I’ve come to the conclusion every writer needs to
self-publish at least one of their books. That’s a cringe worthy statement for
those who haven’t quite embraced self-publishing, but I believe it’s true.
Self-publishing is challenging, heart-wrenching, confusing, and hard work.
Most authors are familiar with the hard work portion of
writing. Crafting irresistible hooks and realistic dialog requires effort. An
indie author, however, experiences another level of hard work, and in some
ways, harder than traditionally published authors.
Now this post isn’t about us vs. them. That gets us, the writing community, nowhere.
I’m not interested in belittling traditionally published authors or others who
do want to go that route. I can’t because my publishing dreams include
traditional and indie books. I am, however, saying that indie publishing is a
different kind of tough.
There are several differences in the tough for indie authors.
For traditionally published authors, the publishing house will ask for
suggestions for the marketing plan. For indie authors, you come up with the
plan, approve it and execute it. Same with promotion. Both traditional and
indie authors need a good editor. The different kind of tough for indie authors
is that we have to find one ourselves. We also have to look for a cover artist,
give direction on how the cover should look and approve the final version.
The point is that indie authors are responsible for the
whole book process. Again, not to minimize the struggles of traditionally
published authors, just saying it’s different. Indie publishing requires time
and effort beyond turning in a manuscript to a publishing house and moving on
the next book. Indie authors are solely responsible for the whole process, the
creative and the business side.
Those two sides are exactly why I think every author should
self-publish. When you are responsible for everything, you develop a great
respect for your work and for all the pieces that make it great. You want your
book to be the best it can be because you have invested many hours of
frustration, education and tears into it. As an indie author, you fully own the
responsibility of putting out a great book. The sole responsibility adds gravity
to the process of writing and producing a book. And when you realize the weight
of that responsibility, you approach the process of publishing very differently
than you have before.
You learn your craft because no one in their right mind
would go through the process of self-publishing only to have you book fail
because of bad writing. Or bad cover art. You market your book, run great
giveaways because you’ve invested in this book. You intimately know what it
takes to bring the whole product together. You learn to respect your gift. It’s
really hard to be flip about your writing when you understand ALL that goes
into publishing a book.
I am now working on the sequel to my first self-published
book, and my approach is totally different than it was for the first one. Gone
are my pie-in-the-sky, emotional responses to seeing my name in print. I am much more serious about this one than the last one. Not to the point of taking
the fun out of it, but I respect the process more. I wouldn’t have learned any
of this if I hadn’t lived through the different kind of tough of self-publishing.
