Should I Self Publish?
At Book Architecture, more and more of our clients are electing to skip the query, the book proposal, and the rejections. They have decided to forgo the traditional publishing model and are putting their efforts into self publishing. And who can blame them? It gets more and more attractive each year: almost triple the royalties of the traditional publishing model, full editorial and design control, less wait time, fewer “cooks in the kitchen,” as they say. Nobody said it was going to be easy, though—when you self-publish, you are more or less on your own. You have no marketing and publicity team, no connections to distributors, no legal team to help navigate the sea of paperwork, and no publishing house’s platform to stand on. The self-published author must outsource these tasks—which has the silver lining luxury of selecting one’s own team. The investment can be steep, however, and there is no guarantee of payoff. So how do you know if it is the choice for you? Ask yourself:
Perhaps you should keep writing.
Land here? Maybe your manuscript just isn’t ripe yet. Try a workshopping class (like Blueprint Your Book, if you’re in Boston) or work with an editor (like us!) to continue developing your series and enriching your theme.
Do more research.
Rest easy: this is more straightforward than it sounds. Self-publishing has many moving parts, but it only takes some quality time on the Internet to learn. Here are a few great places to start:
You should self publish!
Huzzah! (According to my completely made up flowchart) You should self publish your book!
Keep trying to find an agent.
Maybe you think your book is done, or maybe you just dont have the resources to self publish at this time. Research agents ahead of time, to ensure they do, in fact, represent your genre/type of work. Dont know where to look? Check out the Association of Author’s Representatives, which was created “in order to ensure that agents fulfill in a straightforward manner all obligations they undertake in relation to their clients.” It is a great source of hundreds of reputable agents.
Develop a marketing & promotion plan.
It’s never too early to begin building a platform. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can help a new author build a following through connectivity. Starting a blog, too, can give your future readers a taste of what your book will be like. (Think it’s a waste of time? Check out Tawna Fenske, who started blogging last year to promote her first publication MAKING WAVES, coming out August 2011—and now boasts almost ten thousand followers.) Beginning these elements is the easy part, though. Sustaining them with quality information on a regular schedule is the challenge—and the only way to develop a fan base. Not sure if the Web is for you? Ask yourself: Should I be online?
