Self-publishing has been on my mind a lot lately. I've worked with many self-published authors over the past year on yabookscentral.com. I've come across dozens of articles like this one: eBook Sales Growth Over Time, and this one: 2010: The Year Self-Publishing Lost Its Stigma, and this one: How Self-Publishing Came of Age. Even several of my friends have decided to go the self-pub route.
Why? Because it's harder than ever to get a book traditionally published right now, and with a click of a button, you could start selling your ebook on Amazon today.
But as much as I want to believe the self-pub stigma is fading, I'm not yet convinced.
In fact, I'm so unconvinced that the other night I actually dreamed a horde of traditionally published authors locked me inside a huge warehouse...where they banished the self-pubbed writers of the world to keep their work from the reading masses.
Obviously, in my subconscious, the stigma is still there, alive and well. (Even if J.K. Rowling did jump on the bandwagon.) But maybe that's just me.
What do you think? Is the stigma still there? Is it fading? Is it already gone?
Would you ever consider self-publishing? Have you self-published?
If you're not an author, would you ever consider buying a self-published ebook? Have you already?
I'm curious to know your thoughts.
I put out my first self-published book (http://tinyurl.com/6hrdey3) this May, and I'm currently editing the second and hoping to get it out in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI never in a million years thought I'd self-pub, but when I got a Kindle and 1) started buying self-pubbed stuff b/c it was cheaper (and discovered some of it was actually pretty good), 2) read about Amanda Hocking and her success story (this was back when she was selling 20k a month, not 450k), 3) started to get to know some indie authors, and 4) had a few book ideas that I knew I couldn't query b/c the markets for them were supposedly dead/saturated (at least in agent/editor minds) ... my mind began to change. I began to research it and realized I really, really wanted to give it a try because it seemed really fun. I'd been querying a couple mss the traditional way, and I do plan to continue that path in the future, but I also wanted to try doing everything myself--the cover, the blurbs, the marketing. And you know what? I love it. I haven't regretted it. In fact, I think self-publishing was a savvy decision on my part.
Before I took the plunge, I asked a bunch of agents if it would hurt my chances traditionally, and they told me no (a huge change from even just a few years ago). I don't think I would have ever done it if I'd had to sacrifice any hope of being traditionally published.
I would say YES the stigma is changing, slowly, even within the industry. A number of agents this year have come out and said that self-publishing no longer hurts your chances of signing with them and furthermore that they encourage it, because it can build you a platform and audience while you're still working on finding an agent/writing something for traditional publication.
I do still experience some prejudice from fellow writers, which I think is sad (but not unexpected--I was the same a year ago). But I also think that will change as the industry continues to evolve. The self-publishing stuff is just starting to gain speed.
Hope this is helpful.
I've self-published both commercial genre fiction and literary fiction/poetry, and my experience as well as wjhat I've observed is that whilst the stigma is lifting in the former owing to the high profile successes we've seen, it's not in the latter. The media can't get itself beyond sales figures - when you see self-publishers in the media, it's to talk about sales success. It's as hard as it ever was for a self-published author to get a mainstream review or to be accepted in discussion groups.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dan. That's really interesting and I hadn't thought of the aspect of the media. The attention is definitely on the numbers right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kate! I agree, the thought of doing it all yourself, making all the final decisions, is definitely appealing.
ReplyDeleteI write a book column, so I get a lot of requests for book review, some of which come from self-pub authors. I don't have a problem with self-pub in general, but what I am discovering, and I believe one major reason the stigma remains, if that a HUGE number of self-published authors attempt to edit their own work. This is a very big mistake.
ReplyDeleteGood proofreading is also in short supply, but even authors who get their work correctly proofread often fail to see the critical nature of competent editing. I hear a lot of self-published authors saying they belong to critique groups, and that's how they edit their books. Critique groups are a GREAT way to judge reader reaction, and can help pinpoint problems in character development and plot pacing. It's still not a substitute for an experienced book editor. Your book is your dream. If it weren't, why would you come home from work and write into the wee hours of the morning to make it happen? Yes, hiring an editor is expensive, but if publishing your book is your life dream, save up and do it right. Nothing makes me more sad than having to give a poor review to a book that could have been great if it had been properly edited. What a waste!
This is a valid point. Editors at the big houses ensure a standard of quality across the board. If we remove that step and leave grammar and spelling up to individual preference and limited knowledge, we remove this vital educational standard for readers. Self-pub authors still need to be held to a quality standard. But...how do we ensure that happens?
ReplyDelete