Should You Self-Publish?

Self-publishing giants such as Xlibris employ reverse psychology to entice prospective clients. Full page advertisements in magazines such as Writer's Digest show a photograph of a renowned author, and underneath his name, "Loser?" The author in question is someone who initially paid to have his work published, then later achieved outstanding success. Thus these companies anticipate a major objection to this method of propagating one's works. Once known as "vanity press" the self-publishing industry is fast becoming huge. But is self-publishing the way to go?

The biggest advantage of self-publishing is that there is no chance of rejection. Anyone who has ever submitted a manuscript or a query to a publisher knows how difficult and discouraging this can be. While some of the smaller presses may be willing to consider new writers, the royalties received are not commensurate with the amount of time and effort, and anyone who quits his job to write books full time wages an uphill battle. Publishing novels is nigh impossible without an agent, most of whom will not even consider neophytes. Even those agents who claim to be open-minded about beginners generally are not, and more than half the time, will not bother responding. With self-publishing there is no rejection. Your novel, chapbook, biography, reference manual or how-to guide will at least have a chance.

Assuming that you do self-publish your magnum opus, your next step is to somehow spark interest in your book. Traditional publishers have catalogues, marketing departments, sales representatives and connections with major book stores. Self-publishing companies list the authors, titles and subject matter in searchable online databases, but that is no guarantee that this will generate sales. So the onus of promoting your book usually falls to you. Some authors are good at networking, and are very effective at setting up interviews, book signings and media coverage. Others are good writers, but possess few marketing skills. The Internet, while a great boon for seekers of information, can be a great hindrance as well.

A second advantage, one which closely ties in with the first, is that authors who self-publish have complete editorial control. Unless you are Stephen King, your published book will not be the same as your original manuscript (and even Mr. King may be forced to make one or two changes!) Editors have deadlines and space constraints, and authors may be forced to delete their favorites passages, or rewrite entire chapters at the editor's whim. Some authors claim that they hardly recognize the result of months, or years, of labor. Self-published writers have the first and last word, literally.

But with complete editorial freedom comes an obvious downside: lax editorial standards. Quite bluntly, this results in a veritable bumper crop of really bad books! Misspellings are fairly easy to catch with built-in spell-checkers, but misplaced homonyms are easily missed, and plot flaws, poor syntax and boring story lines are much more elusive to the subjective reader (usually the author). Also, self-publishing tends to cheapen the literary process. This may sound pompous, but with so many people writing and publishing their own works -be it online or through print-on-demand arrangements- the status of author is not held in as high a regard anymore. Writers who go through the traditional route are often asked, "Oh, did you self-publish that?" Some bookstores are not interested in sponsoring book signings for non-traditional authors, and many newspapers will not run feature articles about them.

Still, with the obvious disadvantages, many authors still find self-publishing appealing. Writers who are shy of rejection might otherwise be leery of ever submitting something, or even worse, of writing anything, resulting in, to paraphrase Thomas Gray "some mute inglorious Miltons." Lending legitimacy to the industry, Writer's Digest magazine holds an annual competition for self-published books. Now in its 15th year, the contest awards a top prize of $3,000. In addition, there are several, although not many, self-published authors whose books have been picked up by mainstream publishing houses.

The price of self-publishing is fairly reasonable, juxtaposed to all of the time and effort of writing and revising to satisfy persnickety editors, and mailing manuscripts to publishers who will most likely send them back unread. Most self-publishing companies offer a basic package for less than $500, and with new print-on-demand technology, the author is not stuck with boxes and boxes of books.

The self-publishing industry is aware of the aforementioned problems with promotion and poor writing, and will try to upsell services such as marketing, proofreading, copy editing, and even ghost writing. This is where the costs can climb quite high, and frankly, if you need that much help with your writing, you should probably think about an alternative career. If you are considering self-publishing, look at at least five different companies, compare their prices, and if possible, talk to other authors to see if they were satisfied with the results. Reading testimonials that self-publishing houses post on their websites will not tell you anything; you will only get one side of the story.