Writers
today have a far better shot at being published than writes of even ten years
ago. Anyone can actually have their work published whenever they want through
Amazon. Make an Amazon author account follow their instructions, and you will
be published. That does not guarantee success, but it makes you a published
author.
Self-publishing
has changed the landscape of writing. It allows anyone to have their work
available to the mass market. However, that does not mean it is worthy of
actually being available. I know a person who wrote poems. This person through
they were ready to be published, so their spouse went ahead and made sure they
spent the money to get published.
At
the time, I was not even considering becoming a writer, so I did not pay much
attention to the process they undertook. From what I remember, it sounds like
it was a vanity press that published the work for them. Jump to the end, the
book was not good. There were numerous grammatical errors and just overall poor
quality, it failed.
In
the past, an author had to have a manuscript that was polished and ready to
send to a publisher in hopes it would make the cut. If the publisher thought it
was worthy, they would invest the time into editing, cover design, and
marketing. That all cost substantial money and is why so few books were picked
up to be published by the big publishing houses. Many famous authors were
rejected by numerous publishers before they were finally picked up.
Can
you imagine a world without Gone With the Wind? Or without Stephen King? Or no Harry
Potter? All of those authors were rejected numerous times before they were
finally picked up for publishing. If those same authors were to publish today,
they could do it themselves. Would their work be as well received today if they
self-published? There is no way to know for sure, but they could be published.
Many
of the books I have been reading recently have all been shelf published. Some
are great, others should have stayed on the author's computer.
With
all of that being said, there are two main publishing paths, self and
traditional. In the Traditional path, the author takes their work and preps it
to be sent out for review by publishers. Who, in turn, will review each
submission and reject a majority of them. Those that are accepted will go
through editing, revision, cover art design, formatting, and finally have a
date set. At which time, both the author and publisher will begin to market the
book. For this service, the author gives up a sizable chunk of the royalties for
their book. In some cases, traditional publishers can even have sizable parts
of the book rewritten to better fit the market they see for the book. The
author will lose control of their work, but their work will be seen and sold.
Self-publishing,
the author, is responsible for everything that happens to the book, editing,
cover art, formatting, and marketing. Trust me, none of that is cheap either.
Some authors will go for the cheap end of the entire process, and it shows.
They might have a decent manuscript, but they go cheap on editing or cover art
or formatting. It hurts their book. I have read a couple self-published titles
recently and would have never found them had the author not posted in an authors
group about their book. Their marketing was subpar.
Some
self-published authors make a minimal effort on marketing for their book. This
ends up only hurting them and their work. I know when I started to take serious
look self-publishing, I was shocked at the amount of work that needs to be done
by the author to make their book successful. Everything the author does to
their book is essential, but Marketing will obviously make or break your book.
I
know first hand being a totally unknown person in the writing world, just
getting your name out there a task. Even when you are using Twitter and
Instagram, there are so many people posting, it is hard to be seen at times.
But, slowly, people are seeing.
An
author who is picked up by a traditional publisher has a more manageable task
ahead of them. The publisher will help out much with marketing, but the author
is still expected to do some on their own as well. Nearly all publishers today
want to know your Social media following when you submit your manuscript. This
proves the author is known with the community, and there is a good shot at a
built-in audience.
Both
paths will get your book into the hands of the reader. Self Publishing requires
a good deal of time and money on the author's part. Traditional frees up the
author's money, but you lose freedom associated with your book. Neither is
wrong, it all depends on the author. There are successful authors using both paths.
You might start off self-publishing and then being accepted for a traditional
publisher.
As
of now, I am planning to submit to publishers, but I am also working toward
self-publishing. I know I have a massive pile of work to do, but if I want to
make my book a success, it will be worth it. My plan is to be able to just be a
writer. I have far too many ideas in my head to let then not see the light of
day.
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