Is Self-Publishing the Wrong Choice?

It's not that uncommon for a querying author to email a question concerning my rejection or something related to her career path. I'm not recommending you do that to me or any other agent, but I do tend to reply, at least in short. I'll also, probably, blog about it...

In one of those recent emails an author asked my opinion about her decision to self-publish. She'd set a time limit on how long she would query agents for (3 months) and felt that if she hadn't secured anyone in that time she was going to self-publish. She wanted to know if she was making a mistake.

In my opinion, you're never making a mistake if you know what you're getting into. Self-publishing and traditional publishing both have their pluses. They also have their negatives. Waiting to find someone to be on your team, agent and publisher, is one of the negatives of traditional publishing.

Personally, I don't think three months is enough time, but people in the querying trenches might have another opinion. It might take agents three months just to read your query and another three months to read your material. It might get done faster. That being said, if that's as long as you want to wait, then that's your deadline.

My advice about making the decision to self-publish is to make sure you alert agents that you're pulling your material. It's so frustrating when you finally get around to queries or submissions, respond and are told that not to worry because the author self-published anyway. Especially if you are requesting something.

Like anything else in life, make your decision, embrace it and go for it. No looking back because looking back doesn't get us anywhere.

--jhf

Is Self-Publishing for You?

This has been a question under endless debate for the last few years. There are many who stridently stand on one side or another and a few who balance that line. I tend to be among those who balance the line. I think choosing self-publishing versus choosing to work with a publisher is a very personal decision, sort of like choosing to run a restaurant owned by someone versus owning your own restaurant. There are pros and cons to both and the decision you make has to be one that's based on what you're looking for and what your strengths are.

Author Claire Cook wrote a very informative post for the Bookbub Blog. Now I think it's worth pointing out that since this post was for Bookbub it's not surprising that it leans toward pro self-publishing. That being said, what I liked about it is that it's an author who is effectively looking at both sides rather than touting how one is so much greater than the other.

The beauty of publishing in today's world is there are so many different options. No matter what you decide to choose you need to know that choosing what's best for you is the right decision, no matter what anyone else says. It's also important to know that if you choose one route now it doesn't mean that you can't change course. As evidenced by the history of BookEnds, I'm a big believer in exploration and a change of course. It's probably why my GPS broke. Way too much "recalculating".

--jhf

Reader Question: On Self-Publishing

Hello! I have a long, rather wordy question for you about self-publishing.

Say I've written a book, polished it up and gotten it as close to publishable as I think possible. Following preliminary letters to agents who would accept my genre, I send the requested portion of the manuscript out to all the agents with all the requested additions (synopsis, cover letter, etc). Perhaps some of them even request the full manuscript afterwards. But say I've done all of that and in the end I'm rejected by all of them, despite comments such as "well-written", "readable", "clearly talented" (things I dearly, dearly hope are honest and not just being said to ease the blow of rejection). I can't resubmit, of course, because that's not how things are done.
Would I be foolish, then, to NOT self-publish that work?

I've got many, many ideas for many different fantasy books, each quite different from the last, and once I've finished and polished up one book, I submit it to several appropriate agencies and move right on to my next idea, writing a brand new piece. I'm certainly not lingering on one book and afraid to move onto the next, so I'm hoping that something will peak the interest of an agent enough in the end to take a chance on me, so I'm wondering, if a book has been rejected and is not likely to be reconsidered, would self-publishing it do future book submissions good?

I've read several of your posts about self-publishing, and what I'd really like is as definitive an answer as I can get about whether it's smart to do it or not, though I am fully aware that every case is different, with varying results. In general, would it help or hinder my efforts?

Thanks for your time, and have a great day!

Kim x

I never think you'd be foolish to self-publish a book. As long as you have a plan and the decision to self-publish fits into your career goals (which, by the way, will be constantly changing). 

There are a ton of different ways to go about building a career in publishing and one of the many ways is by self-publishing. If your true desire is to be traditionally published, but you have that one book that just hasn't made it, I see nothing wrong in testing the market by self-publishing. However, the one thing to keep in mind, is that self-publishing that book may very well make it more difficult to find a traditional publisher for that particular book (not necessarily for anything else though).

So, here are my thoughts to your very specific questions....

