In part one of this discussion, I wrote about the purpose of publishing and offered a look at both the publishing process and the costs involved. Here in part two, I shift focus away from the business end and onto the personal stuff. It’s easy to look at the process of independent publishing and think, “I can do that.” What’s not as easy to do is see how your motives can tank your endeavor. Like I said in my previous post, it’s possible to do everything right when it comes to the production of your book and still fail as an independent publisher. Down below are my thoughts on four common motives people have for publishing their own books. I don’t think any of these motives are inherently right or wrong, but I do think some can put your project in danger if you fail to see how they are guiding your decision-making process.
Common motive #1: You don’t care about making a profit; you just want to get your message out.
If all you want is for people to hear what you have to say, than independent publishing can be a great option for you. Independent publishing frees you from the need to make money for someone else. This allows you to give your book away for free or price it low enough to encourage quick sales. Your main limitation publishing this way is the amount of money you can sink into producing a book you may never financially profit from. If funding is an issue, there are grants available for some book projects, and some freelancers are willing to do discount or pro bono work for legitimate non-profit organizations. You just have to do your research to find out how to take advantage of these grants and deals. You also might want to look into what it takes to set yourself up as a non-profit publisher. Having non-profit status sends the message that you are not in it for the money, which in turn opens you up for more cheap or volunteer labor.
Common motive #2: You don’t want to give up control.
It’s your intellectual property, and you don’t want to share your rights with anyone. You don’t want someone else making decisions about which characters should be excised from your novel, how your cover should look, and what voice talent should record the audio version of your book. You want complete ownership of your book. (Notice a trend here?) If you decide to publish independently, complete ownership of your book belongs to you. You own your successes, and you also own your failures. This motive propels a lot of independent authors, especially those with either strong business skills or a high sense of artistic integrity. I typically like these kind of independent authors because they tend to be passionate go-getters.
If you are motivated by not wanting to surrender control on the business end, the one piece of advice I would offer is to educate yourself on how bookselling is different from all other forms of retail sales. When I explain some of the particulars of bookselling to businesspeople (especially the right of return), I’m often met with confused looks that underscore the peculiarities of the industry. Bookselling is the commodification of art and knowledge. You can’t approach it the same way as you would selling sweaters.
If you are motivated by not wanting to surrender control of your content, I encourage you to keep in mind that you are publishing because you want to share your writing with readers, and your readers will have expectations. If you do everything exactly the way you want to without giving any thought to what your readers expect from a book they are paying to read, you could end up with a final product that only you enjoy. Keep in mind there is a difference between compromising your work to increase sales and making concessions about non-essentials to make your work more appealing to readers. Never compromise your work’s integrity for the sake of more sales, but hold loose to your vision for things that amount to nothing more than packaging. If you discover that your idea for how your cover should look is less appealing to readers than a cover that you’re just okay with, you’re not a sell-out for going with the other cover. If what’s important to you is connecting to readers, do what you are comfortable with to make that connection stronger. Independent authors who walk into the process with clearly defined standards for what they will not change and what they are willing to change for the sake of their readers lose nothing in the end.
Common motive #3: You’re tired of dealing with agents and publishers.
Rejection sucks. No one likes it. Not even the people doing the rejecting. Publishers and agents aren’t in the industry because they want to crush dreams. They are hoping and praying for good books to come across their desks. Unfortunately, there are far more people wanting to be published traditionally than there are companies to publish them. This makes getting accepted a crapshoot for new authors. It also means publishers and agents have to say no to a lot of good books. If you are one of those authors who keeps being told no, the idea of thumbing your nose at the traditional model might seem like a good way to end the pain. However, this motivation can lead to greater pain if you fail to honestly assess why you keep getting rejected. Before you set out on your own, find out why the rejection letters keep coming. Go back and carefully look for trends in your rejection letters. The two biggest things to look for are comments about audience and comments about your content. Let’s examine both of these responses.
If it’s an audience issue, that’s a strong reason to consider publishing on your own. Rejections along these lines mean publishers don’t feel they have the ability to reach the audience for your book, no matter how much they might like what you wrote. It could be that you’re either approaching the wrong publishers or that your audience is so niche that no publisher caters to it. If a book can’t quickly generate a minimum number of sales for a company, it’s likely not going to get published unless you find one of those rare publishing companies that are willing to take a loss on some books just for the sake of the art (this happens often with poetry). If your rejection letters reveal that publishers don’t think they can find an audience for your writing or that they don’t feel the audience is big enough to justify accepting your work, you might as well take it upon yourself to reach that audience. Just because an audience is deemed too small by a traditional publisher doesn’t mean you can’t make a profit from selling to that audience.
If it’s a content issue, those rejecting your work might actually be doing you a favor. If one agent or publisher says your manuscript isn’t ready for publication, that’s no big deal. Tastes are subjective. If numerous agents or publishers tell you this, it’s probably true. Authors who ignore such criticism and respond by publishing on their own (because no one appreciates their genius) can be in for a rude awakening when readers echo what the agents and publishers said. Having a publisher say your book needs work hurts, but having your readers say the same will hurt worse. If you find yourself being rejected because your book needs work, I suggest two things. First, join a critique group. Let other writers who’ve been around the block read and respond to your writing. Second, hire an editor to write a comprehensive critique of your entire manuscript. A good editor will tell you exactly where your writing is weak and offer suggestions on how to revise what you’ve done. Such a critique usually costs around $500. Spending a few hundred dollars on advice that will help make your book more appealing to readers can save you the hundreds of wasted dollars you will spend on copies of a book that will sit unsold in your spare room.
Common motive #4: You think publishing your own book will help get it discovered by an agent or publisher.
This one is tricky. We’ve all heard the stories of authors who used independent publishing as a means to open the door to traditional publishing. If you dig into these success stories, you’ll find that most of these authors invested a lot of time and money into creating high-quality books that readers couldn’t ignore. Simply throwing another book into the ocean of independent books won’t get you noticed by agents and publishers. Agents and publishers notice you when readers respond positively to your writing. Readers won’t do so if the quality of your book (both the writing and production quality) is poor. When you set out to independently publish with the intent of getting an agent or publisher’s attention, you can lose sight of the people who really matter: readers. If your motive is to get noticed by a traditional publisher, I suggest allowing your priorities to shift. Hold loosely to your dream of being traditionally published and focus on releasing the best book possible for your readers. If they like it, publishers will notice. Just be aware that you might be surprised by what happens when the offers come. You don’t often hear the stories about successful independent authors who passed on offers from traditional publishers after seeing how successful they could be on their own, but there are plenty. If you don’t believe that independent authors can be successful all on their own, I encourage you to check out IndieReader.com, where they love to celebrate the successes of independent authors.
So what’s your motive?
The motives I discussed above cover the most common reasons why authors reject the traditional model. There are other motives, but chances are yours is either one of the above or a mixture of many. Whatever your motive is, own up to it. Think about how your motive will impact the decisions you make. Once you’ve done that, you should be ready to answer the question of whether or not independent publishing is right for you. If the answer to the question is yes, check back here on September 13 for my post on the various ways to independently publish. If you don’t want to miss it, sign up here to receive my blog post via e-mail.
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Vinnie Kinsella is a publishing professional living in the Pacific Northwest. He offers an array of publishing-related services, including publication consultation and project management for self-published authors, editing, and document design. More information about Vinnie’s services can be found at vinniekinsella.com.
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