I have never talked about self-publishing on this blog. Why? Because some people who self-publish usually use gatekeepers like agents and editors as an excuse, like we’ve literally driven them to Lulu.com with our cruelty. We are The Man. We keep literary geniuses down. So they circumvent The Man and self-publish. Since I’m The Man, what do you really expect me to say?
What finally got me to articulate myself on the topic is a fantastic Salon article. This is the closest I’ve come to reading my own thoughts about self-publishing.
The average person has no idea what lurks in slush. The writers querying agents obviously think their stuff is up to snuff, or they wouldn’t be querying. Even so, most slush is not ready for human consumption. Why? Because writers are notoriously erroneous judges of their own work. A lot of them think they’re ready for “prime time,” and that is often not the case. It is my informed opinion — having read what most people call their polished work — that most self-published books, unless professionally edited beforehand, will read like my slush pile, not like the New American Literature.
Most of the time, when you get a rejection, it is really saying, “This isn’t ready for publication yet.” The questions going through my head when I evaluate submissions are: Is this saleable? Can I sell it? If the answer to one or both questions is “no,” I reject. If the answer to both is “yes,” I’ll pursue the project. It’s really no more complicated than that.
I do have to say one thing in defense of self-publishing: it is a very useful tool for people who have a niche audience or their own book sales channels. Ideally, both. Most traditional publishers may not do “niche” projects (not a large enough target market to justify general trade publication). If you have a book about a very specific subject, say, a kid with heart disease, and you also have access to the American Heart Association’s mailing list, for example…you might be successful at zeroing in on your target readers through direct sales.
But most people who self-publish don’t have a niche book or a good marketing strategy: they want to target the mass market. They have a project that would appeal, in their opinion, to everyone and anyone. And self-publishing a book intended for a trade audience is where these would-be authors get in trouble. Because reaching a mass audience — casual readers — with a self-published fiction project is nearly impossible.
From now on, I’ll be talking about these people self-publishing. The people who don’t believe what editors and agents keep telling them: their work isn’t ready. Just because a shortcut and a loophole exist, doesn’t mean you need to use them. And just because you use them, doesn’t mean you’ll get the same results as people who publish traditionally (your book distributed in stores…readers for your work…reviews…sales…any kind of profit).
The Internet disproves a simple, old-fashioned idea: “If you build it, (throw it up on Lulu or Amazon or any of these other websites) they will come.” Readers will not come. They have too much other stuff on their browser. It’s just like trying to get your band discovered by putting up an mp3 on MySpace. Every other band is putting up their mp3, too. (Not that MySpace is relevant anymore, of course.)
The Internet is flooded with content. As a reader, my time and psychic space are limited. I seek only the things I’m looking for or already know about. I don’t go trolling for complete unknowns just to check out a new ebook, and I certainly would never pay money to try random self-published wares.
But it’s not my job to sway anybody from wanting to self-publish. All the people who want to self-publish, should. We clearly disagree on a few key issues and I, as The Man, have better things to do than argue. When folks actually self-publish, they’ll figure out firsthand how difficult it is to get their books in the hands of readers. It’s also one thing to self-publish once you already have a reader base, like Kindle evangelist Joe Konrath, who now has Amazon releasing his books, but quite another to rustle up some hungry eyes as a rank debut.
The decision, in my opinion, is this: do you work through the rejection, finesse your writing craft, earn traditional publication and make the dream come true in a big way, or do you find a loophole and “publish” your work to a very limited audience? It all depends on what will make you really feel like you’ve accomplished your goal. I’m a writer in my spare (ha!) time. And I want to target the mass market. I would never, personally, self-publish. To me, a self-published version of my work wouldn’t be an achievement. It would just be a printout of my manuscript bound between two thicker pieces of cardboard, and about as fulfilling as my pile of scratch paper. Blogger Christoper Keelty goes as far as calling self-publishing, “selling your failures.” (Thanks to Colleen Lindsay for the link.) There are agents who will consider self-published projects, if they have gone on to sell big (like, thousands or hundreds of thousands of copies). But I’m not one of them. I prefer to focus on bringing something to market for the very first time.
The writers who self-publish because they’re sick of rejection aren’t writers I’d like to work with, anyway. I’m only interested in people who grow, learn, polish, adapt, and set their sights on the difficult goal of traditional publication. It’s hard for a reason. Not everybody gets to do it.
I went to one camp as a kid and, at the end of summer, the counselors held a lavish award ceremony for our families. Every camper got a ribbon for being special. Parents cried. Camcorders hummed. Kids tried not to embarrass themselves on stage. The counselors had to write something nice to everyone, so campers got contrived ribbons for “Best hair” and “Funniest laugh.” Anything, really, that the adults could think of at the last minute. Did that make everyone feel more special in the end? No. It cheapened something that is supposed to reward an extraordinary achievement. Call me a snob if you like. But I have read lots and lots of slush. And I wouldn’t wish most of it on the reading public. America has enough problems with declining literacy, as it is. We don’t want to scare people away from reading altogether by unleashing a tide of bad writing.