Would self-publishing do future submissions good? Not necessarily. If you have absolutely amazing numbers it might push an agent's or editor's hand to read more or even offer if she is on the fence. And of course hopefully your readers will cross-over. But we are talking the need for amazing numbers. Thousands and thousands of sales at a competitive price point before a traditional publisher will really be impressed.

Would it hurt you? I don't think so. Not in today's market. Sure, I suppose there is still the editor that might be turned off, but they are few and far between these days.

So, if you're asking my opinion based upon this question alone, go ahead and self-publish that book. It sounds like you've given it a huge effort and have a very strong belief that it's time to move forward, but you don't want to put this under the bed. So go for it. Self-publish that one book and move on to continue writing and querying your other books.

There is no linear career path when it comes to publishing, well when it comes to any business really. You have to follow your heart and trust your own instincts. You're going to take some hits, you're going to have failure and you're also going to have success. The key is to keep going and trust in yourself.

--jhf

**If you have a question for the BookEnds blog you can email us at blog@bookends-inc.com and we'll answer as soon as we can.

An Obsolete Career

I was recently at an event where I was told, rather snidely, that I'd better be out looking for another job since it won't be long before literary agents are obsolete. This isn't the first time in the past few years I've heard a statement like this. It's also ironic since BookEnds has been growing and growing with each coming year.

I'm not a fan of a black and white world. I feel blessed that I can see the blue in the sky and the green in the leaves. I like to look at the world that way as well. There's a lot more than just do it this way or do it that way. There are a lot of other colors to consider.

There are a lot of authors who are having great success self-publishing. I'm thrilled for them and I commend them for the work they're doing because, who are we kidding, it's a hell of a lot of work to self-publish successfully.

There is no doubt in my mind that agents have and will face challenges brought on by the changing face of publishing. That we'll all experience a moment when an author decides that she no longer needs us. Heck, that happened well before self-publishing anyway. That being said, there are just as many authors out there who really don't want to be business owners. That's also why people outside of publishing continue to go to work for corporations. Not everyone wants to deal with all of the details that owning a business entails. Some people just want to crunch numbers or write the book and let someone else deal with payroll, IRS census forms, hiring, firing, and banking.

I feel pretty confident that I'm going to be around for a long time, at this desk, selling these books. Authors will come and go, agents will come and go, publishers will come and go, but in the end we're all shooting for the same goal. We want great books to be read. So let's stop predicting the end of everyone else's career and instead applaud each other for whichever path we've chosen to take.

--jhf

From Self-Pubbed to Contract

After finishing my novel I sent it out into the slush piles. I got 5 requests, 2 of them for the full. All of them decided to pass in the end, despite them saying that they liked it, thought it was well written, and that it was very original. None of them really gave me a reason for passing. After playing out the attempt to get an agent, I decided to make my novel available through print-on-demand service since all of my family and friends were begging to read it. I’ve gotten great reviews on it, not just from people I know, most of them people I have never met. I’ve had half a dozen book review bloggers contact me about reviewing a copy and have gotten amazing support and reviews. I’ve made a decent establishment of myself online, if you search my name I pop up everywhere.

I am realistic about the potential of success using a POD service though. The chances of getting this off the ground are slim to none. Feeling a little more confident that people will actually and do actually like my work, I would like to send it back out to agents. My concern is, however, that an agent will be more hesitant to look at me because I have done the POD service. Many agents seem to see this option as the “kiss of death.” I recently sent a submission to a medium-sized publishing house who said they liked it but since it had been “published in any form” they would not be interested.

So I wonder- is it going to help me at all, even though I’ve gotten such amazing feedback and have started to make a name for myself? Have I done myself a great disservice by making it available already?

It will definitely help you that you’ve received good reviews and feedback. It will help you even more if your sales have been exceptional, because when it comes right down to it, publishers are only really interested in sales numbers.

I don’t think you’ve done yourself a disservice by making this book available, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice by not moving on from this book. The smartest thing you can do at this point is move on to your next book and start submitting that to agents. The feedback you’ve received on your first book might help present your book but, more important, your next book is bound to be stronger.


