to writing one, I dreamt of seeing my words encased in pretty card and set upon a shelf somewhere – even if that shelf would only ever be mine.
For most of my afore-mentioned life the latter part of my wishful thinking could only ever be just that. The idea of a publishing house taking on a manuscript of mine was beyond crazy and thus, best left without contemplation.
Then, back in 2011/2012 I heard about self-publishing. Suddenly the prospect of actually holding my own book in my hands was not beyond my reach. However, at that point I was under the impression one required copious amounts of money to hand over to a self-publishing company, something that at one time would have been akin to vanity publishing.
But, never one to be dissuaded from doing something once I’d set my heart on it, I aimed to collect the £750 required by Grosvenor House Publishing and set about writing the novel that had coincidentally come to me around the same time.
It was in doing this that I began to meet some lovely, and knowledgeable people among the author community on Facebook. They introduced me to Amazon’s CreateSpace and KDP for eBooks and, after I’d written a fair amount of my book, I finally came to the conclusion I could do the whole thing completely free. It took some persuading as, at that time, I was so convinced it wouldn’t be done properly unless I paid for it. However, eventually I saw sense.
Fortunately I had the necessary skills to create my own covers, and my eldest daughter was proficient at editing, so the whole process really was free.
Why I’m still doing it.
In essence, there is one single reason I’m unlikely to even consider courting traditional publishing. I’m not writing for fame, fortune, or critical acclaim.
If you’ll refer back to the last section, you’ll remember that my primary goal has always been to share a story in my head with anyone I can. That may be anything from one to one million – though I acknowledge without any sadness the higher end of that scale is practically unachievable.
I see many self-publishing authors with high in the sky hopes of being the next J.K, the next G.R.R, the next E.L, heaven forbid. And it saddens me they appear to write for this purpose. For me writing has never been about money or accolade. It’s always been an intense desire to bring to life the jumble of thoughts in my head that I think, just maybe, someone else might find as interesting to read as I do to visualise.
Why self-publishing is good for the non-fame and fortune-seeking writer.
Self-publishing is freedom. It’s creative freedom, marketing freedom, total freedom from control of any kind. You succeed or fail by your own hand – and there is something very liberating in that.
Less time is wasted bringing your tale to your readers. Who needs to spend possibly years facing rejection after rejection simply to fulfill a dream?
Who needs rejection? Let’s face it, do any of us, especially us creative types, enjoy rejection? To aim to be traditional published is a sure-fire way to batter your ego. Yes, some writers may do well from a good dose of ego battering, but again, if you’re writing for the sheer joy of it and the wish to see your work in print, why put yourself through that if you don’t have to?
Finally, it’s fun – if you let it be. Don’t get hung up on it. Don’t make it hard work. Just write your manuscript and enjoy the process. Nothing is easy, well, nothing worth doing ever is, but self-publishing doesn’t have to be stressful. Approach it like any other endeavour – put in what you want to get out and try to enjoy the ride while you’re at it. Even if you’re not as fortunate as I’ve been, choosing covers can be fun. Finding the right editor can be fun. Marketing can, actually, be fun. That’s the way I handle life – why should self-publishing be any different if all you want is that book in print.
And Finally.
Now, please don’t get the impression I’m declaring SP to be the best way for every aspiring book-writer – it most certainly won’t be. If what you seek is that pinnacle of authorlyness, your name in lights, money carving a new future for you and your loved ones, SP is probably the last place you should begin. It’s highly unlikely to bring you that which you crave and in trying to make it do so will probably bring about only despondency and an anticlimactic sense of ‘why did I bother?’
Okay, so there are some SP success stories out there. Quite a few if you google the subject. But they are usually a story of ‘right place, right time’, good fortune, cosmic aligning – and in many cases, ‘not what you know, but who’.
Traditional publishing, courting those publishing houses of repute, is, though a road paved with rejection, still the best way to creating a new Harry Potter. If you can stomach the letters that say no – or even no letters at all – if you can find an agent, if you don’t mind waiting years to see the fruits of your endeavours, it has the much better chance of revealing your inner Stephen King or Terry Pratchett to the world.
However, if, like me, that’s not what it’s all about for you, then why go there? Thanks to the likes of Amazon and Lulu, the curtains to print have been torn aside. Self-publishing has been around a lot longer than many people know – Charles Dickens was self-published – but one had to have money to get their work seen, one way or another. These days, it can even be done on a limited budget and with little interference from anyone else. Basically, if you write for the same reason I do, what have you got to lose?
