My Path to Indie Publishing
It seemed miraculous when Shelbi Wescott�s
Virulent: The Release
appeared on my Kindle unbidden. As it turned out, my then 15-year-old son had bought it, and since we share the same Amazon account, it wasn�t so miraculous after all. Still, I took it as a sign that �indie� publishing had gone mainstream. After all, it meant that my son, who represented a new generation of readers, had no hang-ups (as I still did at that point) about reading a self-published book.
That started me down the path to publish my own books independently. Slowly my prejudice against self-publishing vanished, helped by the inspiring examples of folks like Ms. Wescott
and Hugh Howey and many others. Members of my writing workshop also encouraged me. They included our workshop leader, Jennifer Belle, who has experienced bestseller-dom as a conventionally published author, and Donna Brodie, executive director of The Writers Room in New York City, who has witnessed first-hand the often tumultuous and frequently disappointing experiences hundreds of writers have had during conventional agent-to-publisher-to-remainder-pile careers.
I thought because I already had an agent at a respected agency, I was crazy to publish my books myself. But now I realize I was insane to wait so long (six years in total) for my agent to peddle my manuscripts (my first book was a memoir about my husband and I adopting our son, my second a series of two sci-fi novels) with progressively decreasing enthusiasm. I was momentarily blinded by the fact that some editors seemed to like my books; in fact, one at a major house wanted to buy my memoir, but the �team� that makes the final decisions said no.
I thought if we just kept plugging away, and I kept revising in response to my agent�s and assorted editors� feedback, I�d eventually see my book(s) embraced by a mainstream house. But the pace was mind numbing. It inevitably took my agent a minimum of three months�and sometimes more�to read anything I sent him, and then often months for editors to respond to my manuscript, if they bothered to respond at all. The process was opaque, frustrating and deeply unsatisfying.
And what was I doing it for? Of course, there are authors who go from 0 to 60 with Porsche-like speed, advancing from obscurity to literary stardom at a tender age. But the vast majority of writers I know never make it to stardom. If they�re lucky enough to get published (and I�m convinced that luck has as much to do with getting published as the quality of the writing), most of them still need day jobs if they aren�t supported by a partner/spouse or an inheritance or don�t want to live with their parents or in abject poverty.
After fruitlessly pursuing conventional publishing for year after year�while writing every day, holding down a demanding job, and raising a family�self-publishing my sci-fi series seemed like a no brainer.
It seems as if many who eventually go the indie route have experienced something similar. Shelbi Wescott is a good example. As she explains in my interview with her on New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy, she spent 10 years writing (and re-writing) a novel but couldn�t get an agent. After that, she wrote a short story that she was proud of �and spent a really long time trying to get that published� to no avail. So when she finally wrote her three-part Virulent series, she had no desire to submit her work to that fruitless process again. Self-publishing had emerged as the obvious, best choice.
A book needs to be thoroughly vetted by wise readers, polished to a perfect pitch, copyedited within a pica of its life, and beautifully packaged. But there�s no reason an author can�t assemble his or her own team of professionals to carry out these tasks. And there�s no magic formula that says those things need to take a year or more, as they so often do after a conventional publisher acquires a new manuscript.
Once I�d decided to self-publish my series, it took me six months to make the two books ready for sale. I hired a graphic designer (Roy Migabon, the same talented cover artist that Ms. Wescott used for Virulent). I won the bidding for the services of a copyeditor at a fundraising auction for the New York Writers Coalition. I solicited blurbs from writers I respected. And I laid out the books myself. (I would have hired a graphic designer to design the interior as well, but I�ve had lots of experience laying out books and publications as part of my day job).
The challenge these days is marketing the book while continuing to write and to work on my newest project, hosting New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy. But I�m reassured by the fact that there are plenty of fellow writers sharing my path, and, as Ms. Wescott notes, indie authors are an exceptionally supportive group, willing to share their experience and wisdom. I�m glad to be among their number.