Jessica

Building Your Career on Kindle, the Published

Yesterday I shared some of my thoughts on unpublished authors self-epublishing as a way to launch their careers. Hopefully I was able to present a fair and balanced portrait of my thoughts on the subject. Today I want to continue that discussion by looking at what self-epublishing can do for published authors.

Just as unpublished authors see Kindle and other self-epublishing opportunities as a way to launch a career, published authors see self-epublishing as an opportunity to keep books that might have gone out of print in print or publish books that haven’t yet been published.

There’s no doubt this can be a wonderful opportunity for many, and we’ve seen some of those success stories right here at BookEnds. Angie Fox posted about her own experience in her blog post Taking Charge of Your Career, and author Bella Andre has responded to her readers by self-epublishing some of her erotic romances. That being said, neither of these authors made the decision to self-epublish lightly. Both carefully considered why they were doing it and worked very, very hard to ensure that the product they were putting out was just as good as, if not better than, any book they’d ever written or published traditionally. Most important, they have continued to keep their author brand in mind and are always working to make sure that their next book is always better than the last, whether it’s been self-epublished or traditionally published.

When it comes to readers you are only as good as your last book, and by last book I mean the last book they read. So even if your most recently written title is the one coming out from Big Name Publishing House, the one readers will remember and base future buying decisions on is the one they last purchased. So while self-epublishing can be an exciting way to move those books out from under your bed, you need to consider whether that’s the best decision for your career.

Let’s look at it his way: You have a series of historical romances you’re publishing with Publisher XYZ and they’re doing great. Your career is on the rise and readers love you, so you start thinking of all of those paranormal romances you wrote years ago. You still love those books and why wouldn’t your readers? They’ve made it clear they can’t get enough of you. So you dust them off and send them out to self-epublish. But those books aren’t as good as your historical romances. You might love them, but let’s face it, you’ve grown a lot in the last 10 years and the reason you are having so much success is because you’ve worked hard to perfect your craft. You also have an editor who works hard with you. You constantly praise her for her brilliant mind and editorial eye. You can’t say enough about how good she makes you look, but obviously if you’re self-publishing she won’t be involved with this book. And it shows. Of course readers snatch up your books because they love you, but they’re disappointed. The books aren’t what they’ve come to expect from you, and now they feel like they’ve wasted their hard-earned money and time reading books they found unsatisfying. Your next historical romance is published and sales drop. Your publisher can’t figure it out, they blame it on the cover, but the truth is that the readers have moved on. They don’t want to risk wasting more money or more time so they’ve found another author to follow.

Is this a doomsday scenario? Yes, it is, and I realize that, but it seems we’ve read so many stories lately about authors making millions by self-epublishing that I wanted to use an extreme example to remind you not why self-epublishing is bad, because I don’t think it is, but why you need to carefully consider what you’re putting out. It’s not the fact that you self-epublished your paranormal romances that’s the problem, it’s the fact that you’ve decided to put out a product that simply wasn’t as good as what’s already on the market. And that’s what I want published authors to consider.

Self-epublishing can be a fabulous way for authors to keep in touch with their readers and meet the demands of their readers for new books. It’s also a great way to make more money, but it also needs to be considered as carefully as any business decision you make. Think of how much you thought about the offer that came in from your publisher (or how much your agent thought about it and talked about it with you), think about how hard your agent worked to negotiate the perfect publishing contract for you and how carefully you considered each step of the process. Are you doing the same with your self-epublishing decision? You need to.

As of yet, publishers haven’t figured out a way to factor epublishing sales into the numbers they run when making an offer to an author. That’s going to change, it’s going to have to change. It won’t be long before those numbers become more important than the sales you’re seeing in print, and just as they can positively impact the offer a publisher makes, they can have a negative impact as well. If sales are slow or small on your epublished books, publishers are going to look at that as an indicator of how well they’ll be able to sell the book. In fact, it’s a much better indicator than we have now because these are actual sales to readers and not just sales to bookstores with the possibility of returns. So if you’re between publishers but looking to get back in with a traditional house, really slow sales, or bad sales, can have an impact on whether a publisher considers offering. Why wouldn’t it? It’s an easy way for them to test market you.