Sure, there are exceptions. Joe Konrath’s success with bringing his existing readers to a new format has been noteworthy. And there are self-published books for the mass market that have sold huge. Two things come to mind: the work of Christopher Paolini and an adult book called THE LACE READER. And you know what happened to them? Both moved on to traditional publication. You know why? Because that was probably the writers’ goal in the first place, and they took a circuitous route.
And you know why I know about these exceptions? Because they’re news. They’re rare. The other hundreds of thousands of self-published books? They’re unvisited websites and unopened boxes in somebody’s garage that I don’t really need to know about. I’d rather work with the writers who are approaching me to pursue traditional publishers, and focus my attentions there. There is a lot of talent in the world that’s worth being found and developed. I wouldn’t be an agent if I didn’t think so.
But like I said, I’m The Man. You’re either with me, or you wish you were with me. 
(And I’m a cheeky Man, at that.)
Tags: Slush
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Most underrated point in the article:
“Most of the time, when you get a rejection, it is really saying, “This isn’t ready for publication yet.” ”
Greatest thing an agent ever said to me. Happened last week, from someone I think we’re all familiar with :). None of the usual b.s. about voice, style, or any of the other codewords for “this sucks.” Just straight out “sit your butt down and work on this until it’s better.”
Thanks, Mary.
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Pingback from Kidlit.com · Self-Publishing Then and Now on July 2, 2010 at 7:15 am
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Veeeery interesting.
Everything I would say has already been said! Ha.
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Self-publishing is another reason I’m going to be staying away from the ebook market.
All of these self-published books are going to be posted as digital copies on ebook sites like Amazon, because it’s free and easy for the aspiring novelist.
The Amazon site is going to become a repository for badly-written, poorly-worded first novels about fat detectives in space and IT managers with telekinetic powers.
Do not worry Kidlit, the positive result of this is that the printed book market will still be sacred, because no aspiring novelist with a bad novel is going to get past the wall of literary agents and publishers.
The secondhand printed book market is going to be even more special, as most of the books will come from the time before digital copies.
Thanks,
Patrick
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Pingback from Jungla - Short, authentic book reviews on July 3, 2010 at 6:11 am
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1) Anything digital and online - books, music, photos - will be pirated. It would be nice to have book/music equivalents to the watermark process used on photos - it doesn’t mean they can’t be copied but it is hard to erase a high-quality watermark.
2) Self-Pub is quite viable for non-fiction if the author has the knowledge, time and willingness to promote.
3) Patrick: Self-pub does not necessarily imply either Ebooks or Amazon.
Some self-pub paperback and digital, Amazon and other places.4) Agents/editors/publishing houses are indeed gatekeepers, but it seems to me like swatting flies with a sledgehammer. Besides that, what I see on the shelves of B&N etc, does not impress me with the quality of the gatekeeping. The same function could be performed much faster and cheaper by professional reviewers. (As Self-pub/ POD grows, I expect to see an entire industry arise - reviewers who are not tied to existing media companies. Now, if we can just figure out how they can make a living…).
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Pingback from Kidlit.com · One Last Self-Publishing Post on July 5, 2010 at 7:15 am
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Often a rejection isn’t about the quality of the writing. It’s about marketability. A writer can have a great story and great writing, but in this economy the agents and pubs are looking for a home run — not a single or double.
Should a writer of a good — but less popular — genre book self-publish?
Yes. In today’s environment (ebooks) it’s much easier to find your niche audience. The long tail of the internet means an author can sell to a small, dedicated fan base. A good book the large publisher can’t take a chance on has a very good chance in the new ebook economy. Micro publishers can make a living alongside the big boys.
Moreover, there is no cost and very little risk to self-publishing in digital format. Thousands of writers are doing it successfully.
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Readers are going to prove to be better judges of what sells than the Manhattan publishing folk as they are the actual consumers. So what if 99% or more of self-published books are junk? The readers are already busy culling through blurbs and free samples and reader reviews and making their buying decisions, shooting the best of the lot to the top of Amazon’s charts. There are many readers who don’t mind going through this process. Today people volunteer their time so to speak for all kinds of interesting projects, including Wiki and Linux, for example.
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My question is… why do you even care? If we’re all such ignorant little peons, who cares? Isn’t that a bit like mocking retarded children?
If self-publishing authors really are so lame, and ignorant, and obviously multiply rejected hacks, then why not just ignore us and our emo whining?
Incidentally, I’ve never complained about how “The Man” didn’t want me. My issues with “The Man” are that they publish a lot of crap then feel they can look down on anyone for self-publishing. That they create stupid gimmicky titles for books. That they price ebooks out of the market. I could go on and on.
