The Double-Edged Sword of Self-Publishing (and other mixed metaphors for a monday)
Monday, January 19, 2009 at 1:35PM 
Being the bookish dilettante that I am, I tend to wear many hats. There are ones—like this blog, that are frilly and fun and not very practical, and then there are the ones that pay the bills. Those hats are not necessarily flattering, but they do keep the chill off. For example, I make a sizable portion of my daily bread providing book marketing services to self-published authors. And, though the authors I meet doing this are almost always interesting and lovely people (and to be fair, most of them have already had a certain amount of sales success with their books), I generally do not enjoy this part of my job. In fact, on any given day, at any given moment, you might find me quite vocally damning the inventor of Print-on-Demand.
Why? Well, it’s complicated. But, in a nutshell, I think many self-publishing authors look upon the self-publishing route much as they would a very shiny sword – say, Excalibur. And these authors, who really want to get their book published (but who have either given up on or don’t want to be bothered with “traditional” publishing) see that gleaming sword stuck in that rock, and they hear it beckoning to them, “Hey, you, author - come and get me. You can do it. Give it a try.” And they figure, “Why not?” “Why not just take a chance and self-publish my book? I mean, I know I’ve got what it takes, and my manuscript is terrific, so it’ll all work out just fine.” But, most of those authors soon find that they are not able to pull that sword out of that rock – their book does not fly off the shelves—why, it doesn’t even make it onto the shelves in the first place.
You see, self-publishing services are about one thing – they are about getting books published. The better self-publishing firms will offer some copyediting and design services, and see to it that the book is made available by online retailers, but they will not create a demand for that book, nor make that book worth reading. It’s like that shiny, gleaming, rock-stuck, double-edged sword just sitting there for the taking – it certainly looks easy enough; and there are very few barriers to getting your book published (money being the main barrier, though there are options where not even money is required). But the barriers to getting your self-published book read? Those barriers are real and they are many.
This is because the so-called “barriers” that the self-pubbed author managed to avoid by circumventing the traditional publishing route, were not simply barriers. They were check points. They were safe guards. They were opportunities for a lot of industry trust agents to jump on board and show they not only believed in the book, but were willing to risk their own money, time, and/or professional reputations to see that book make it in the world.
Of course, you can call this process whatever you want. Some cynical types refer to it as “gate keeping.” Social media “experts” would call it establishing an author’s platform. I prefer to call it book curation. What it all comes down to is this: those barriers provide some assurance to the prospective reader that the book is a good investment of their time and money before they fork over any of either. Especially time, because life (as I’m becoming ever so increasingly aware) is just too short to be spent reading crap books.
For traditionally published books, this vetting manifests as a byzantine process where millions of seemingly unconnected people work together, but apart -- each taking some kind of personal and/or financial risk on a title. Agents, editors, designers, marketers, publicists, sales reps, reviewers, TV show hosts, bloggers, booksellers, librarians, etc., (I’m sure I’m forgetting a few people here) – boldy stand up and put their money where their mouths are, all so a traditionally published book can have a chance of making it in the marketplace. And usually, these players are not just idly signing on to support a book because it's "popular" or "trendy" (i love these "scare quotes"). They are often supporting a book because they are quite passionate about it. Their love for, and belief in the book is worth a lot to others in the list of industry players, and eventually enough people willing to risk enough time and money on that book translates into readers being willing to risk their time and money on the book.
On the other hand, for the majority of self-published books, there is no vetting, or gate-keeping, or author platform building, or curation process. And, the majority of self-published authors will find themselves trying to gain the trust and willingness of readers with no collateral to offer in return.
That is usually the point at which such authors will turn to someone like me, hoping they’ll be able to drum up interest in their book via clever marketing campaigns. And, this is when I usually have to tell them that they need to go back to the beginning and start looking at those “barriers” they were avoiding in a new light. They need to create their own platforms, find their own trust agents and listen to what their vetters might have to say about their book.
That’s not to say self-published books can’t be commercially successful. But, I guarantee that if you look closely at the paths taken by books such as The Shack or Eragon, you will almost always find that their authors had the good sense to seek out vetting, and build their own author platforms, and gain the enthusiasm of trust agents of their own, early in their publishing processes.
Because that’s the thing about great publishing – it’s very seldom done by one’s self. Successful books are a result of a lot of players being committed to, and passionate about a book.
Kat Meyer
thanks, April. I am so happy you added your comment because you're right. I was't as clear as I had meant to be in making a distinction that there are self-pubbing authors who are doing it right.
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Reader Comments (10)
Merlin! I'm a fish! I'm a fish! (had to get that out of my system)
I totally agree that self-published authors need to be realistic about their sales goals and how they are going to achieve them. If I hear one more author answer the question "Who do you think your readers are?" and they say, "Everyone!" I'm going to grab Excalibur and draw it across my wrists..
There are lots of author resources out there, use them people!
And if you really want to know if your book is ready to be published, ask someone who isn't living in the same house as you or who owes you money. Find someone who has no excuse to be nice to you so you get the real answer.
A really great thing to try is publishing a first run of sample review copies to send out for blurbs. Then you can revise and retool to their professional specifications.
Thanks for the comment, Kat G. I suppose I should be clear here -- I am not at all anti-self-publishing. In fact, I think it's an incredible option for a lot of authors. My point (however convoluted it ended up being) is that self-publishing should never be perceived as a short-cut for the author who is hoping to achieve respected and/or significant readership. At the very least, a self-publishing author needs to know what they want out of the deal - going into it. And, if it's anything more than just having a printed book, then that author needs to educate themselves in how their goals can be acheived.
