On Self-Publishing

I am not just an author. I am a publisher. I also hold every job within that little publishing house from copy editor, to proofreader, to interior layout designer. I am also the cover copy text writer and the cover art designer and layout artist.

I don't farm out the work to a subsidy of a major publisher that "helps" self-published authors. I prefer to do all the work myself so I have control of my entire book.

Maybe I'm a little OCD, but when I publish a work I've spent a lot of time writing and polishing to make it the best it can be, I don't want a shoddy job done making it into a book. I want my readers to have a wholly satisfying experience.

It annoys me no end when I pick up a novel by one of my favorite authors, published by a big name publisher, crack the cover ready to dive into a good story and find myself constantly perturbed by errors in spelling, word usage, grammar, punctuation, completely wrong words, wrong verb tenses, etc. littering the pages. These are stumbling blocks to my enjoying the work of the author. It may just be me, but when I pick up a book, I want to get lost in it. I don't want to be constantly tripping over clunky stuff that the big name publisher should have paid a professional proofreader and editor to fix prior to publishing the author's work. It's often like trying to read someone's horrible text messaging made into a book.

I do not want to cheat my readers out of a total experience. I want my story to flow without these annoying interruptions. Maybe the average reader won't even notice or care, but I notice and I care when something isn't the quality that I expect it to be when I pay out a chunk of change for a good read. I want my money's worth from the entire book. I want something I can lovingly place on my permanent library shelf, not chuck in a cardboard box for the next local library book sale.

A self published author has an obligation to produce a quality book for the reader who is paying for it. I always order two print proof copies of any book I self publish- one for me to tear into and edit the crap out of, and one for my daughter to do likewise with. And this is after I've read through the book two or three times making corrections, changes, additions, deletions, etc. And here is the honest truth- every proof copy kicking around my house is chockfull of corrections to punctuation, spelling, verb tense usage, divisions of run-on sentences, continuity corrections...the list goes on and on. It is astounding how much you can miss! I then take my proof copy and make all the corrections I've found. Then I take Kelly's copy and go through it again-and am floored to find things I still missed that she's caught!

Each book I self publish is a long labor of love. And even after it's published I will go back and read the book-and if I find stuff that needs to be fixed, I am not shy about yanking the book and fixing my mistakes. I'm not perfect by any means, but I do have a passion for writing. When I share that passion, in the form of a novel or a story collection, I am sharing a piece of my heart and soul.

I am also giving the reader the very best reading experience I can offer because when you read a book it should be about getting lost in the story, not about stumbling over all kinds of mistakes to the point of disgust and throwing the book aside.

I put a lot of work into each book I craft- and that is exactly what it is- a craft. The craft of writing, the craft of self publishing. I ask a reasonable price for my work. In exchange for that price, the reader gets an experience in print form that is the best that I can offer.

Because I do all the work myself, I have an obligation to produce the best book possible. I know how fickle readers can be. I am a fickle reader myself. (I have bought books that looked promising and then tossed them aside in disgust after only a few pages because they have been poorly written and even more poorly edited.) I am as critical of my own work as I am of the work of other authors.

I am not perfect...but I am learning and growing in my craft every day. Writing isn't just a hobby, or a job, to me- it is a labor of love.