Self-Publishing Tips

by guest blogger Cynthia MacKinnon

Terri Main of the Wayfarers Journal has written an excellent post "Self Publishing: Everybody's Right—Sort of" discussing the truth and myth of self-publishing. Ms Main's essay sparked an idea to address the problems with self-publishing, a sort of primer for authors considering this avenue for getting their book out there.

Note: Some of what I say below was originally from the comments I made at Wayfarers Journal.

There have been some great successes in self-publishing (most recently, The Shack) and these bring much hope to all writers.

There are many successful (by my standards, not by those of the big publishing houses) self-published books but by a large majority, these are non-fiction books that appeal to a niche market.

Self-publishing has an important role to play in the marketplace because it can produce reading material that is not found elsewhere. I am thinking specifically of the kind of Christian speculative fiction that big houses won't touch because of its risk.

For the most part their market is a homogeneous one (and a wonderful group of people) and although it is a mistake to state unequivocally that they won't like the daring type of Christian speculative fiction, for the most part their tastes lie elsewhere. It doesn't make good business sense, the big guys say, to take the risk.

So along comes the self-publishing option. It does have a bad reputation (though this trend is reversing) and in many cases it is deserved.

The only way to circumvent popular opinion is to prove the naysayers wrong. An author needs to put his/ her novel through as stringent and demanding a process as it would experience with a publisher.

If you don't approach publishing houses with your ms because you are pretty certain they won't like the genre or some of the content, that's perfectly okay (though it never hurts to try). But, don't use s.p. as an easy way out or a shortcut to the bestseller list.

Think like a publisher, after all, you are now one.

Here are some tips:

1. Write up that query, that proposal, that summary and synopsis. Get feedback on it; perfect it. Then, use it for your promotional materials.

Best Practice: hire yourself a publicist.

Acceptable Practice: Find good reference materials. There are a number of book query/ proposal books available, check your local library or purchase a copy online (you can always pick up used copies at amazon or B&N for really good prices).

Bad Practice: Do nothing, after all, I don't need a query or proposal to publish my own book!

2. Plan your book publication. Along with a marketing plan and budget, draw up a timeline . . . and be generous.

Best Practice: Hire the services of a publishing mentor who charges by the hour. They'll walk you through the process and answer the myriad of questions you should have. You'll also get the advantage of their experiences, good and bad.

Acceptable Practice: Purchase self-publishing resources. A recommended book is Peter Bowerman's Well Fed Self Publisher although many of his experiences have been with non-fiction, the basics are all there. Check the offerings Dan Poynter has at his ParaPublishing website. You can even order free booklets chock full of great information.

Bad Practice: Timeline? as soon as my book is written I will use POD tech and get it out to amazon. Timeline = 1 day.

3. Make sure your book is as well-written as it can possibly be! No-brainer? Show the world that s.p. doesn't equal poor quality. Every author needs the perspective and distance from their work that only comes from a second or third party.

Best Practice: Have your book professionally polished including critique, edit and proofreading.

Acceptable Practice: Many self-publishers depend on their friend's proofreading skills and a bunch of critiques done by well-intentioned folks who have no real stake in the success of the book nor have the time to do a really thorough job. Then they pay for an edit and find that either the edit costs a great deal more than anticipated because the book hasn't seen enough drafts, or the editor pulls his hair out and is reluctant to do business with the author again.

Worst Practice: I am a good proofreader and I know what I like. Oh yeah, I used spell AND grammar check on my wordprocessor and my aunt says it is the best book she's ever read.


Next time I'll talk about cover design and book layouts.