Don’t Publish That Book!
In a recent article posted at Forbes.com, Suw Charman-Anderson says:
If there’s a common flaw in self-publishing, it’s that too many books are published too soon. Experienced voices across the publishing world continually advise self-publishers to get help with editing, and not just copyediting but story editing too. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to properly edit your own work. But the siren call of the Kindle store is often too seductive. The urge to finish your first draft, chuck it through a spellchecker and release it in to the wild is often far too strong for eager writers to resist.
She goes on to say that to self-publish a substandard work is to be married to it for all time. “Do you really want, in five or ten years time, to look back on your early work and cringe?”
Not long ago, I was at a speaking event with Literary Agent Diane Dumars. While she had a lot to say, some of it negative, about the publishing industry today, one of her major points was that if you have a manuscript that you really believe in, that you think could be a real success, don’t self-publish until you have exhausted every possible avenue for being picked up by a publisher. Having your manuscript published “traditionally” is much better than self-publishing, because if a publisher feels that your story is worth investing the time and energy (and money) in to make it a publishable book, it probably deserves it. By the same token, if a publisher says no (and as I’ve told everyone that will stop long enough to listen, a publisher’s job is to say no), then the probability is that the manuscript wasn’t ready for publication in the first place.
Self-publishing too early also has other consequences. I recently had a short story accepted to a well-respected anthology. Like any other author, having my work vetted by a publisher and editor meant a lot to me. Additionally, my story was the first story in the anthology to be accepted. I was very proud. And then, just as they were about to start the editing process, they did a little Google search and discovered that I had self-pubbed the story about two and a half years before. The version I had self-published was horrible, amateurish, and just plain bad writing. The version that I had submitted to the anthology was a rewrite of the same story which was greatly improved from that earlier attempt. Even though the story I submitted to them was very publishable, they did not accept reprints, and they rejected my story. I blew my opportunity to have a story I was very proud of be published in a wonderful anthology, just because several years before I couldn’t wait for a publisher to pick up my (then mediocre) manuscript.
Now, this article may sound strange coming from someone who pays his bills helping authors self-publish, but I stand by my position that many books that are self-published just aren’t ready, and often neither are their authors. Any publisher, whether self or traditional, is a business owner, and must treat their endeavors as a business. But many writers simply want to throw their books out there and make money, without any of the intervening steps. If you are determined to go the self-publishing route, I strongly suggest that you pick up a copy of Self-Publishing Attack by James Scott Bell. It is an in-depth discussion of the business of being a self-publishing author, and I highly recommend it.
Publishing, whether self-publishing or publishing other people’s works, is a tough business and should be taken seriously. It takes dedication, experience, and above all, money. When I put up that short story, I had none of those things, and you can see the results of starting off too early. If you’re a professional writer, then it makes sense to go to someone who is a professional publisher to get the job done right. And if you get told no, take that answer as a reprieve from a sentence of having substandard work forever associated with your name. The publisher just did you a favor. Take the opportunity to improve your work. You’ll be glad you did.
