Self Publishing or How to Make It Work Away back writers used to deal with the “menial work” and publishing of their own works independently, but in a course of time the role of the author and publisher were divided into two completely different areas of activity. By the way, it seems that everything is back to the old order of things because more and more authors refuse to cooperate with publishers and do everything by they own.
According to the «Bowker» agency bibliographical information, the number of self-published books already exceeds the number of books published by the publishing house.
Moreover, self-publishing as a phenomenon has existed for almost an eternity and among famous writers who published their books by themselves were Marcel Proust, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde and other illustrious names.
Doing All Yourself
There are a great amount of successful self-published author both among beginners and among well-known writers. All of them claim that the way you publish, won’t affect the quality of your work in no way. Here are more detailed stories of these self-published authors.
• Polly Courtney — «Feral Youth»
«Feral Youth» – the third Polly’s Courtney book and the first book, that she was going to be published by the «HarperCollins» publishing house.
However, the cooperation did not happen: soon became clear that the agent not only doesn’t read none of her books, but he is trying to make uncoordinated adjustments in the book. Thus, Courtney has returned to self-Publishing. «Feral Youth» was published last month in printed form on the Kindle platform. Henceforth Polly Courtney is going to publish books only by her own.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch – «Smokey Dalton»
In the late 1990s, Kristine Kathryn Rusch decided to publish a series of books about a black detective Smokey Dalton under the pseudonym of Chris Nelskott.
Now, after more than a decade, no longer afraid of publishers revenge, she tells how her agent refused to help her with the publication years ago. There was an unwritten rule among the publishers at the time — white-skinned people can’t write about blacks (at least not in the first face). The series had published independently, by her own.
• Felicia Ricci – «Unnaturally Green»
In 2011, the aspiring actress Felicia Ricci published the memoir titled «Unnaturally Green». The book describes the backstage of the musical «Wicked», where she worked in 2010 as an understudy of the protagonist. The narrator – an inexperienced actress, a recent graduate of Yale, tells how to arrange for the first job, go through a break with a young man and acquire new friends in San Francisco.
Felicia Ricci not only wrote an excellent book, she became a successful self-published author.
How to Publish a Book by Your Own?
Working with traditional publishers is extremely complex and requires not only a hard work but also a great luck. But to publish a book on your own – means to succeed or fail depending on the tastes of readers and your audience, not editors.
So:
• The main enemy of self-publishers is the” doc” format. Do not expect to be successful if your media product is just text. The only way out is writing an ebook. Epub – the only format, which makes it possible to see the book as a web page. It means that all you can see in your browser, you can see in epub document – pictures, animation, advertising.
• Define, for whom your book is written and be guided by this audience.
• For starters, you can write a story online and put it in a social network. It is a great start for your book because you already have an audience there that knows something about you. Besides you can to write a short story online and put it in your personal blog.
• Remember, that any success – a matter of luck and the right timing.
• When the text is ready, edited and designed – you can choose the platform for its publication among a long list of publishers.