Self-Publishing: Pitfalls and Possibilities

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Once upon a time, publishing a book with a ”vanity” press was tantamount to appearing in a newspaper advertisement for your family’s hardware store and calling yourself a fashion model. Sure, there were famous writers who’d had to underwrite the publication of their work until the world noticed their genius. Jane Austen. Walt Whitman. Heck, Virginia Woolf and her husband took it a step further and operated a press out of their house. Nevertheless, for most aspiring writers, self-publishing has not been the best way to carve out a serious literary career.

Well, things are changing. With the path to traditional publication littered with more obstacles than ever, and the phenomenal growth in the number of quality independent publishers and print-on-demand services, self-publishing has become a viable path to success for some writers. Modern technology has made it easier and cheaper than ever for an individual author to produce an attractive product and then market it.

As an “independent” author, you have complete artistic control over the content and appearance of your work. Self-publishing allows you to skip the torturous process of getting an agent or publishing house to recognize your project’s potential. And, since most traditionally published books get a minimal marketing budget anyway, you don’t even suffer much by having to promote your work yourself. There are plenty of ways to use websites, social networking, reading groups and cultural events to build your audience and sell your books. All of this should give independent authors a sense of empowerment. Your future as a writer does not have to be in the hands of conglomerate publishers and mammoth bookstore chains.

There are, however, some points to consider before taking the plunge into self-publishing:

1. You’ll still need a publishable book. If you’re going to spend upwards of five grand producing a few hundred paperback copies of your masterpiece, invest five hundred and hire a professional editor. Every writer on the New York Times bestseller list has an editor and you should too. A good editor will save you time, money and embarrassment.

2. Listing a self-published book as a writing credit many not carry much weight with those in commercial and even small-press publishing. Keep this in mind if your reason for self-publishing is to have something “solid” to show agents and editors. The lack of a review process in self-publishing can, rightly or wrongly, taint you and your book as being not quite up to professional standards.

3. Independent authors must become marketing pros. There’s no way around it. You will not have the same marketing and distribution opportunities available to a writer published by Random House. You will have to create your own buzz through smart use of the Internet and a lot of personal effort. Play it smart and have a marketing plan in place before you take delivery of five hundred copies of Conversations with My Pomeranian: One Dog’s View on Life, Love and Rawhide Chew Toys.

3. Independent publishing is still a rough road for fiction writers, especially for those of us working in mainstream or literary fiction. If you write genre fiction, you can go online and find many many forums and chatrooms catering to people interested in vampires, werewolves, elves, dragons, carnivorous space aliens, cowboys and serial killers. Even so, a non-fiction writer will still have an easier time finding people to buy her book on horse training, go-cart maintenance, cooking with olives, or travels in Latvia.

So where does this leave the author eager to see her work in print? It leaves her with a lot of work to do. Evaluate your manuscript. Is it really so well written that a person not related to you by blood or marriage would plunk down good money for it? Who are these people? How much will it cost you to produce your book and get it into the their hands? Are you best off with printed books that you may have to store in your garage? An e-book that you can deliver via e-mail or on CD? A print-on-demand title? To succeed in self-publishing, you need to ask these questions and lots more and then take your time getting the answers.

Copyright 2008 -- Carrie Ann Lahain. Explore Carrie's blog "This Literary Life" at clahain.wordpress.com.