Self-Publishing: Love and Logic

Soon after I made the decision to self-publish my Wardham series, I read a blog post by Elisabeth Naughton, a long-published author of paranormal romances. She turned to self-publishing when a contract renewal failed to impress. She took a hard look at her finances and decided she didn’t have anything to lose. In that process, she decided to publish a little standalone contemporary romance with a suspense twist, Wait For Me. A book she’d long tried to sell to publishers, with no success. She wrote the whole journey in a post on her blog, and I’ll let her explain what happened next. “The book of my heart, the book no one wanted, catapulted me into a new publishing category.” As in, NYT bestseller. USA Today bestseller. Top of the Amazon charts. On a book she was told to put in a drawer. And, it’s worth pointing out, a book that didn’t take off right away – a book that needed a push to get in front of the right group of readers. I will never forget her story, and I’d thought about sharing it many times over.

Last week, I read another blog post, this time by debut author Leah Raeder. She played the game, and got further than many writers do, but after three years, she still didn’t have a publishing contract. And she’d had enough. “I’m tired of trying to break into an industry that’s so hostile to unproven authors.” So she self-published her third book instead of shopping it around, and now Unteachable has rocketed up the charts. At the end of the day, Leah’s happy, and her readers are happy. It’s hard to let go of the bookstore dream, but that wasn’t happening the other way, either. “All I really wanted was to write and be read. Mission fucking accomplished. Everything else is gravy.”

So after I read Leah’s post, I started this blog entry, with links to both posts. And it sat in my drafts for a week. Because really, what was I hoping to gain by sharing?

Anecdotal evidence.

They’re the exceptions that prove the rule.

And then yesterday, Hugh Howey posted a link in The Writer’s Cafe on kboards.com to this interview that Patrice Fitzgerald did with him on Joe Konrath’s blog. Right there, in that sentence, are 3 more examples of self-publishing success. But while examples are fascinating, and their stories are just as compelling as Elisabeth’s or Leah’s, Hugh argues that it’s an underlying logic that trumps everything else. His career management reflects that same philosophy, and it’s interesting to read how he’s negotiated a new type of relationship with the publishing industry, one that works for him and his readers.

There are a ton of other examples I could add to this post, except the total number of self-publishing stars I want to list would be too long. I’ll feature them over time instead. I’m not trying to convince anyone to self-publish, but if you want to and something is holding you back…join kboards. Email me. Don’t leave the book you love in a drawer, or let anyone else be a gatekeeper who keeps you from your readers. Because if you write a good story, you WILL have readers. But only if they have a chance to read your work.

I have a collection of emails that I’ve saved in a special folder, new fans telling me how much they love Kyle Nixon from What Once Was Perfect. I’ve made people cry with my upcoming novella, Between Then and Now. And not just my sister, but people who don’t know me as anything other than Zoe York, romance writer. That’s awesome-sauce.

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