The fact is that not all of us self-pubbed because we couldn’t “get” a publisher. Some of us don’t WANT a publisher. Not everybody wants to get wrapped up in the new Hollywoodized NY publishing industry. (And frankly there is nothing a small press could do for me that I can’t do for myself, except take more of my money.) Nor do we want to mess with the myriad layers of BS that midlist authors whine about from their blogs daily.
Looking at some author blogs, one wonders why they even want to be published at all. “Oh, my publisher did this.” “Oh, I got saddled with an awful cover.” “Oh, my agent is so much trouble.” Whine whine whine.
There’s so much negativity in trad publishing I honestly don’t understand why anyone wants to be a part of it. I’m happy writing and polishing and publishing and promoting. And people who like my work and tell their friends… awesome. And people who don’t, that’s okay too.
But I maintain creative control, and more importantly BUSINESS control. Having an ebook priced at $9.99 as a debut author, isn’t exactly something that will build me a readership. And I believe ebooks are the future.
I think it’s easy to take the strawman of the little self-publishing author who didn’t do her homework and doesn’t know what she’s doing and act as if that’s “self-publishing”. (And there are way more of these people than I want there to be, but it’s a free market.) But there are plenty of talented and savvy indies working hard to overcome stigmas.
Such people should be lauded, not spit on. But you’re going to do what you’re going to do. Good luck to you.
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In the end, the original post boiled down to: “I’m the gatekeeper. Are you the keymaster?” which is the elitist attitude of someone who thinks they are above you because they are behind the gate AND holding the keys to the kingdom.
“What I can sell.” Not, “What is good.” Doesn’t that say it all? Go into a bookstore like Barnes & Noble and take a look at the complete crap that is clogging up their shelves. It is a glut of D-List thrillers and YA Vampire Novels.
Is this the kingdom that you as the author are so desperate to be a part of?
What people like Mary are afraid of is that devices like the iPad, Kindle and nook will level the playing field. Your self-published eBook looks the same to people who are browsing for books on the Kindle, iPad or nook as the book from a big publisher. The playground is level there and everyone gets to play.
The gatekeeper can’t force you to pay her toll when everyone has the keys to the playground.
Stay scared and stay classy. Just be aware that the mid-list authors that the big publishers are turning away in droves are going to start going at it on their own.
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Well, if I’m not mistaken, Virginia Woolf self-published several of her novels, so there must be some exceptions…
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I could point out the number of successful self-publishing authors out there, but full disclosure I’m online friends with them. One already posted her point of view (Zoe Winters).
I could point out that every rejection I have ever had has been along the lines of “this is fantastic, but we can’t sell it, what else do you have?” I could point out that the indie authors I know (that’s the term we prefer) regularly spend $700 on cover art, upwards of $400 on editing (m/s size dependent) so to say they are unedited is to miss the point. The big publishers are laying off editors, and where do you think they are getting the money to pay their mortgages?
I could go on to say that it is only the big publishers I am against. I think the small publishers are excellent for authors who aren’t business minded, and who do not love marketing. For what it is worth, I studied business at college, marketing was my favourite subject, and I read marketing blogs for fun.
I could point out that one of the most respected literary agencies, the Wylie Agency, recently turned its back on the big publishers and put its authors back titles directly onto Amazon.
I should point out that Lulu isn’t the best option, just the best known, and when people start saying Lulu this or Lulu that whilst bashing self publishing I know they haven’t done any research on the subject at all. The whole post above seems to be conjecture.
Instead, I’m going to talk about fan fiction. There are no gatekeepers. Some of it is crap. Reading through fan fiction is like reading through the slush pile. So the idea that we’ve never looked at slush is dropped on its head.
And yet, despite the fact that there is so much crap flooding the fan fiction market, I constantly find good stuff (following reviews and so on). It works.
It will continue to work.
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I am new to eBooks and suppose that it was inevitable that I would have the experience I want to relate. I bought a book about fishing in Alaska from the Sony eBook Store. To say that it was the worst thing I have ever read would be too kind. I quickly discovered that the “book” I bought was only 81 pages long, and that 8 of those 81 pages were an introduction.
I suppose that people have a right to write poorly and self-publish, but I’m angry at Sony for presenting this dreadful work alongside those of authors whose work I admire and have enjoyed. I paid nearly ten dollars for something which clearly had never enjoyed the attentions of an editor. Had I come across a “book” a quarter of an inch thick on the shelves of a bookstore…well, that might have alerted me that it was unusual in some way. After the fact of reading it, I looked again at Sony’s page describing the “book” and saw that, under the heading of “number of pages”, was the notation N/A.
I feel that Sony took advantage of me by selling me a stinker of a “book” with no indication that it was published in a non-traditional way - a way in which even the most ardent supporters admit that a lot of garbage comes through.
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