Author John Gilstrap doesn’t understand the desire to self-publish at all.
I don’t understand why people would pay the thousands of dollars necessary to make self-publishing happen. If the goal is to get one’s book into the hands of friends and family, a Kinko’s would serve as well as a self-publishing house. If the desired audience is bigger than that, the writer is hosed. Selling a hundred copies to people who all know where you live is not really publishing, is it? Isn’t the point to sell not tens of copies, but tens of thousands of copies? It’s impossible to get that kind of distribution without a legitimate publisher.
He’s right, of course. But some argue that pros like John are looking at this from the wrong angle. Some authors aren’t interested in making any money on their art, they are in it for the creative expression. Well, if that’s the case, why not just post the book for free download on a blog?
doesn’t understand why anyone would self-publish.
The idea of reaching a large audience through self-publishing is so unrealistic as to be a fantasy. Millions of people nurture fantasies and can’t be reasoned out of them. Lots of people also fall for all sorts of get rich quick schemes, even though five minutes of online research should steer anyone away from them.
The sad reality is these self-publishing outfits provide the industry a valuable service–they sop up 100s of thousands of manuscripts that would otherwise be clogging up literary agents and publishers mailrooms. The cheap PC made it too easy for anyone to write 300 pages.
Lee – I can think of three reasons for self-publishing. The author has:
1. A problem finding a publisher that handles his/her particular genre (e.g. humor, essays);
2. An established platform and well-known brand, so he/she already knows they have an audience for their book;
3. A need to control every aspect of a book, from cover art to marketing.
Doesn’t Wil Wheaton self-publish, or am I wrong?
“If the desired audience is bigger than that, the writer is hosed. Selling a hundred copies to people who all know where you live is not really publishing, is it? Isn’t the point to sell not tens of copies, but tens of thousands of copies? It’s impossible to get that kind of distribution without a legitimate publisher.”
I love it when people who have never done something even once espouse like they’re a pro at it. It always says quite a bit about them.