Another reason authors are self-epublishing is that they have heard there is a lot more money to be made by doing it on their own than by going with traditional publishers. In some cases this might be right and has proven right, in others you’re just another book among thousands that readers have to sort through. There’s no doubt that epublishing is growing by the minute and that more and more people are finding this new way to read. That being said, just because it exists doesn’t mean it will be a financial boon for you. J. A. Konrath has been wonderful in sharing his numbers with the public, but the truth is that he had a strong brand before he self-epublished and has clearly worked very hard to continue building that brand. Let’s face it, he’s become the poster child of self-epublishing, and if anything, out of simple curiosity, hundreds of readers are buying his book just to see what the hype is all about. Are you willing to put that same time and energy into your product? Or, here’s another thought: Do you have the epublishing readership to support such a venture?

If you’re a published author I have no doubt you’re looking at the opportunities self-epublishing offers and considering it. It’s interesting, it’s different, and certainly when reading about the success others are having it’s tempting. It’s also a career decision and not a lark. Anytime you put out a product it’s part of your brand and needs to be considered as such. Do you think Coca-Cola put out Dasani water on a whim just because everyone else was doing it? Not likely. Whether or not people know Dasani is a Coke brand, they would find out very quickly if it failed. Obviously I’m a supporter of self-epublishing to help grow my authors’ careers, but only if it’s truly a growth move and not simply a way to get everything out there published.

Jessica

Launching Your Career Via Kindle, the Unpublished

What is your thought about authors who publish on Kindle? I first became aware that authors were doing this with their backlist about a year ago. Kindle makes it easy by offering a 70% royalty rate at a certain price point. Then J.A. Konrath announced she was releasing a new title on Kindle. That seemed to open the floodgates. Now, I know so many multi-pubbed authors who are not only selling to NY, they are releasing their backlist and even new fiction on Kindle as well.

What do agents think about this new trend of authors self-pubbing through Kindle? In your opinion, does it harm us? Help us? Does it affect the way you look at prospective authors?

This is a post I’ve been wanting to do for some time, but knowing it would take a lot of thought and work, it took me a while to get my thoughts together or, more to the point, my thoughts on paper.

Today’s post is going to be Part One of a two-part piece on self-publishing electronically, whether it’s through Kindle or another format. Today’s post will focus on the unpublished author, as per the reader’s question, while tomorrow’s will take a look at the published author who wants to use electronic self-publishing as a way to build or enhance an already successful career.

It’s a really interesting time in publishing. Self-published electronic books are changing the way many of us think about books and giving authors quick and easy ways to get their books out to readers without the help of traditional publishers or agents. And there is no doubt that we’re seeing success stories from authors who are doing it their own way and on their own. That being said, we’ve seen this before.

When I first launched BookEnds 10+ years ago there was something hot and new on the scene, something that was going to revolutionize the way we publish and finally get rid of those “gatekeepers,” otherwise known as agents and editors. That something was POD (print on demand). Sites like iUniverse and Lulu were popping up everywhere and for a mere $99 (or something like that) authors could publish their books and find an audience themselves. The talk at the time was that we didn’t need agents anymore, we don’t need editors. Readers are going to be able to make the decision about what books should and shouldn’t be published, and some bookstores were even working with these sites to carry the books. Sound familiar?

Just as there is today, there were success stories with POD, authors who went out there and did it their own way and found readers, a lot of readers. Eventually a number of those authors were picked up by what we’re calling today “traditional publishers.” The truth, though, is that, just like today, there were many, many more authors who floundered, sold very few copies, and never had anything near the success they dreamed of.

It’s true that self-epublishing is different in the fact that you are guaranteed “bookstore” space since most of the opportunities available are directly through the sites readers are already going to for their books. Right there you see more potential for success than you did with POD. And there’s no doubt that it’s appealing to sidestep the tedious process of finding an agent and finding a publisher, but is it really easier to find a reader? I’m not so sure. Remember, just because you put the book out there doesn’t mean the readers will come. Think of it this way: If every single person who is querying me this week (that’s 300+ people) decides to epublish on their own, it’s not going to take more than a week before the market is flooded with books, and when readers are overwhelmed, what do you think they’re most likely to do? My guess is go back to those books that are tried and true, those authors they already know will deliver a good read. Heck, there might even become a time when readers rely on the brand name of publishers to help them weed through the mass of books to choose those they feel will be quality books.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against self-epublishing, not by a long shot, but I think it’s important that authors carefully consider all sides of the story before jumping in, just as I hope you would carefully review any publishing contract before signing. There’s definitely a time and place when self-publishing through places like Kindle can be beneficial to an author, and I have authors who I think it can help, but I also think you need to consider exactly what you want out of publishing or epublishing and whether putting everything you write out there is necessarily the best thing. Frankly, this is the exact same advice I gave five or ten years ago when authors were asking my opinion on self-publishing or POD publishing. What are your goals as an author and your dreams for this book?

