Why I'm self-publishing

[HareBrain]

Good luck with your (ad)venture, Brian. In terms of getting it known, you obviously have a platform here, and that must be a lot more than many debut authors have.

 

[The Judge]

Good luck!

 

[Dan Jones]

Best of luck with this, Brian. God knows you've slogged away on it for enough years to deserve to see something come of it, so I hope it works out well for you. I'm also happy to support you, where I can. You've provided and nurtured a unique and highly valuable, tight-knit community here, from which I and countless others have benefitted enormously, so I owe you a debt of gratitude.

As for the ongoing trad v SP argument, a lot (though by no means all) people seem to automatically think of the Big 5 when referring to trad publishing, where the terms might be detrimental, you could lost in the numbers, you could flop and be dropped or, worse, left in contractual purgatory for years etc etc, but that doesn't mean trad is all bad.

It seems to me that more and more, the SMEs of the publishing industry, who operate on a smaller but more personal scale than the Big 5, are an attractive route for authors. They will often leverage a personal relationship with the author, so no getting lost in the mill, will provide the conventional advantages of trad publishing as mentioned by Jo and Boney earlier, but often also offer innovative and agile approaches to marketing support, tech and sales.

 

[Ursa major]

Best of luck, Brian!

 

[aThenian]

Best of luck with this, Brian! Will be following your journey on this and wishing you well - facing some of the same decisions, the same dilemmas, re self-publishing vs traditional, like so many of us here.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

I hope it works out for you, Brian. Self-publishing certainly offers a degree of freedom and autonomy which may suit you better. You've obviously done your research so I'm confident that you've made the best choice for yourself.

The self-publishing world seems a bit of a Wild West market from my layman's eyes but the opportunities out there, especially in terms of breadth and scope, are potentially limitless. Network, network, network would be my unsolicited advice

Marketing doesn't feel like work when it's word of mouth after all.

 

[Steve S]

Self publishing is a tough route but a highly rewarding one. There are frustrations of course, but these are just bumps in the road, and will be outweighed by the benefits. Your experience of marketing will stand you in good stead and there's a wide and varied self publishing community to offer advice and support. I wish you the very best of luck.

 

[DrMclony]

I wish you the absolute best of luck with this release! It's an exciting time, when real readers begin randomly picking up your work, after so much time and effort has gone into it. I hope they all love it!

 

[Froboy69]

Hey just make sure that it's edited well; I learned that the hard way....

 

[EJDeBrun]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, but this post really resonated with me and I wish you well on your venture. Epic fantasy is epic and there needs to be more.

On a different note, regarding the traditional vs indy publishing advantages disadvantages. I attended a seminar recently about this issue and learned something interesting things. The two genre panels were on mystery and romance, but I figure since both of those are Science Fiction/Fantasy's companions in the e-publishing and genre fiction categories, the information was really relevant.

After all the discussion I think the main takeaway point is the fact that any new author has to do their own marketing, unless they're one of the chosen few. All four published authors stated that writers are 99% of the time, are responsible for marketing themselves. Out of the 100% of books published by traditional houses, only 1% of them are going to have money invested in their marketing, and those will almost always be established authors. Otherwise it's just hitting some booklists (and sometimes even getting entirely forgotten!) One of the authors is a bestseller in mystery, but she still does a lot of marketing on her own on social media.

Also the advance is frightening! If you're only making $.61 a book with a $5000 advance, how many books do you have to sell to make up that $5000? At this point I'd definitely prefer putting in the bit of work to hire a editor, proofreader, cover designer, back description writer and e-publishing formatter. At least whatever I see past my costs is my own profit!

I don't know if I'm getting too big for my britches here, but it seemed relevant to the conversation, so I thought I'd drop in what I learned.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm new to this forum

Welcome to chrons, @EJDeBrun.

Out of the 100% of books published by traditional houses, only 1% of them are going to have money invested in their marketing

Although most published authors may not be backed with an advertising campaign, they will have a presence on the publisher website, usually be highlighted in a reader newsletter, and at least be able to get some attention that their book is coming out.

This results in blog posts across the web announcing new titles for the year, quarter, or even the month. Additionally, agents/editors/publishers will usually promote their writers on social media.

So even thought a traditional published writer may not be allocated an advertising budget, they will still get a significant amount of initial exposure far beyond what a self-published writer will get.

Also the advance is frightening! If you're only making $.61 a book with a $5000 advance, how many books do you have to sell to make up that $5000?

