Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Watcha Say Wednesday: Self-Publishing

I’ve met some pretty opinionated authors in my time, and one subject that I see argued from both sides, and quite often, is whether or not to self-publish. Some say they want to publish the book that they wrote, and not the byproduct of a NY publishing house. Others say they want the validation of having an agent, publisher, and editor comb through their words to make them stronger. Some have so many books in their noggin that they don’t want to waste time querying, and are ready to move forward. Some don’t have enough money to self-publish and fund a marketing campaign. Some have tried to go the traditional route, and found that they were ready to see their book in print, broke down and did it themselves.

Of those that I’ve met that have self-published their book, some are pleased with the experience and have done well for themselves. While others have boxes of books in their basement that they can’t move. Some have no regrets, and others wished they would have waited.

So, for Watcha Say Wednesday – I ask you. What do you think about self-publishing? Is that the route you plan to go? Or do you refuse to ever do it? Or is it something that you keep in your back pocket as a last resort?

Have you self-published? Are you glad you did?

Have you read many self-published books? Or do all of the ones on your shelf have little penguins on the back?
If you're more comfortable going anon on this one, please help yourself - but try to be respectful. I understand this can get some people all riled up.

Answer what speaks to you, and ignore the rest. But do tell, I’m quite curious.

5 comments:

  1. Considered it, but happy I'm with a small publisher now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I went to an indie publisher instead and I'm happy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I haven't been at this game long enough to consider self-publishing yet, but I would definitely consider it if the traditional way doesn't pan out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some friends let me borrow a book their friend self-published. It's wretched. Great story, but full of misspellings, bad grammar, wrong choice of words, confusing sentences, run-on sentences...

    If you're going to self-publish, you'd better have a *lot* of people comb through for errors, and make suggestions for improvement.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I asked for your opinion--so I'll share mine. I don't have the finances to self publish, and I still prefer going the old fashioned route. I think if I ever hit the end of the road with querying Iron Thirst - I'd just start posting chapters online - just to share it. But for now, I'm still holding tight to the dream of publication. Very tight.

    ReplyDelete