Lately I’ve read a lot of blog posts and articles on self-epublishing and how it’s the downfall of traditional publishers and that we’re all terrified of this new world. I suppose there are some who are terrified, in the same way there were people who were terrified to give up the typewriter, wordperfect, or put a credit card online. You might be nervous about change, but eventually you’re going to have to take that step. That being said, I feel that some of the articles I’ve read have been incredibly biased and misleading. They praise the authors who have had major successes in the self-epublishing world and throw their names around like it’s so easy. Frankly, I think that’s a discredit to those authors like J. A. Konrath who have worked hard to achieve the success they’ve achieved, whether by self-publishing through Kindle or finding a home with a traditional publisher.

J. A. Konrath created quite a stir when he (not she) announced his deal on Kindle and regularly discusses his thoughts on epublishing, but this world isn’t necessarily for everyone. Joe has a following, he has an audience, and most important, Joe works damn hard to constantly promote his brand. In my opinion, he’s an exception to what’s happening, not the rule. Trust me, Joe has a lot of great points, and the biggest is the amount of money one can make going directly to places like Kindle rather than through a traditional publisher. That being said, can you make the money if no one buys your books? Joe was selling books to readers well before he entered the self-epublishing world, he had a fan base, and people were hungry to read more of what he had written. Let me put it this way: For every success story like J. A. Konrath, there are hundreds of authors who put a book out on their own, only to see a hundred or so sales to friends and family and then nothing.

Do I think it’s a mistake to go out on your own? No, but I do think you need to be aware of the pitfalls, and one of the biggest is falling into a clump with thousands of other authors who have grown tired of the query process and are convinced that no one in publishing knows any better. I think self-epublishing is much easier for those with a recognizable audience already. J. A. Konrath has that and so does Seth Godin, another author who has decided to stop using traditional publishers and epublish on his own.

While self-epublishing is certainly different from POD, primarily because in self-epublishing you can actually get your book to readers through stores, I don’t think finding readers is any easier than finding a literary agent or publisher.

The world is changing and so is publishing. It’s an exciting time and frankly, with all the discussions that are happening, I’m not convinced anyone has touched on what the future will really be like just yet. Personally, I think it’s still going to include traditional publishers, editors, and agents, because who wouldn’t want a smart team of people on their side to help market, edit, and promote their book, and who wouldn’t want a business manager to help guide their career and take on some of the headaches that any business can create? I just think we’re going to see things happening in a different way.

To sum up (to really answer your question), because obviously there’s a lot I could continue to say, I think self-epublishing is a viable option if you know why you’re doing it. If your hope or plan is to build your career and use it as a way to get out your debut novel, you might want to either rethink whether that’s the best way, or seriously consider how much work you are willing to put into it. In other words, do you have the time (and money) to spend marketing and promoting the book like you would really need to do to find readers? If, however, you have a story you love, that you want told, and you just want it out there, I certainly think it’s a great alternative to “traditional publishing.”

Jessica

Self-Published Revisited

A comment appeared on my post about self-published works that I felt warranted its own post.

Question: Where do the agents and publishers get the sales numbers for a self-published book? The author? Does the author provide financials as proof? Or is there another way to know for sure how many copies have been sold (not just printed)?

Publishers and agents will get this information from Bookscan, and while we all know by now that Bookscan isn’t perfect, and you can read more in my previous post on the subject, we also know that it’s the go-to for publishing professionals when it comes to numbers.

And this is the struggle with Bookscan. If you’ve gotten even a few stores to carry your books it can tweak your numbers significantly and, if you’re getting the kinds of numbers most publishers and agents are looking for, it should appear somewhere on Bookscan.


