The Winds Of Change: Self-Publishing

Isn’t amazing how things change, isn’t it?


In 2008, the new technology, Print On Demand, was becoming more readily available to not only small independent publishers but also individuals. There were those authors who had gone the self-publishing route, and may I add, with the prevailing attitude from their peers of lips curled. I knew many who had decided to publish their books as e-books. Attitudes were better but there were still those who sniffed and declared these authors weren’t “real” authors—as borne out by some writing associations and review sites.


On the sidelines, a close eye was kept on these bold and daring authors and small independent publishers and their failures and successes.


In 2009, e-books were on the rise and by early 2010 print books were fighting for equal footing in sales, as traditional publishers scrambled to make the new technology work for them.


Around this time some of the traditional publishers were starting to put out trade paperbacks of some of their authors and not just mass paperbacks. Business wise this makes perfect sense with digital printing, especially with exorbitant cost of returns. Trade paperbacks became more acceptable (which is funny when you consider trade paperbacks are the norm in other countries). While e-books had grown to a thriving business, and were beginning to level the playing field, trade paperbacks published with traditional publishers still had national exposure that self-published and some smaller independents didn’t.


What the traditional publishers had to their advantage—and still do—is distribution on a national level, in-house editors, cover artist, and active PR departments. Oh, and let’s not forget carrying the cost of the all-important, ISBN numbers and distribution through companies such as Ingrams (not cheap).

The latter part of 2010, we started to see the winds of change. Traditionally published authors opting to go the self-publishing route for many reasons; not the least is the ability to publish stories they know will be read even if their publishers initially shot down these books as too risky or not marketable. Another reason was allowing the authors greater profits on the e-books, longer shelf life, and basically, greater control over their work.


Having said that, these established authors have something debut authors don’t have, a name and a healthy readerbase. That’s not to say a debut author can’t build that, but for a debut author to think they can achieve the same results initially is comparing apples to oranges. Everyone has to start out on the ground level and build their business. Building a readerbase is no different.

Another thing to keep in mind is quality editing still has to be done, ditto on good cover art, because regardless if the book is electronic or paperback, we’re drawn to well designed covers. This means hiring an good people, epecially a good fiction editor as a new author, to assist so quality work is put out. Authors have to count the cost both in time and in outlay of money when considering self-publishing.


As authors, is POD technology (e-books and trade paperbacks) the way of the future? Of course. I said it back in the latter part of 2008 and it’s even more apparent now. How we get there is still being defined and refined. And it’s exciting to see. I admire those daring serious authors and independent publishers who were ahead of the pack. I have nothing but respect for those who are now forging ahead and breaking new ground.

• What about you? Have considered it?
• Or have you done it already? Be interesting to hear your opinions. 
• What do you see as the pros and cons with regard to your work?

Monday Musings: Winds Of Change, Then And Now

Sorry, I'm late folks. Life seems to get in the way sometimes.

I was such a newbie in 2006 when I started writing fiction again and in 2007 when I began querying. I had no contact with writers or industry rags other than the guides to agents and the buying market.


You can imagine the shock to my system when I became part of the online writing community and came face to face with all I DIDN’T know. But I was willing to learn and I had some great industry teachers take me under their wing. I came to realize how little I knew and if I wanted to succeed on this playing field I needed to learn everything I could. So I started to use my training in marketing and promotion to do research.

THEN publishing was on the cusp of change. The industry giants were seeing major losses in profits. My research showed me trends and possibilities. If you followed the dangling threads you could see some sure paths that the future would take. Digital printing was one of those paths and wasn’t going to go away and e-books were an offshoot of that technology. Using techie gadgets and e-readers was on the rise. Not that printed books were going to disappear but the format in which they would be made available would have to change.

The cost effectiveness of Print On/to Demand would have to be utilized by major publishers if they were to stay in business. Even using the new technology they couldn’t be profitable if they used it to produce books in the “old” way they had for the past hundred years or so. They had to change. Reality was and IS (Then and Now, traditional publishers were in the best position (a better one than the small independent publishers springing up everywhere at the time) to make the most of this technology because they had the editing, art departments, connections, and publicity/promotion staff already in place. If they could leave the old business model behind and adapt to the new and make it work for them.

Traditional anything has a hard time with the concept of change.

I remember writing a series of articles on e-publishing and digital formats about, oh, three years ago and before I had a blog (although those articles were published online). I had done a lot of research on digital technology and print to demand. My research showed me that digital was the way of the future. A digital file was the book and then went to print runs and to brick and mortar stores via mass market. I felt that books via print on demand were the future.

