Lessons from the Self-Publishing Trenches

First lesson learned, it's hell out there.  No one is going to give you credit that you don't deserve.  And even if you do deserve it, because you are "self-publishing," most people will dismiss your hard work.

Yes, it is unfair.  Even though the publishing world has changed since the beginning of the eBook revolution several years ago, the marketplace is over saturated with self-published work.  Anyone with a computer can self-publish on Amazon, or any of the other online retailers.  While I am proud of my accomplishment with Monarch and I feel it is something that everyone could benefit from reading, I surely didn't expect to become a bestseller by self-publishing it.

The second lesson I learned is that most self-published work is less than quality work.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful editor in  SB (SaraBeth Huntley).  Her guiding hand saved me from myself.  Most self-publishing writers don't have their own SB, and it is to the detriment of all self-published writers that they release unedited material.  A reader may likely find a mistake or three even in the best edited work.  To release anything with your name attached without someone first looking over your work hurts your reputation as well as ours, because we wrongly all get piled into the same "self-published" trash bin of opinion.  It can take years or decades to build a reputation, but it only takes a few sentences to destroy one.  

When I decided that I was going to self-publish, I debated releasing a short story first -- to test the process.  It was 2011 and the first draft of Monarch was complete.

Time constraints changed my mind, but in my research I began to notice the prevalence of extremely short self-published work out there.  The further I delved into the work of others I noticed that these self-published works were often 5-20 pages in length.  People were just trying to make a buck.

It became evident that people were self-publishing everything, but mainly short stories.  My 700-page novel was being sold alongside a three page recounting of a family vacation.   It was frustrating to be thrown into the same pool with writers who spent days or weeks on their eBook, while it took over three years of work to bring Monarch to life. Ugh!

Now, I don't want anyone to pity the Pitters.  I knew what I was getting into.  My goal was to give people a chance to read my book.  Check.  That goal was accomplished.  What I missed on was creating the zeal I hoped to create about Monarch by releasing it in four individual stages.  Re-writing time constraints and personal issues crippled my ability to properly promote my first novel in 2012.  Promoting is probably the most difficult aspect of self-publishing.  The "Who are You?" complex, as I like to call it.

I remember just a few weeks ago, I was at a writer's meeting.  My spirits were high.  I had just released the final stage of Monarch and the paperback for the entire novel had just been made available. I encountered a young gentleman in the parking lot who was lost and looking for the writer's meeting.  As a member of the group, I knew where the meeting was being held.  So I walked with him to the meeting.  Turns out the guy was a reporter.  He said he was there to interview one of the speakers.  We talked about our writing as we walked.  To make a long story short, I will say that this young man dismissed my novel simply because it was self-published.  I never even had a chance to tell him what it was about.

I've suffered all kinds of pain in my life, but that pain cut deep.  To me, I had just summited Everest.  I can only speculate what he thought.  Needless to say it only reiterated the first lesson I learned about self-publishing.  Know this - nobody will care about your work until they've read it, and people are less likely to read something that is self-published and that none of their friends have already read.

The good thing about self-publishing my first book is that there is no paparazzi hounding me like the author in my book.  I am free to move onto my next story, while James Ruth is still answering questions about a book he wrote a decade prior.

The third lesson I learned about self-publishing is that if you put your mind to something, anything is possible. I made a decision in my early twenties that has shaped my life since.  I chose the life of an artist and left college to do so.  The old saying goes that an artist must suffer for their work.  While it has been tough at times since I left college, there is no way I could have written Monarch without enduring certain hardships and having experienced perspectives that I wouldn't have otherwise since that time.

In one regard, I chose to live two different work lives.  One, is of the artist, who sacrifices to create.  The other, is of hardworking employee.  I have, as of yet, been unable to merge the two.  But it is the hardworking employee who has allowed me to see things differently.  Finishing school might have helped ease some of the trials and tribulations that I have faced, but I wouldn't have the vast amount of work stockpiled and awaiting publication as I do now.

The self-publishing stigma is something I will have to live with for the time being.  I made a goal for myself back in 2010 to release my first novel prior to 2013, and I proudly did so.  Releasing Monarch was never the destination.  No, it was merely a step along the journey of this writer.  

-aap

Self-Publishing Ebook Update

I began work on Monarch back in March 2010.  Since then I have made changes at almost every step along the way.  The story has been tweaked.  The release date moved back.  But the idea behind it all has stayed the same: A woman struggles with her perception of time and her place in the world.  Her battle to accept change is similar to my rewriting process.  Discovering what need be altered is the central aspect of rewriting—along with making the necessary changes.

Being a Self-Publishing Author (SPA) requires a sense of focus and drive.  One must be more than an author.  There is no publicist or publishing house to assist along the way.  Family, friends, fellow writers and the internet, with their combined knowledge and insight, are invaluable to an SPA.  An ability to listen and adapt are as important as that first spark of inspiration.

An SPA must be able to listen and adapt during this fluid time in publishing.  eBooks have started a revolution. Smart phones, eReaders, tablets and the other new electronic devices hitting the market are changing the landscape of society and publishing simultaneously.

If the known world had not begun making these technological advancements over the past couple of years, I would not have tried to tackle the 12/21/2012 themed Monarch.  The lack of time would have been an issue with the traditional paper-based publishing model.  And self-publishing to print would have been too expensive. 

My writing of anthologies in the past helped me realize that I could release Monarch in four stages over the span of a year.  Writing them as four separate eBooks allows me more time with each stage in the story. The first stage, Monarch: Egg, is due to be released on 11/11/11.  Since I am self-publishing, if I needed to, I could change the release date.  One year prior to the end of the Mayan Calendar, on the December 22, 2011 Winter Solstice, would be the most logical alternative date for release. We'll see.
-aap