Jessica

The Fate of Self-Published Works

I just found out something very disparaging that I would love to have elaborated on by an actual agent. It seems that despite strong sales and critical accolades, agents do not wish to take on books that have previously been self-published. Is that really true? I understand that for ebooks, people who have already purchased will have the initial rights with Amazon, for instance, to re-download, but the book can be pulled by the author at any time. So, why then is self-publishing so taboo instead of being a good test-market of material?

As much as I do not like the notion that this could be true, it does shed some light on why I have received so many agent rejections for a book that has been labelled an inevitable bestseller over and over again. I shudder to think that I have lost all that potential just for taking the bull by the horns and putting it out there on my own, as my only cheerleader in the beginning.

Is there any silver lining or way around it? If I pulled the book and retitled it, would that make a difference?

Well, there is always a silver lining, but with many things in this business these are the exceptions and not the rule. I have two clients, for example, who had previously self-published. Debbie Allen had self-published Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters. While shopping around her new title Skyrocketing Sales, I received interest from McGraw-Hill in purchasing the rights to Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters, which we subsequently sold to them. The catch: Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters had previously sold 25,000 copies as a self-published title. We did also sell Skyrocketing Sales to another publisher.

Bob Phibbs is the Retail Doctor and had also self-published his book and sold roughly 7,500 copies. I liked Bob’s self-published title a lot, but felt there were some things that could be done to make it stronger. So Bob and I agreed that rather than seek a publisher to take over the publishing of that book, we would use it as a starting-off point for a fresh new title that was even stronger. It worked and Wiley is publishing The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business this month.

While 7,500 copies sounds impressive, in truth we ran into pushback from publishers because of those numbers. They weren’t big enough. Bob had self-published his book and got it into some bookstores, but sales were low and, as we’ve discussed before, bookstores will place their orders based on the publishing history of the author. And that’s exactly why self-publishing can make it more difficult for an author to break into a bigger publisher.

When a publisher looks at a previously published author, whether the author was published with a big house or self-published, the first thing they will look at is the author’s sales. If your numbers are low it doesn’t bode well for orders on your next books.

In your case you said that the book has “strong sales” and “critical accolades,” but what does that really mean? Does it mean that Amazon reviewers gave great reviews or that the New York Times raved about it, because it does make a difference. What about strong sales? Are you selling upwards of 10,000 copies or about 250 to people other than family and friends, because, again, it does make a difference. It also makes a difference how fast those sales are made. 10,000 copies is an amazing number, but not if it took you 10 years to sell them.

Jessica

You Have No Business Writing

Some time ago I posted a letter from a reader in which she implied that there were certain people visiting writers forums who had “no business writing.” This comment, more than anything else in the letter, caused quite a stir. Many criticized the author for being a snob and not giving a break to newbies.

I have no idea where this statement came from, whether it was based on seeing writing samples or just on the questions people ask. What it got me thinking about though was the entire writing v. publishing discussion. I disagree that there’s anyone out there who has no business writing. In fact, writing can be a wonderful form of communication, therapy, or just plain fun and anyone who wants to write should grab pen and paper or keyboard and computer and get to it. Part of the joy of writing this blog is that I get a chance to write, something I don’t typically get to do.

What I wonder about this reader’s question though is not whether she meant people have no business writing, but whether she meant that there are people out there who have no business seeking publication, and for that I wonder if she might be right. We talk frequently about how busy and inundated agents are and the huge influx of queries we are all seeing. What we rarely talk about however is how many of those should really be seeking publication. Despite what many writers seem to think, not every word you write is brilliant and not every book should be seen by the world. In fact, I spoke recently to a writer at a conference who wanted to write and share the family stories told to her as a child. She was getting older and thought the stories would be lovely to share with family and friends. She wanted to know from me if I thought it was worth getting an agent for. I suggested that in this case she might consider self-publishing. She didn’t want to fictionalize it and really wanted it for the purpose of a family legacy. It seems like a great idea, but not likely something that would sell thousands of copies in a bookstore or appeal to a mass audience.