In one article I wrote, E-publishing, Print on Demand, and Kindle Markets–Are They The Wave Of The Future? (October 6, 2008) I said,

“How many of you have really considered publishing with print on demand publishers or places like Kindle? It’s the wave of the future, I’m sure. One good indication of that is the hoopla with Amazon and e-books. Most major publishing houses have an e-publishing section because of reading the trends are leaning heavily in that direction. Big publishers, like Harlequin, have had downloadable stories, for a small price, for some time. I rather think they saw the handwriting on the wall and were testing out the market for e-publishing. They now offer some of their author’s print books through e-publishing and other authors are strictly e-published”

A benefit of e-publishing, is a bigger share of royalties for the author, than with a traditional publisher–but not advances–as a rule. Your work is out there, but not necessarily on the local bookstore shelves like you pictured in your mind. You have to be willing to promote yourself and your writing...via blogs, websites, and social networks. Authors have to do that regardless of the medium, but the marketing is pretty much on you rather than assistance from a publisher.”

Oh my god, I was preaching heresy, then. Or so you would have thought, based on some comments and a few diatribes from writers I received. Some were very receptive to the idea and had a far seeing eye and agreed. To add extra feathers to the tar applied, I mentioned that there was a big difference between self-publishing/vanity press and e-books. Vanity press was “where the author paid someone to print their book and not always a good quality of book either in writing style or subject matter.”

I mentioned in another article, Print On Demand Technology vs. Traditional, 2/21/09,

“…Traditional publishing comes with a certain amount of respect for you as an author. You’ve made it through the filters—agents or publishers—and been given a contract. This says your writing quality and story has passed the test to be accepted. You will have at your disposal an editing staff and copy editors to read through and tighten up the quality of writing and story content. You may have several revisions to get the manuscript at its best. Editing staff will also catch errors, insure the book looks professional as far as format. Traditional publishers also provide professional cover designers to put out a cover that will draw readers… Then there is the publicity team to help you promote the book and yourself as an author…

You may choose to go this route (e-books) because you want to write certain style of book that isn’t considered sellable by agents or [traditional] publishers—NOT because your writing quality is poor, or you haven’t good story telling abilities. You might want to have more control over your books and any profits generated.

Whatever your reason is, there are things to consider. [As a new writer] one option might be choosing an [established] e-book publisher with filters in place–submission guide lines, editors, designers, and promotion/marketing departments with the capability of providing readers with a print book (trade paperbacks) if they so choose.”

These are still valid points today.

Then authors used e-publishing to hone their skills as a writer and build a reader base and got traditional publishing contracts later. A couple of authors who come to mind are Donna Grant and Cheyenne McCray. They brought an established track record with them when they got published with traditional publishers.

Now I’m seeing a trend of successful established, traditionally published authors going the opposite way. Self-publishing e-books, but these are authors with years of writing experience and a knowledge of the publishing field along with a solid reader base. Some are publishing their stories as e-books with trade paperbacks for print but will still have the use of a professional editor and or cover designer (some like Connie Brockway, was a graphic designer) to make their books looks professional and be competitive.

As you read the loops and blogs you see that some of these authors are choosing this route because, as Connie Brockway puts it, they are “completely free to write the stories I most want to read. And, I sincerely believe, that my readers most want to read.”

A debut author isn’t going to have the same success as some of these established authors, even with an internet presence, but will have time to slowly build a following. The good thing about e-books, as Joe Konrath says, “…[the] virtual shelf life is forever…ebooks are forever. Once they're live, they will sell for decades.”

Another reason established authors are looking to self-publishing their e-books is purely business. As Connie Brockway puts it, “It doesn’t take too much business acumen to look at recent eBook sales history and project that eBook readers aren’t going to pony up the same amount for an eBook, that exists only as a virtual entity, as a paper book which costs substantially more to produce (printing, shipping, warehousing, distribution, covers etc.) Or if they do, they aren’t going to do it often. And if the publishers set the price too high, it’s the authors that lose the most. I hate losing. ”

Joe Konrath says it even better, “with digital you have the option to put an ebook on sale. I originally self-published The List in April of 2009. It went on to sell 25,000 ebooks at $2.99. Now, two years later, I lowered the price, and it's selling 1500 copies a day. Things like that don't happen in paper. But in self-publishing, I'm seeing more and more books take their sweet time finding an audience, then take off.”

Again, these are established authors with a following but the points they make with their decision to self-pub e-books is a compelling one. New or debut authors won’t have the advantage these two have with a dedicated following but at least the show you can develop one. I concur with both with regard to price. I’m not going to spend the price of a paper book on an e-book or if I do, it’s going to be few and far between. I’ll choose those e-books that are reasonably priced and most I purchase are under five dollars. I don’t see the sense of paying full boat for a kindle book. Hopefully the traditional publishers will get the message.

I have to laugh when I see this turn about. Then and Now. What a difference a few years makes, eh?

• What do you think of these developments?