Self-Publishing Ain’t Cool (or so I’m told) October 18, 2007
Posted by fredcharles in Self-Publishing, Writing (General Rants).trackback
In the last few weeks, I’ve read numerous articles about recording artists forgoing the traditional route for distributing their music, and doing it their own way.
The biggest story was about the band Radiohead, who decided to sell their new album online only without any record company support. A few days later, Nine Inch Nails announced that they were free from their record company, and would distribute their music themselves in the future. Even Madonna, whose contract with Warner is up, is hinted that she would distribute her music in a different way because of the “paradigm shift in the music industry”.
The press and peers of these musicians praise their actions. Fans love it too since, basically, the record industry is universally loathed.
Which brings me to my point:
Self-publishing is cool…if you are a musician.
Self-publishing is not cool…if you are a writer.
A writer who self-published (POD included) is considered by his/her peers to be a hack who could not..er…hack it in industry. This person obviously could not get a traditional publishing house to release their book, so they had to do it on their own. It is assumed that the book will be riddled with errors and such a piece of crap, that it’s not worth stocking on a shelf.
Sure, this is true of some self-published books, but guess what, for every poorly produced self-published book you can show me, I can show point you to a self-published band/musician whose work contains the same inconsistencies (bad recording/packaging/songwriting). I’ll even go a step further and say that a good portion of books that ARE published by the big houses are poorly written and contain errors.
The strangest thing about this whole self-publishing debate in the book world, is that it’s mostly fostered by our fellow writers. Most people who walk into a bookstore wouldn’t know the difference between a book published by a traditional publisher on a book created on Lulu.
If you want proof, log onto the Absolute Write forum and tell everyone how you are going to self-publish your book and see the responses that you get.
Something has to change…and it should start with us.
fredcharles
It’s a fair point your raise, and it’s a wonder that writers shoot themselves in the foot in this area. My guess is that writers decry POD publishing in large part because the prestige in writing comes from having that big-name label affixed to their book cover. It could also be that they genuinely believe that good books can only come from major publishers, but you’ve already noted that fallacy. I tend to think that the one main advantage that a publishing house has over POD is marketing, since they can do it so much more easily. But I can definitely see POD as being a very viable alternative, if you don’t mind putting the extra work in.
Fred, I’m going to disagree with you that the biggest “set-back/discouragement” for POD and Self-pubbed writers is other writers. Long before I started looking into the business end of writing, I was a book seller. I was the assistant manager for one of the “big 3″ bookstores and that is where I first learned about POD/self-pubbed books. (And the scorn and disregard they are held in) The regional manager told me, point-blank, she didn’t want me jumping the loops it took to order POD books because “they weren’t worth taking up shelf-space.” Was she a writer? Far from it. She was a number cruncher.
I still tried to order the books once in a while when an author came in and ask (if they were nice, if they were snotty I didn’t bother going through the trouble) but lots of times, even if I wanted to, my system wouldn’t let me order the books because PODs don’t have the right distribution contacts. Of the few we could get in the store, I quickly learned to spot a POD from across the room. 90% of them looked unprofessional cover-wise, and most were trade-paperbacks that cost as much or more than a hardback. Hard to sell, to say the least. Some did garner enough attention to get picked up by a publishing house after being self-published, but those were very few and far between.
Most consumers might not know if the book they are looking at is made by LuLu or not, but 99.9% of the books in a chain bookstore are not going to be, so it really isn’t a fair example. Now in an independent bookstore, that is a totally different story. Still, the chances of someone picking up a $27 trade-paper book by an author they have never heard of is dicey.
Other writers might discourage and bad-mouth Self-publishing, but the limited distribution is what really “hurts” self-published writers.
Does that mean POD/self-publishing will never work for anyone? NO, it doesn’t. The POD author has work a lot harder on promotion, accept extremely frustrating setbacks (hard to promote yourself when bookstores won’t let you sign because they can’t order your books and mags/newspapers won’t review you because you don’t have a traditional contract), and have a lot of buzz going for them from somewhere. Public speakers who sell their POD books at conferences do very well. Famous people who have a strong platform where readers will come to them do well. (Of course, famous people typically have very little trouble getting a contract with a publishing house)
Getting your name out there with a POD book is a lot harder, and if you want to write full-time (an elusive dream for most writers, traditional or otherwise) it is even harder if you have up put money up front for the books instead of getting someone else to pay you for the privilege of publishing them.
I think most ‘professional’ (used lightly) writers hold POD/self-published writers in derision because many POD writers (but not all, by far) are the impatient/undereducated/quick-tempered writers. Lots never bother to ‘learn’ about publishing. I’ve heard many a sob story from POD writers about how corrupt tradition publishing is. They go on to explain they sent their full manuscript to 2 different houses, over night delivery, certified, and then never heard anything back or they received form rejection letters…. Poor babies! *sarcasm*
Any one who has ever even *looked* at a publisher’s submission guide knows you never send a full MS unsolicited and that paying for fast delivery is a waste of money. And 2 rejections? Puh-lease.