They need to really consider what their motivations for publishing are, and who they are hoping will become their readership. If they are not already, they need to find a way to become a viable member of the community that makes up their target readership. They need to put their ideas out there and get feedback and then, they need to listen and incorporate that feedback into their work.
There are not a lot of shortcuts to achieving publishing success. And, things can be even harder for self-publishing authors. But, there ARE lots of people and resources out there to help self-publishers figure out what they want to achieve and how they can achieve it (I'd like to think I am one of them). Forewarned is forearmed.
Hi Kat -- that is a great post. It certainly deserves more comments than a mere two but I know you got a love on twitter for this post so I am just spreading that around. As an author you absolutely need someone to invest in you, usually time or money or both. It takes a lot of strength and flexibility on the authors side too. Thanks for making the connection between the two sides.
~mb
I wasn't suggesting that self-publishing was wrong at all! I just think that authors need to be incredibly realistic about what they are creating, how they are creating it, and how they want it perceived in the reading world.
To be a successful self-pubber, your book becomes a job. It is work. And a lot of people forget that!
Thanks, Mark! I suppose I should have carried the metaphor through a bit and suggested that the Arthur Authors of the Self-Publishing world, are those who are smart (or lucky) enough to have their platform in place, and their curators helping them refine their manuscripts and ready to be out there cheer leading for them far in advance of publishing. And, with that, I end the metaphor blogging (for today anyway...Bawahahahah....).
Kat -
I know you're not anti-self-pub, but we indie authors are so sensitive to the (false) criticism that we're just trying to take shortcuts and unwilling to pay our dues, it's easy to misinterpret your blog post as yet another example of the same. Again, I realize that's not what you're trying to say, but I think some readers will make the wrong assumption (that you're anti-self-pub) because your post doesn't seem to acknowledge that there are many, many cases where self-pub is not a shortcut or stopgap, but a legitimate "indie" endeavor in authorship. There are two major groups of self-pubbers that aren't specifically addressed in your post.
First are all the many, many, MANY authors who've won contests, landed quality representation and received glowing letters from Big Pub editors gushing over how great their work is (but going on to explain 'it's just not a fit for us at this time,' 'we're not sure how to classify it so we don't know how to market it', 'we're not confident there's a large enough market to make this a worthwhile book for us,' etc. etc.). I am part of this group, and for us the problem isn't a lack of quality in the work, it's that Big Pub's minimum threshold for what they consider to be a successful book in terms of sales is much higher than it used to be now that almost everyone's consolidated and chasing after blockbusters only. Authors like me are the ones who used to occupy the midlist, but since Big Pub doesn't think it makes financial sense to maintain a roster of midlist titles anymore, we're literarily homeless authors. And speaking of literarily homeless authors...
The second group are authors who've already been repeatedly published by the mainstream, but were dumped by their publishers on the grounds that while their books may be successful, they're not quite successful enough.
People like me and dumped authors are choosing to take control of our own careers only after coming to the end of a long road of work and experience and still finding no love from Big Pub. Yesterday's midlist author is today's indie author; either that, or he's tomorrow's unpublished, unfulfilled, angry and bitter author.
That's all I'm sayin'... =')
I need to stop by here more often!
I'm glad there was some clarification in comments, because best I can tell, traditional publishing will likely have to continue to mine the pit of self-published authors for mass marketed books. I think we've just seen the tip of the iceberg.
Also, I know everyone knows this, but print on demand isn't just for self-published authors. I think it will be just about the only way a lot of new authors from the traditional publishers will be able to see the marketplace. This trend toward nonreturnables (and green concerncs) means that publishers probably aren't going to be as willing to fund a huge run on a new author. It's too risky. But it's not risky if the book isn't printed until it's sold.
Of course, these publishers will need a print on demand printer with first edition quality. :)
Great article - and the comments are as interesting as the main read. I think it's true that indie authors need to be little less thin skinned about the criticisms levelled at the self-published (I'm an indie author myself) but it's also important for us to continously work to convince the book buying public that there is quality out there from the indies.
So, is being a self published Arthurpreneur so difficult for a draw? Whether self publishing works for an author while traditional publishing works for another requires an honest assessment of things...and with all due respect to the comments made, maybe there is a need to go back to the round table of ideas, sort things out, smoothen any rough edges, and try to see if some thorough, determined Excalibration of book publishing options are in order.
(Seriously, who uses their 'real' name for a blog comment?)
Firstly, all I gotta say is I'm doin all the ***ing homwork I can into anything publishing related. I mean I put my lions'heart into this book right, why should I invest my money on a gamble that even the gamblers (IE the publishers) won't bet on?
A book isn't just a book, it's a STORY, something the author put their heart into. So of course they are gonna be squeemish (myself included) about the 'public ears' on their book. Though my book 'the fairy's emblem' is nearing it's completion, and it's unnamed sequel is well on it's way (in the terms of plotting) I don't plan on taking chances. Not unless I know what my odds are, the rumors are true, "it's not a gamble if you know who's gonna win". I hate to quote in such a lame way but Han Solo's "Don't tell me the odds" definately comes into excelent play here. Unpublished authors don't want odds(about getting their books 'published' or 'sold'), they want facts, personal opinions only help the odds go one way or the other. Not that I didn't find this artical helpfull, or an interesting read. :P