Do's and Don'ts of Self-Publishing - Joan Esherick

Have a family memoir you'd like to get published, so cherished memories of loved ones and family will not be lost? Want share your passion for crocheting, bass fishing, or scrap-booking with the world? Maybe you have another niche market in mind, or you would like to write about a your experiences caring for a loved one's debilitating illness to help minister to others who are in similar situations? Perhaps you would like to publish some poetry, or a collection of scripture notes or daily devotionals. If that's the case, then the self-publishing market might be the thing for you.

However, self-publishing can be a foreign, alien world to us writers, who are pretty experienced in getting our thoughts and feelings down on paper, but when it comes to choosing between a vanity publisher and a POD, (not the rock band), Print On Demand publisher, which type of stock-or paper- we should have in our book, what we should do to market the book and what to do in designing a cover...we may feel a little like Gilligan, lost on the island that is our pet project, surrounded by a sea of confusing and numerous self-publication choices.

On Tuesday of the Montrose Bible Writers Conference, author Joan Esherick shared some very simple "do's and don'ts" concerning the self-publishing field. Her biggest advice was that self-publishing was not for everyone. She cautioned that in the end a product is a product: a good, well crafted product that has been professionally done will sell in the end.

Esherick also warned that self-publishing was not an avenue of freedom from traditional publishing house guidelines. Though most self-publishing companies will print a manuscript regardless of its quality, Esherick noted that if a manuscript is rejected from traditional publishing houses because of flaws, low quality, and poor editing, then all self-publishing will do is result in a waste of time, money, effort, and low quality, self-published book. As a judge for the annual Reader's Digest Self-Published book awards, Esherick has had ample opportunity to see both the upsides, and the downsides of self-publishing.

Esherick's most important piece of advice concerning self publishing was to examine your heart before God concerning your motivation to self-publish. Make sure that you are willing to invest the time, energy, effort, and sacrifices to make self-publication a goal, and to realize that it is not an "end-around" the rejection roller coaster that all authors must ride before become published traditionally. She encouraged writers to not give up, because "God has given you a message, a passion, a story. God will have a use for that and for your writing."

Joan Esherick: A freelance author of training materials, Bible studies, curriculum, articles, and twenty-five non-fiction books, Joan works as Chief Writer and Managing Editor for Lighthouse Network, a non-profit foundation specializing in Christian mental health education and training. She is a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA), the Evangelical Press Association, and the Author's Guild. She has served as a preliminary round judge for the Writer's Digest Self-published Book Contests (non-fiction) for the last four years and is an outstanding teacher and speaker.