I think one of the problems the Internet has created for publishing is that everyone thinks every book written deserves to be published, and let’s face it, that’s just not true. I’m not saying that the people the reader was talking about have no business being published ever, but I do imagine there are a lot of books written that aren’t ready to be queried and may never be ready to be queried. The problem often is that there is no way to know that until you actually try.

Jessica

Self-Publishing

I get a lot of questions from authors about self-publishing through places like iUniverse or AuthorHouse. Usually the question is generally what you can do next. Does it hurt your chances of finding a traditional publisher later and how do agents look at such a work?

I am going to discuss the marketing/sales ramifications of self-publishing, but first I want to address something I think few authors consider. When receiving a manuscript on submission I’m allowed to use my imagination and see the possibilities. For example, if I think it’s an absolutely fabulous book but needs some editorial work, I know I can probably work with the author to get that done. A bound, self-published, previously published work makes it difficult for me to see possibilities. The book is already done, and presumably since the author had it published she also thinks it’s already done. I might be alone in this and I’m sure there are other agents who feel differently, but every book needs some editorial work, and I think we all assume that once a manuscript is made into a book that work is done. Of course that doesn’t mean the work can’t be done from self-published to published with a traditional house, it just makes it harder for me to envision.

The second answer to this question, and really the most important topic, relates to sales. Sure there are those who think that agents are old-school and traditional publishers are a waste of time, that in today’s age of do-it-yourself technology why waste your time. Go straight to a POD (print-on-demand) publisher or Amazon and get it done yourself. And you can do that. I guess I’m old-school. I like to think that the editorial work, distribution, marketing, design, cover art, etc., that a traditional publisher provides still do make a difference. It might not be the wave of the future, but for now I still think it’s important.

There are certainly stories of authors that have found success self-publishing. What’s interesting though is how much that success is called success because ultimately they were picked up by an agent and a traditional publisher. The thing to consider is that those books typically had amazing reviews and unbelievable sales. Sales that rivaled and beat many traditionally published books. What also makes those successful books so notable is that they are rare. Take a look on those POD sites and see how many books are published each month, then consider how many POD books each month are picked up by traditional publishers. I’d say the numbers speak for themselves.

If you’ve published through a POD publisher and now want to go the traditional route, all I can say is give it a try. It’s going to be a little more difficult, but that certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think you need to address the POD publishing up front, in your query (agents do have access to Google) and just see what happens. I have requested more than a few self-published books in my time and have gone on to sell one to a traditional publisher. I am also in the process of working with an author to revise and update a self-published book in the hopes a traditional publisher will pick it up. Both of these books happen to be business titles and both sold a substantial number of copies on their own—between 10,000 and 25,000.

Jessica

Self-Publishing

It appears that it will be impossible to get a good agent like yourself, even though some knowledgeable people have told me that my story is definitely worth a book. I was wondering, therefore, if you would recommend that I self publish through someone like iUniverse?

I guess before making the decision to self-publish you need to decide why you want to publish. Do you want your book available in a bound format for friends and family or do you really hope to break into the marketplace and begin a publishing career? If your plan is for the latter, then self-publishing will not help get you there.

Typically I do not recommend self-publishing. It’s not the way to begin a publishing career and not recognized by publishers, editors, and agents as a reputable beginning. However, if your thought is that you want to publish your book to be read primarily by family and friends or to use as a tool for your business, then go ahead. Just be aware of the restrictions that self-publishing can have. You won’t get mass distribution into bookstores across the country, you likely won’t get foreign or other subsidiary rights sales, and it’s very unlikely that you’ll get publicity beyond very local sources.

All of that being said, there have obviously been success stories now and then of self-published books that have done well. However, if you take a close look at those stories you might realize why. Typically they were nonfiction books for which the author had an amazing platform and/or was able to sell enough through workshops or seminars that brought publishers to the book. And when I mean sell enough I mean selling thousands and thousands of copies. In the case of fiction it is typically books that the author worked very, very hard to get into the limelight and probably spent a good deal of money and time to promote and get the book into stores.

And yes, I’m sure you’ll all come up with an exception to the rule, but I’m going to stick to the rule on this one. While it can’t hurt your career in the very long run to self-publish, I think it’s best to be aware of what you’re up against. If agents and publishers aren’t jumping all over your book, you have to consider that maybe this is not the book that’s ready to be published.

Jessica