Self-Publishing
Being a self-published author has its advantages.
You have full control over what you do, and you get significantly more of the royalties. For example, a book priced between 2.99 and 9.99 on Amazon will garner you 70% of the royalties. The biggest pro is you do not need to pass a gate to have your book on the market. Simply upload the appropriate file and it will be available to buyers.
That’s where the advantages end.
The disadvantages can be simply defined by your primary competition: Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Publishing, etc.
These are traditional publishers. They have the resources to finance a marketing campaign well beyond the typical self-published author, and they have the connections to accumulate reviews from the most prestigious outlets such as the Washington Post.
The reality is, unless you are the 0.01%, your sale threshold has a ceiling significantly smaller than a traditionally publishing novel. This is the reality.
I’ve queried hundreds of agents for my debut novel Motive Black, and have received hundreds of no-responses and a few rejections. The industry incentivizes what is profitable, and also what is palatable. Motive Black is, among many things, a satire on the LGBT—a group that is universally celebrated among the literary world. And so agents seek novels in the LGBT genre, certainly not novels pointing fun at it.
My point here is agents, who are the first gate to a traditional publishing deal, filter what may be escorted to Random House. Because any serious author wants to make a career out of their craft, we’re incentivized not to express ourselves honestly, or innovate, but to follow trends. If I wanted Motive Black to have a better chance in the ring, it would be about a homosexual attempting to thrive in a hostile world. Or a straight man in the opposite circumstances. Instead, Motive Black is nuanced and explores it all in a way that is simply not ‘palatable’ or ‘profitable.’ It’s too niche. Too controversial.
This is why I’m a self-published author and will likely continue to be. But with all of that said I believe self-published authors are the future of literature. We’re not gated, and we’re not confined to shareholder constraints.
Don’t give up. I won’t.
You have full control over what you do, and you get significantly more of the royalties. For example, a book priced between 2.99 and 9.99 on Amazon will garner you 70% of the royalties. The biggest pro is you do not need to pass a gate to have your book on the market. Simply upload the appropriate file and it will be available to buyers.
That’s where the advantages end.
The disadvantages can be simply defined by your primary competition: Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Publishing, etc.
These are traditional publishers. They have the resources to finance a marketing campaign well beyond the typical self-published author, and they have the connections to accumulate reviews from the most prestigious outlets such as the Washington Post.
The reality is, unless you are the 0.01%, your sale threshold has a ceiling significantly smaller than a traditionally publishing novel. This is the reality.
I’ve queried hundreds of agents for my debut novel Motive Black, and have received hundreds of no-responses and a few rejections. The industry incentivizes what is profitable, and also what is palatable. Motive Black is, among many things, a satire on the LGBT—a group that is universally celebrated among the literary world. And so agents seek novels in the LGBT genre, certainly not novels pointing fun at it.
My point here is agents, who are the first gate to a traditional publishing deal, filter what may be escorted to Random House. Because any serious author wants to make a career out of their craft, we’re incentivized not to express ourselves honestly, or innovate, but to follow trends. If I wanted Motive Black to have a better chance in the ring, it would be about a homosexual attempting to thrive in a hostile world. Or a straight man in the opposite circumstances. Instead, Motive Black is nuanced and explores it all in a way that is simply not ‘palatable’ or ‘profitable.’ It’s too niche. Too controversial.
This is why I’m a self-published author and will likely continue to be. But with all of that said I believe self-published authors are the future of literature. We’re not gated, and we’re not confined to shareholder constraints.
Don’t give up. I won’t.
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