Indeed, this is a very good point. It's also why authors who get big advances are under a lot of pressure to earn them back - else never see royalties, and never have another book contract again.

I thought I'd drop in what I learned.

Not a problem at all, and thanks for sharing.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Although most published authors may not be backed with an advertising campaign, they will have a presence on the publisher website, usually be highlighted in a reader newsletter, and at least be able to get some attention that their book is coming out.

This results in blog posts across the web announcing new titles for the year, quarter, or even the month. Additionally, agents/editors/publishers will usually promote their writers on social media.

I think this varies a lot. But what Brian says is right - it's not just what a publisher pays, it's more than that. I am slow building to my first fantasy release next year, which is a new market for me (previously, I've only released sf) and it's important I get it right, as I hope to write more fantasy. My publisher for it is a small publisher but they have a lot of things in order from ARCS, to review sites, to chasing interview opportunities etc etc. I know there will be limited budget but they have contacts I don't have, and that matters too.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

This results in blog posts across the web announcing new titles for the year, quarter, or even the month. Additionally, agents/editors/publishers will usually promote their writers on social media.

So even thought a traditional published writer may not be allocated an advertising budget, they will still get a significant amount of initial exposure far beyond what a self-published writer will get.

With a big six even this isn't guaranteed. If your book comes out the same day as a celebrity author blog posts, tweets etc might not happen or might be delayed.

 

[Toby Frost]

I wonder how much of this reluctance to take epic fantasy as a debut is down to the reliability of the particular author. There have been a few cases of authors not finishing a series, which must be worse than useless for the publisher. In terms of words and books, taking on an epic series is a fair undertaking.

 

[aThenian]

Welcome to chrons. @EJDeBrun.

This results in blog posts across the web announcing new titles for the year, quarter, or even the month. Additionally, agents/editors/publishers will usually promote their writers on social media.

So even thought a traditional published writer may not be allocated an advertising budget, they will still get a significant amount of initial exposure far beyond what a self-published writer will get.

One of the problems with trad vs self publishing, is if you get a traditional publishing deal you really don't know what you're going to get in terms of marketing/publicity - yes, there will be a minimum, but it may be very, very minimal. And it may actually be harder as an author to do your own publicity/marketing in that situation, because you don't know what your publisher is (or isn't) doing and whether you are treading on their toes. If it's all down to you, then you know where you stand, and you could even hire your own marketing/publicity people, for example, rather than just hoping the publisher is doing something.

However, self-publishing is hardly an easy solution either - sure, anyone can access social media, but actually translating that into book sales is a whole different thing. Yes, you can make a better return per book, but you have to sell the books... And you have a lot of costs to cover.

It's a real dilemma, just wish I knew the answer.

 

[aThenian]

There have been a few cases of authors not finishing a series, which must be worse than useless for the publisher.

Why? If the books sell well, then that's good news for their bottom line.

 

[Toby Frost]

That depends on what they want the books for, surely. If the books are only needed up to the point where the author fails to deliver, fine. But once it's know that there won't be another book, almost nobody will want to read the series. And it's possible that the publisher won't be so keen to have future books by that author, because there's no guarantee that they will finish anything else. And there's the time and energy that the publisher has probably spent in setting the series up and advertising it.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I wonder how much of this reluctance to take epic fantasy as a debut is down to the reliability of the particular author.

I think it's mostly personal taste. I followed a great number of literary agents on Twitter. Many were young Americans who were always referencing Harry Potter - presumably because they grew up with it. Almost none ever referenced Game of Thrones, even though GRRM is the biggest selling fantasy writing at present.

I suspect there's a huge disconnect between what many publishers actually want, and what many agents are prepared to read.

 

[aThenian]

That depends on what they want the books for, surely. If the books are only needed up to the point where the author fails to deliver, fine. But once it's know that there won't be another book, almost nobody will want to read the series. And it's possible that the publisher won't be so keen to have future books by that author, because there's no guarantee that they will finish anything else. And there's the time and energy that the publisher has probably spent in setting the series up and advertising it.

I see what you mean. If they keep issuing book 1s, and no follow up, readers will get annoyed. I was think of something more like Game of Thrones, where fans may be getting anxious, but I doubt the publishers' are regretting they decided to publish!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I see what you mean. If they keep issuing book 1s, and no follow up, readers will get annoyed. I was think of something more like Game of Thrones, where fans may be getting anxious, but I doubt the publishers' are regretting they decided to publish!

It's what makes trilogies etc such a gamble for a publisher - readers often simply won't buy until the three books are out. Series are less of a risk as each book stands alone.