Sadly, these are the types of stories that are rampant in self-publishing. They are also typically the poorly written, scarcely plotted books with a montage of the author on the cover. Are they the the most predominant books? *shrugs* I don’t know, but they tend to be the loudest. I think that is what writers are responding to when they then decide all POD/Self-published writers are hacks. They aren’t really taking into account people who do it for reasons other than impatience or ignorance. Of course, those are the people who present themselves as professionals, that probably hired someone to design a good cover, and who carefully researched before choosing a self-publisher, so their book doesn’t *look* self-published. (Quick note, quick-tempered/impatient writers are also the ones who end up screaming at booksellers when we can’t order their books. Uh, why would we even want to help while they scream at us? Of course, published authors can become primadonnas so there are bad apples in every bunch…Is it any wonder when authors are nice to booksellers the sellers are so relieved/thrilled they tend to hand-sell that authors book forever afterward?)
So, why is music and books different in attitude? Maybe because garage bands and pub singing is how most bands start. From my outside perspective, it seems almost every singer had a grassroots movement unless they were picked up and groomed for a boy/girl band. Writing isn’t like that. Poetry is, I guess…but not novels. You find a novel in a store, you flip it over, decide if it is something you want to read, and then you take it home. A really grassroots movement is rare, I think, though with the rise of e-pubbers, we might see more and more of it in the future. *shrugs*
Here is a question for you: Lets say an author makes it big POD. They become well known in their genre with a rabid pack of fans waiting for the next book. Guarantee someone will want to publish them then. Do you think they would, and would you, continue to pay upfront to publish your books, or would they “sell-out” and sign a nice fat contract with a traditional publisher?
Okay, shutting up now.
Jim: There are many advantages in going with a major publishing house, but the fact is, most of us will never get there. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try alternate means, which of course requires a lot more work on the writers part.
Kalayna: Wow! What a response! Thanks for taking the time to write all of that. You make some really good points (even if you are disagreeing with me…shame on you).
You asked if I would go with a traditional publisher if I was already a successful self-publisher. The answer to that question is, I don’t know. If I already am doing great on my own, why would I want to compromise? POD doesn’t cost much in upfront fees. You can produce a nice book on Lulu for cheap.
I do agree with a lot of your points. I didn’t say that going with a traditional publisher is bad, I just think that POD is a viable alternative.
One thing that I do believe is that if you are going to do it yourself, you have a responsibility to produce a product that is high-quality both from a writing and layout perspective.
My point is, if you are serious about writing, you shouldn’t just give up if you can’t publish your book through the big houses. And if you are going to DIY, you should really put the effort in to make your product top notch.
Thanks again for posting. You certainly made a lot of good points. I’m going to post your reply as a counterpoint on my front page with your permission.
Lol. Permission granted (though there are a lot of embarrassing grammar mistakes in it. I really need to edit my responses before hitting send.)
Yes, shame on me…but you’ll notice I didn’t disagree with you that POD is an option. I just listed why it’s harder, and why (I think) writers end up with a sour taste in their mouths when it is mentioned.
I agree, writers should never give up just because they can’t find a house to place their book in. Some people do get discovered through self-published books, and for some individuals, having a book in their hands and making it available to the world is enough. *shrugs* The sad part is, as I said, the unprofessional self-pubbers tend to be the loudest. I think they make it even harder for the professionals who do their research and produce a good DIY product to make it past the stigma attached to self-publishing.
Oh! Awesome news about musical peoples giving The Man the shaft! w00t!
I still haven’t decided what route I’ll be taking my fantasy books. For my poetry book, its going through lulu because I wanted something to play with, and I wanted to do all the hard work myself (except the cover, which I -MIGHT- have to do myself, I’m stiiilll waiting on that!).
I think the key is always having a good editor for you written words.
I’ve started with an ebook selling through my website and thought I would try a paperback produced through Lulu. As I had built up a lot of interest through the site the book really took off. It may lead to a loss of kudos with some people, but the advantage is the cut I am making even through Amazon is way above what I would get through a normal publisher. Plus I’m in complete control and can update the book whenever I feel like it.
David: Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I’m always interested in hearing stories regarding self-publishing.
Here’s another bias self-publishers face. Authors who self-publish or whose books are published by small independent publishers or by subsidy publishers are being denied “author status” at conferences for mystery writers and readers. This means they can’t be on panels or have their books available for sale at these conferences. This is happening when conferences such as Mayhem in the Midlands (sponsored by the Omaha Public Library) and Left Coast Crime are using the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) approved publisher list and active membership criteria as a standard for author status. Some authors—both self-published and traditionally published—are speaking out against this alarming trend. You can read more about it at my blog, The Populist Publisher, http://www.thepopulistpublisher.com
It is important that many more authors add their voices to opposing this unfair practice before it becomes an accepted way of operating. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) also have an approved publisher list that excludes many small publishers. Let’s do all we can to level the playing field.
Lynn Osterkamp
Author of the IPPY award-winning mystery novel, Too Near the Edge
http://www.lynnosterkamp.com
Blog: The Populist Publisher, http://www.thepopulistpublisher.com