What Makes Me Happy About Being Self-Published—and What Doesn’t
My launch day came and went more than eight weeks ago. I won’t lie to you, I loved going through the tasks necessary to self-publish, loved being at the helm—in control of my book and the many decisions I had to make—and I can’t wait to do it again. I enjoyed everything involved with the book, including building my website, starting a blog, hiring a cover designer and seeing the cover for the first time. I loved getting pre-publication reviews that I could show my family so that I could celebrate my writing career with them. Maybe that’s the best part: being able to show everyone who knows me that this is what I’ve been doing for so long. That, and bringing a book into the world.
I guess you could say I’m a natural fit as far as independent authors go. I’m editor and a freelance writer, after all. Self-publishing wasn’t a leap too far for me, and I’m glad I made the jump.
But even if you’re not an editor, you can self-publish. You’ll need some guidance and help as far as professional editing is concerned, but it’s definitely doable. Given enough time and ambition, I believe any writer can do it. You just have to take yourself and this endeavor seriously.
Reality-Colored Glasses
That said, there is another side to this coin, and it’s not too rosy. As an independent author, there are many elements that are NOT in a writer’s control. I’m sure you are aware of some of them. I’m talking about growing a following, promoting your book, and making sales. You’ll have to do a lot more than publish a book in order to sell a book. And that’s hard for everyone, whether you’re an indie author or a traditionally published author.
Before we go any further, let me say that Amazon is not going to sell your book for you—not right away, anyway. Many authors think they simply have to list their book on Amazon, and readers from across the country will download their book. The truth is that Amazon is going to ignore your book until you have the reviews and sales that prove you’re earning for them. Yes, that’s right. It will help you find readers once you have readers! Doesn’t that figure?
It’s your job to earn those readers and reviewers by getting your book in front of enough people to garner those precious reviews—and believe me, if you don’t yet consider reviews precious, you soon will.
I’m glad I self-published, I really am. It was time for me to do it. Past time, actually. I am patient to a detrimental degree, and though I’d considered self-publishing in the past, I remained stuck on wanting to publish the old-fashioned way—by earning my place at a publishing house. But my books don’t fit neatly into one genre, and they never have—and that’s just not a good thing for traditional publishers. I stayed true to myself and my writing style, and I have accepted that it was time. That said, here are the reasons I still sometimes wish I had found an agent and editor:
+ My promotional reach is quite short compared to a publishing house’s. The professionals know the reviewers, the magazine editors, the PR people. They have marketing and publicity experts on their staff. What do I have? Me. Books I can read about the mysteries of Amazon. Websites that help me learn the ways of the marketing world so I can take a stab at this and that. Am I doing this right? How’s my timing? When should I spend the money? When should I hold on to it? Your guess is as good as mine!
+ I’m not an expert at everything. I’m a professional editor and article writer. I am far from a marketing expert. Publicists and marketing experts do a complex job and can’t guarantee results. The costs involved with hiring them are serious.
+ Amazon and Goodreads reviewers aren’t always nice. As a matter of fact, some of them are downright mean. Some make points that aren’t at all valid—and there’s nothing you can do about it. Some are just bad readers. Not everyone is going to “get” (as in understand) you or your book. If you don’t have a lot of reviews, even one or two of these scathing critiques can be pretty upsetting. Since you’re an indie author, and you don’t have connections to hundreds of reviewers, every single review will matter to you, probably to a disproportionate degree. If you were traditionally published, you’d still get some bad reviews—everyone does—but you’d most likely have a lot more reviews overall so it wouldn’t sting quite as much.
+ I have to pay for everything. Editing (yes, I, too, have an editor), cover, page design, reviews, shipping books to reviewers, ARCs, giveaways, promotions, etc. If I’m getting it for free, it means I’m doing it myself and therefore I’m paying for it in the cost of software and time. For instance, I did my own page design, which required that I purchase Vellum and then learn how to use it. I also had to suffer the agitation of figuring out dilemmas that professional page designers take in stride. That’s just how it goes.
+ I need to write the sequel to my book but I haven’t had time. I’ve been so busy giving my all to marketing and promo that there’s no time to spare.
Those are (some) of my thoughts on the cons of self-publishing. I hope I’ve provided you with enough pros earlier in this article to outweigh the cons. I’m very happy that I self-published, and it’s not my intent to talk you out of it. But I believe it’s best for writers to know the challenges they may face before they take the leap.
That said, I don’t want to end this post on a negative note because I don’t feel negative about self-publishing! I love the freedom self-publishing affords. The time I’ve spent self-publishing has provided far more ups than downs. I’ve really enjoyed reaching out to people these past months in the form of my blog and my social media platforms, and I’ll look back on this time as an exciting part of my life. I’m proud of my book. And the result is that I’m published. This is the start of my life as a published author. It may take a while to grow a following, but that’s okay with me. The alternative would be to never publish at all—to never give my book a chance—and I’m not willing to let that happen. Are you?
