This is the short version. For the super-short version, click here.
POWERFULLY, PERSONALLY, PALPABLY, PROPULSIVELY
SELF-PUBLISHED
There are dozens of blogs out there talking about how you can self-publish, many of them selling a product and dropping popups on your browser. That’s not me. I’m writing this blog to tell you about my own hairy and smooth experiences self-publishing my own novel: writing, editing, designing, printing, and marketing.
I’ve made hideous mistakes and I’ve had moments of pure genius. And now I want to talk about it with you, because this has been a good experience, and I’m probably going to do it again!
DOING THINGS THE “RIGHT” WAY
Here’s basically how it went:
- In 2003, I spent a month writing a novel titled Hungry Rats.
- I revised the novel twice, went to a great graduate school for writing, and worked with several award-winning writers.
- I got my MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing.
- I revised the novel twice more, cutting 10,000 words, and then adding 30,000.
- I started sending the manuscript to agents and publishers, often with letters of recommendation.
- When I was lucky, I got a form rejection. When I was unlucky, I didn’t get any response at all.
BUT ISN’T IT SUPPOSED TO BE HARD?
Of course it is. If writing and getting published was easy, everyone would be a writer. Still, by 2009, something seemed way wrong about this. After all, I had been at this game for six years at this point. I’ve read stories of writers who lovingly kept shoeboxes of rejection notes: rude rejections, sincere rejections, praiseful rejections. I was lucky if I got any letter. Maybe my writing just sucked, but after all of the support and praise I’d heard from people who would know, I didn’t think that was it. Most of my friends were running into similar problems. What was the deal?
HERE’S THE DEAL
- Access to technology has hugely increased the number of writers (and this is a good thing).
- Publishing technology has hugely increased the ways in which we are able to read (and this is a good thing).
- The increase in business expenses and the decrease in the number of “traditional readers” have tightened the screws on booksellers, publishers, and people all around (and this is a bad thing). It is no longer possible for big presses to take risks on books that are unlikely to become blockbusters. And it is no longer possible for small presses to afford to promote the risky books they do take on. Maybe you’ve written in a popular genre like memoir or childrens’ lit, but don’t be fooled. If you’re not already a published bestseller, your book is a risk.
Fortunately, there are other changes in the works that have great promise for the future. It used to cost thousands of dollars for a writer to press a limited run of a book, and the fact that any writer that did so had been rejected by traditional publishers made readers skeptical. But print-on-demand technology means that writers can start publishing their work with essentially no overhead; each book is assigned a cover price and printed as orders come in. The fact that more serious, skilled writers are turning to self-publication means that it is being taken more seriously by critics and consumers.
Hungry Rats was too niche, too weird, too local to fit into most publishers’ schedules. But when I saw the revolution taking place in the publishing industry, I took that final step. And what a step!
DOING THINGS THE “REVOLUTIONARY” WAY
November 2009: I decided to self-publish.
December 2009: I redesigned my website to promote the book, and started putting out promotional articles, music, and videos.
February 2010: I launched my fundraising initiative and hired a designer and editor.
March – July 2010: I put Hungry Rats through the last, exacting rounds of editing and proofreading.
May 2010: My fundraising initiative wrapped-up with a war chest of $4000.
June – August 2010: My designer and I formatted the book and created a cover.
August 2010: We sent the finished product to the printer.
September 2010: Hungry Rats became available to readers around the world.
September 2010 – Now: Every day I write, promote my book, and try to learn more about this dynamic and rapidly-changing industry.
ALL WORTHWHILE WORK IS A WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Now of course, if you ride a bike for the first time, you’re going to get banged-up a bit. I’ve made some mistakes along the way.
EXHIBIT A: Don’t set your publication schedule until the editing process is complete. I did, and when editing ran over, I had less time to perfect my marketing plan.
But as I said, I’m not promising all of the answers here. I’m offering something better: A real, flesh-and-blood writer describing his own blood-and-sweat experiences in self-publishing. Maybe you’ll learn something from me.
I hope to learn something from you too!
(Photograph by Oliver Spalt.)