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5 Reasons To Self Publish – From A Traditionally Published Author

Here are some highlights from a blog post at The Passive Voice. The remarks come from a traditionally published author.

5 Reasons To Self Publish (Edited for highlights I fund interesting, emphasis added – Dan)

Author Sheri McInnis
Author Sheri McInnis

Unless you deliver an ‘approved manuscript’ your book won’t even be published. That means there’s subtle pressure on you to take your editor’s notes – whether you agree with them or not. Notes will come from your agent, the editorial assistant, even the publisher. And their input can range anywhere from the helpful – to the heartbreaking. Even the marketing department gets in on things.

The book wouldn’t hit the shelves for at least eighteen months – probably more. It would be crazy to request a particular release date from a publisher. They have hundreds – if not thousands – of titles carefully staggered over many seasons.

The (2008 economic) downturn… resulted in less money for promotion. Book tours, launch parties and flashy displays are for only a lucky few writers. So whether you self-publish or not, you still have a huge job of promoting the book yourself – both in terms of time and money.

Neither of my novels were disasters but they didn’t perform as well as expected. What’s worse, I turned into an emotional wreck after the books flopped.

Indy writers have changed the game completely. Today every writer on the planet has the opportunity to reach millions of readers – and there isn’t the same stigma to self-publishing there once was.

What I find most interesting is that even with a big contract, (Romance writer Jasinda Wilder, who recently signed a 7-figure book deal with Berkley) Jasinda is going to continue to self-publish some titles.

From author Sheri McInnis via Gordon A. Wilson. Original link: 

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/08/2015/the-holy-grail-for-authors-5-reasons-to-self-publish/

from The Passive Voice

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Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the hilarious upcoming novel “Poggibonsi: an italian misadventure.” Check out his other works HERE .

5 replies on “5 Reasons To Self Publish – From A Traditionally Published Author”

It’s comforting to know that the trads still jump on the self publishing bandwagon, with all the work involved, why not reap our own royalties. Slowly but surely, I think the stigma of self publishing will lose a lot of its bad vibe. In the boom, anyone thought they could slap together a so called book with cheap covers and no edits, which helped to give Indie books a bad name. But I think with the amount of information available and publications to subscribe to, if anyone at all wants to write and publish, they should be reading and keeping up with the industry. By doing that, I think they catch on that publishing a half-assed book will only bring them humiliation.

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I learned some of my lessons the hard way, Debby, as I’m sure you did. (I still can’t pick a good book cover without a ton of fan input!)

I like the way all the trads feel the need to say Oh the stigma isn’t there anymore.

What was really telling was she admits to turning into an emotional wreck after her books flopped. That surprised me. We imagine the support factor at traditional publisher or for an author with an agent. Not so in her case. Then she stopped writing for a while and feels she wouldn’t be picked up by another trad house now. It’s a brutally honest look at that side of the publishing biz, and one I don’t see talked about much.

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I’ve read a lot of stories these past years about the tribulations of trads. The new bottom line is what’s in this post. The publishers don’t want to offer big advances to unknowns and even for the more known, publicity and promo is pretty much the author’s responsibility, so why not go Indie? Giving up royalties forever when we have to do most of the work anyway is senseless. This factor applies especially to ebooks. Print books have a run of ‘X’ amount of time before they’re backlisted. Ebooks stay on shelves infinitely. Many trads are now keeping their ebook rights and some are trying out self publishing on some of their works. Indies who’ve already had to learn this process certainly have a leg up! 🙂

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