This is why I’ll try traditional publishers before going the self-pub route. I don’t have enough ego to want to get my novel published no matter what, only to end up not selling it to anyone except my immediate family and friends.
http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/9-signs-self-publishing-is-out-of-control-opinion-or-fact/
I think on balance it’s a bad thing for quality writers, but nice for the vain of us who only want to brag that we’re “published authors.” Pffft! Call yourself whatever you want, all you do is drag down the public’s opinion of writers, as well as their incomes, since people who get burned by buying a lousy self-pubbed book will not be as willing to spend money on quality writing.
What do you think about the self-publishing revolution?
I’m part of the self-publishing revolution. But if I’d read or listened to such extreme opinions and seriously believed that it was the only valid opninion, I guess I’d be where you are now. Instead, I’ve been selling my many-times revised, multiple-time edited and proofread novels to total strangers for almost a year. I don’t have any personal friends, and my family could care less. But self-publishing made sense to me because I don’t write in popular genres, and everything I learned about the publishing industry (and not from rabidly anti-self-publishing people) told me that my novels didn’t stand a chance of being accepted by any publisher. Book publishing is a “bottom-line” business, and if you can leave your ego behind, along with your illusions of bestsellerdom, you’ll know that it isn’t where to put your efforts. “You” being the impersonal you, of course.
I’m not an exception to the rule. It’s perfectly true that a huge amount of self-published stuff is sheer crap, but I have plenty of company: serious writers who care about quality, and who self-publish for purely practical reasons. You could be one of them. Every writer who cares about quality and self-publishes puts the lie to the nay-sayers. There are good reasons for wanting to go the traditional way. But believing people who tar all self-publishers with the same brush isn’t one of them.
Getting “burned?” There’s no good reason for it. Read a sample first instead of falling for a pretty cover or even lots of five-star reviews.
I apologize for lumping all self-published authors together. It wasn’t my intent. I was aiming at those writers who have the idea that they are much better than they actually are, or are “just as good as {insert bestselling author name in here}.” These writers tend to be the ones who don’t see much of a need for editing or proofreading their manuscripts, either.
I do acknowledge that many quality authors have gone to self-publishing for various reasons. If self-pubbing works for you, congratulations. I agree that traditional publishers tend to avoid publishing work that isn’t easily categorized into a tidy little genre. That annoys me, too. I don’t want to be bound by a genre and be “forced” to write in a certain style for the sole purpose of making my book easier to market.
Thanks for your thoughtful, perceptive, from-the-frontline comment.
Chris
p.s.–If I ever get published traditionally, I may reconsider my options. 😉
I do hope you find the right publishing path for you. With so many choices out there, and everything changing the minute you turn around, it isn’t easy. I was just concerned that you were making a decision based on one article, which is what it sounded like.
Of all my reasons for deciding to self-publish, the one that became most important to me was one I didn’t even take into account — the freedom to learn about myself and my writing as I go along, and to change everything, if that turns out to be the right thing to do. Experiment, burn bridges, fail. It’s all part of the mix when you work for yourself.