Is Self-Publishing the New Slushpile?
Happy weekend, everyone! Okay, almost weekend. I know I could do with one right about now.
Today, I'm pleased to welcome superwoman Kate Allan to my blog (and if you knew everything she does, you'd think she's superwoman, too!). She's got a very important question on which she'd like your feedback, and I'm curious about your take on it.
But before I turn it over to her. . . today and tomorrow, my novel (self-published! not slushy! I hope!) Build A Man is free on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. And even more exciting, I'm over at Piedmont Writer's blog, talking about self-publishing and what I've learned! Drop by to say hi if you get the chance.
Take it away, Kate!
From Snow to Slush...
Actually the weather here in the South Eastof England has been mightily strange over the last few weeks. Two weeks ago wehad minus temperatures and snow, and yesterday we were basking in 18C sunshine.I launched my enovella, just before thesnow hit secretly hoping to be on topic with the weather. This was my firstventure into self-publishing, a short romantic story called Snowbound on theIsland, and the gamble worked when the snow came 48 hours later.
But I've actually not come here to talkabout snow, but rather slush; that thing called the slushpile, which is whatpeople in the book trade call the mountains of unpublished material thatwriters submit to be considered for publication. I've a commission to blogabout it for a publishing trade magazine and part of the brief is to tackle thequestion, "is self-publishing the new slushpile?"
So I thought I should do a little research,and what better place than Talli Roland's wonderful blog. I'll tell you what Ithink and then I'd love to know what you think.
My initial reaction is no, but then onfurther reflection I found myself thinking, "what does that question actuallymean?" Does it means that ordinary readers will now be the judges of theslushpile? Thus readers, and therefore sales figures will elevate those worthystories to publishers' notice? Will publishers only publish stories that have aproven market?
I don't think any publisher is wishing for afuture when self-publishing decides the slushpile. And the reason for this isthat editors want to be the ones to discover, and bring to market – for thefirst time – super writers and great stories. When a publisher "discovers" aself-published author I think it's the author they are discovering first,rather than the book. They will want new books from that author. Yes,self-publishing will continue to grow. It provides a useful niche for sometypes of material where authors are ahead of publishers on knowing what readersactually want to read. And it also provides a useful way to keep backlist(authors older works) available at little cost. Professional authors willcorrectly treat self-publishing as a business and make sure their material isedited and correctly marketed. At the other end of the scale, there will bewriters who will – just because it's so easy – throw up unfinished and substandard work on Amazon Kindle. Willreaders ignore good stories that are marketed poorly and conversely, befrustrated with poor stories, marketed well?
So what do you think? Is self-publishing thenew slushpile? Have you read many self-published books, and how do they compareto books from publishers? What is the future for self-publishing?
Kate Allan's new novella Snowbound on theIsland is available from Amazon Kindle for 84p.
What a great question; I can't wait to read the answers. Have at it, and have a great weekend, everyone!
Today, I'm pleased to welcome superwoman Kate Allan to my blog (and if you knew everything she does, you'd think she's superwoman, too!). She's got a very important question on which she'd like your feedback, and I'm curious about your take on it.
But before I turn it over to her. . . today and tomorrow, my novel (self-published! not slushy! I hope!) Build A Man is free on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. And even more exciting, I'm over at Piedmont Writer's blog, talking about self-publishing and what I've learned! Drop by to say hi if you get the chance.
Take it away, Kate!
From Snow to Slush...
Actually the weather here in the South Eastof England has been mightily strange over the last few weeks. Two weeks ago wehad minus temperatures and snow, and yesterday we were basking in 18C sunshine.I launched my enovella, just before thesnow hit secretly hoping to be on topic with the weather. This was my firstventure into self-publishing, a short romantic story called Snowbound on theIsland, and the gamble worked when the snow came 48 hours later.
But I've actually not come here to talkabout snow, but rather slush; that thing called the slushpile, which is whatpeople in the book trade call the mountains of unpublished material thatwriters submit to be considered for publication. I've a commission to blogabout it for a publishing trade magazine and part of the brief is to tackle thequestion, "is self-publishing the new slushpile?"
So I thought I should do a little research,and what better place than Talli Roland's wonderful blog. I'll tell you what Ithink and then I'd love to know what you think.
My initial reaction is no, but then onfurther reflection I found myself thinking, "what does that question actuallymean?" Does it means that ordinary readers will now be the judges of theslushpile? Thus readers, and therefore sales figures will elevate those worthystories to publishers' notice? Will publishers only publish stories that have aproven market?
I don't think any publisher is wishing for afuture when self-publishing decides the slushpile. And the reason for this isthat editors want to be the ones to discover, and bring to market – for thefirst time – super writers and great stories. When a publisher "discovers" aself-published author I think it's the author they are discovering first,rather than the book. They will want new books from that author. Yes,self-publishing will continue to grow. It provides a useful niche for sometypes of material where authors are ahead of publishers on knowing what readersactually want to read. And it also provides a useful way to keep backlist(authors older works) available at little cost. Professional authors willcorrectly treat self-publishing as a business and make sure their material isedited and correctly marketed. At the other end of the scale, there will bewriters who will – just because it's so easy – throw up unfinished and substandard work on Amazon Kindle. Willreaders ignore good stories that are marketed poorly and conversely, befrustrated with poor stories, marketed well?
So what do you think? Is self-publishing thenew slushpile? Have you read many self-published books, and how do they compareto books from publishers? What is the future for self-publishing?
Kate Allan's new novella Snowbound on theIsland is available from Amazon Kindle for 84p.
What a great question; I can't wait to read the answers. Have at it, and have a great weekend, everyone!
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