Stay tuned in two weeks for my podcast with James L. Cambias, author of A Darkling Sea
. I�m reading it now, and it�s quite a page-turner.
appeared on my Kindle unbidden. As it turned out, my then 15-year-old son had bought it, and since we share the same Amazon account, it wasn�t so miraculous after all. Still, I took it as a sign that �indie� publishing had gone mainstream. After all, it meant that my son, who represented a new generation of readers, had no hang-ups (as I still did at that point) about reading a self-published book. That started me down the path to publish my own books independently. Slowly my prejudice against self-publishing vanished, helped by the inspiring examples of folks like Ms. Wescott
and Hugh Howey and many others. Members of my writing workshop also encouraged me. They included our workshop leader, Jennifer Belle, who has experienced bestseller-dom as a conventionally published author, and Donna Brodie, executive director of The Writers Room in New York City, who has witnessed first-hand the often tumultuous and frequently disappointing experiences hundreds of writers have had during conventional agent-to-publisher-to-remainder-pile careers. I thought because I already had an agent at a respected agency, I was crazy to publish my books myself. But now I realize I was insane to wait so long (six years in total) for my agent to peddle my manuscripts (my first book was a memoir about my husband and I adopting our son, my second a series of two sci-fi novels) with progressively decreasing enthusiasm. I was momentarily blinded by the fact that some editors seemed to like my books; in fact, one at a major house wanted to buy my memoir, but the �team� that makes the final decisions said no.
I thought if we just kept plugging away, and I kept revising in response to my agent�s and assorted editors� feedback, I�d eventually see my book(s) embraced by a mainstream house. But the pace was mind numbing. It inevitably took my agent a minimum of three months�and sometimes more�to read anything I sent him, and then often months for editors to respond to my manuscript, if they bothered to respond at all. The process was opaque, frustrating and deeply unsatisfying.
And what was I doing it for? Of course, there are authors who go from 0 to 60 with Porsche-like speed, advancing from obscurity to literary stardom at a tender age. But the vast majority of writers I know never make it to stardom. If they�re lucky enough to get published (and I�m convinced that luck has as much to do with getting published as the quality of the writing), most of them still need day jobs if they aren�t supported by a partner/spouse or an inheritance or don�t want to live with their parents or in abject poverty.
After fruitlessly pursuing conventional publishing for year after year�while writing every day, holding down a demanding job, and raising a family�self-publishing my sci-fi series seemed like a no brainer.
It seems as if many who eventually go the indie route have experienced something similar. Shelbi Wescott is a good example. As she explains in my interview with her on New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy, she spent 10 years writing (and re-writing) a novel but couldn�t get an agent. After that, she wrote a short story that she was proud of �and spent a really long time trying to get that published� to no avail. So when she finally wrote her three-part Virulent series, she had no desire to submit her work to that fruitless process again. Self-publishing had emerged as the obvious, best choice.
A book needs to be thoroughly vetted by wise readers, polished to a perfect pitch, copyedited within a pica of its life, and beautifully packaged. But there�s no reason an author can�t assemble his or her own team of professionals to carry out these tasks. And there�s no magic formula that says those things need to take a year or more, as they so often do after a conventional publisher acquires a new manuscript.
Once I�d decided to self-publish my series, it took me six months to make the two books ready for sale. I hired a graphic designer (Roy Migabon, the same talented cover artist that Ms. Wescott used for Virulent). I won the bidding for the services of a copyeditor at a fundraising auction for the New York Writers Coalition. I solicited blurbs from writers I respected. And I laid out the books myself. (I would have hired a graphic designer to design the interior as well, but I�ve had lots of experience laying out books and publications as part of my day job).
The challenge these days is marketing the book while continuing to write and to work on my newest project, hosting New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy. But I�m reassured by the fact that there are plenty of fellow writers sharing my path, and, as Ms. Wescott notes, indie authors are an exceptionally supportive group, willing to share their experience and wisdom. I�m glad to be among their number.
Stay tuned in two weeks for my podcast with James L. Cambias, author of A Darkling Sea
. I�m reading it now, and it�s quite a page-turner.
No comments have been added yet.
