My first novel, HOST, was self-published. I went back and forth quite a bit on my publishing path but decided at some point I needed to make a decision. When I did, for me, it came down to control and more importantly, learning. There are plenty of horror stories about authors going the traditional publishing route. No one likes my manuscript, I can’t find an agent, editor, or anyone that cares about my story. It’s not an easy path to take and certainly not for the feint of heart. You will be rejected, but you need to keep moving. Now, of course there are benefits to going the traditionally published route. A lot of it is in the details of getting a book to market with a little push from a group that (hopefully) knows what they’re doing. Different doors are opened versus when you self-publish. But there is a cost to it. Time and effort. You might be lucky and find an agent, editor, publisher within your first few submissions but don’t count on it. For me, time and effort were key. I had a finished manuscript, a cover ready to go, do I really want to wait another six months, year, two years or longer to get my book published, if at all? No. This is important because it connects directly into the learning portion of my decision. But let’s step back and focus on my main reason: control.
I’m a bit of a control freak, who hides it well. Going the traditionally published route has it’s benefits, no doubt, but a big con for me is losing control of key decisions and taking a lesser slice of the pie. Now, to be clear, I didn’t expect my first novel to be any bit of a financial success. Whatever success is to you will be different. For me, if the book covered it’s own costs within five years. I’d be happy. It did it in less than two. I call that double success. But we’re not talking pie here. Control. Every decision I make (or don’t make) for my book is my own. It’s success is based on those decisions. Do I know all the answers? Absolutely not. But there are some things I knew I wanted. Cover art is a great example. I had a solid idea of what I wanted for my cover art. Is it the right one to sell the most books? Maybe? Maybe not? It’s a techno-thriller so maybe I would’ve sold a few more copies if I had a silhouetted person on the cover running down the tarmac with the D.C. Capital building as the back drop. Who knows. What I do know, is it wasn’t the vibe or feeling I wanted the book to convey. I went with custom art that I wanted to stand out against the rest. I think I achieved that and I know I did because people have commented on it. Again, to me, a success. That’s a small example and with great control comes great responsibility. You have to make allllllll of the decisions. That can be overwhelming. I know because it is for me sometimes. Paralyzing almost. So yes, you may have the control to make the decisions you want but as I said before that all comes at a cost.
Learning. I wanted to self-publish so I could learn about how to publish a book. Getting ISBNs, working with an editor, planning beta readers, planning cover art with an artist, figuring out my distribution options, royalties, marketing, advertising, all of it. All of which I’m still very much learning but I feel now I have a solid foundation of what I can accomplish. I set a budget to publish a book. I published said book under budget, which covered it’s costs within two years. Thrice success. Having done all this myself I’m better equipped for future books, either self or traditionally published. I’m the type of person that wants to know what the hell is going on with the projects I’m working on, especially something as important to me as my stories. I have much to learn and with my second book I feel I can focus on the “other” stuff. Marketing, advertising, doing those things outside of writing that gets people noticing. That’s my learning goal with my next book. And if I do it somewhat right, it should draw attention to both stories, which gets me closer to my true success: a yacht. 🙂
In a not-too-long-ago episode of Writer Syndrome we sat down with fantasy author Scott Colby and discussed self-publishing, and the pros / cons of creating a publishing imprint. Something I’ll be doing for my second book. Check it out!
