Lately I’ve been reading the magazine “Writers’ Digest” with its many hints and interviews for authors and wishful authors. Some always seem to be about choosing self publishing.
Common Reason
The reason I see most often for choosing self publishing is keeping control of the book. Traditional publishers can change the title which may or may not be for the best, assign the cover design to an illustrator who may or may not be able to read the book before designing it and determine royalties and other payments for the book among other things.
This is not my reason.
Problems With Self Publishing
Although serious authors do the necessary work, when an author self publishes, no one insists the book be carefully edited. There are editors for hire, but they charge for their services. As this is how they make a living, it is understandable.
Those on a strict budget may skip hiring an editor and do it themselves. Sometimes this works out well, if the author has a strong English grammar grasp. Other times the resulting book is a disaster for readers even if the story is good.
Marketing is another problem. Traditional publishers do have more contacts and do put out new books to places a self published author may have difficulty getting to. They may place ads for the book. However, they do insist that the author do a lot of the marketing such as social media on their own.
Why Do I Self Publish?
When I wrote my first book, “Goat Games”, I dreamed of being published. I researched publishers and found one where I thought my book would fit. A comparable title, although about horses, had additional material in it, so I enlarged my book to include much more about goats than the many pencil puzzles I started with.
I thought the book was ready, so I queried the publisher. The editor wrote back she liked my book, but wouldn’t accept it. My book was for a niche market, with, in her opinion, no big market and wouldn’t be a viable addition for their company.
Many of my first novels had a lot of goat information in them. They would all fit into this niche market. So I found choosing self publishing was the only way to get my books printed.
Now there is another reason. Time. I am old enough to not want to spend possibly years getting a book published.
Marketing and cover design do sometimes make me wish.
