My discovery: self-publishing NOT a cure for rejection

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Jold

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After many years of writing and submitting work for publication--both short stories and novels--with basically no success, I decided to just start publishing work on my own. Part of my reasoning was that I didn't have time to both submit and write, and I'd rather write. But a part of me was just tired of the rejection. Tired of summoning the energy again and again to get up off the floor and try again. The idea of just putting my work out there and letting the world see it was appealing.

But what I've found is that by going down this route, every day has a form of rejection. Every day that no one buys my book or looks at my website is just as bad as the old form letters.

I offer this observation as one piece of data for other folks thinking about how to go forward.

Perhaps things will still take off, but the experience so far has been more anxious than I expected.
 

silver76

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I'm so sorry you are feeling that Jold. (((hugs))). I would also say that I've found that "being published" isn't a cure for rejection either. I feel those same things with a book from a publishing company. I am not sure you ever don't feel that in the life of a writer...
 

Drachen Jager

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The thing I've heard about self-publication is that you have to spend far more time promoting yourself than you do when you're querying agents or publishers. It's not a short-cut to success, in fact it's a harder route than traditional publishing, which is why the vast majority of successful writers still come up the traditional way, and self-pubbers 'making it' only happens once every few years.
 

Jold

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Thanks, silver76 and Drachen, for your responses. I didn't mean to sound so mopey, but I guess it was one of those moments.

The thought of escaping rejection is a tantalizing illusion. As is the dream of just writing.
 

hlynn117

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Thanks for the advice. Sometimes, I've thought of self-publishing, but I realize I don't have the time to promote myself. I could do some reasonable promotion if I could find a small publisher, but I don't think I have the time or knowledge of the industry to self-publish. Basically, all of us want a cure for rejection, which feels just as elusive as the cure for aging. Best of luck, and you didn't sound too mopey. It's just one of those nights or days or weeks.
 

ohthatmomagain

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Thanks for this. Rejection is a horrible thing, but we have to learn to not take it personally (notice I said we lol)
 

alvin123

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Thanks, silver76 and Drachen, for your responses. I didn't mean to sound so mopey, but I guess it was one of those moments.

The thought of escaping rejection is a tantalizing illusion. As is the dream of just writing.

Even the greatest of writers had experienced rejection :3 It's a long road. I still haven't gotten 1 novel published. And as for short stories, not one "pro/paying" market established.
However, there isn't a time to give up. Mere dedication: Sure, submitting over and over after receiving form or personal rejections could be annoying but as a writer with that burning passion for an audience, it's just what you have to do.
 

EbookReader

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But what I've found is that by going down this route, every day has a form of rejection. Every day that no one buys my book or looks at my website is just as bad as the old form letters.

What's the title of your book so I can find it on Amazon?

Just a suggestion, but you should add the title to your signature, in case someone is curious enough to at least look at it, and maybe read an excerpt. Readers can't buy a book if they don't know about it.

self-pubbers 'making it' only happens once every few years.

I disagree. There are a lot of self-pubbers out there who make a decent living from it.

http://selfpublishingsuccessstories.blogspot.com/
Self-Publishing Success Stories: authors who have sold 50,000+ self-published ebooks.
 

Katrina S. Forest

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I disagree. There are a lot of self-pubbers out there who make a decent living from it.

http://selfpublishingsuccessstories.blogspot.com/
Self-Publishing Success Stories: authors who have sold 50,000+ self-published ebooks.

"Making a decent living" is not the same as selling 50,000 e-books. Especially if you sold those books at 99 cents each over the course of a couple years. Not that I'd complain if I had that cash, but I couldn't live off it.

To the OP, hang in there and keep writing. I sure understand how you feel, wishing that all it took for success was just to upload the book on Amazon and watch the readers rush in. But it's not easy, no matter which road you take. That's why it's so awesome when you succeed. Stick with it until you do. :)
 

EbookReader

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"Making a decent living" is not the same as selling 50,000 e-books.

Especially if you sold those books at 99 cents each over the course of a couple years.

If it's sold at $2.99 on Amazon, that's

50,000 x $2.04 royalties (70% minus a small bandwidth charge) = $102,000.

The $0.99 perception is overblown. A vast majority of the books sold by the authors I listed are at $2.99 or above.
 

EbookReader

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I'm not saying self-publishing is easy. It's just as hard as traditional publishing.

But it's better to earn something from a book. It earns you nothing if it just sit there on your computer hard drive.

As for promotion, you will need to do it whether you are indie or traditional (unless you're a NYTimes BestSeller). Even an author with $50,000 advance didn't get a marketing push from her publisher*** (see below)

Nick Russell wrote this post:
http://publishing4profit.com/blog/2012/03/16/are-you-just-an-author/
Are You Just An Author?

His success (104,000 ebooks sold of his novel Big Lake) is in part thanks to promotion that he has done.
If he priced it at $2.99, he gets to keep $2.04 for every ebook sold.







****** (this NYTimes BestSeller shared her royalty statement and she talked of marketing)

http://www.genreality.net/the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller

And a follow-up after getting her second royalty statement

http://www.genreality.net/more-on-the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller


She also posted her royalty statements in full.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/LynnViehl/TFRoyaltyStatement1.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/LynnViehl/TwilightFallRoyaltyStatement5-31-09.jpg
 

Katrina S. Forest

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EbookReader, my comment about neither road being easy was directed at the OP, and it was meant more in a sympathetic way rather than an informative one. Apologies if that was unclear. You don't have to convince me that promoting a self-published book is hard work. That's one of the big reasons I don't want to do it. I'm all for hard work, but that's not where I want to focus my efforts.

But it's better to earn something from a book. It earns you nothing if it just sit there on your computer hard drive.

I don't believe it's always better to earn something from a book. Because like most authors, I've written some pretty awful books. And my computer hard drive is exactly where they deserve to stay.

I'm not going to get into a discussion on what an author needs to price books at or over what period of time those sales would need to occur. My only point was that a list of authors with self-reported total sales over 50,000 is not the same as a list of authors who "make a decent living" at it.
 
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Jold

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I think there are definitely a number of trends right now that make it easier to earn a living publishing outside the established tradition. That said, those trends don't guarantee anything for individual authors... And it's still early enough that there's a lot of uncertainty. There will be a lot of hype about things that fizzle out. Other approaches will come out of nowhere.

Thanks to everyone who posted on this topic.

To Katrina: I'm with you on having written novels that are best left in a drawer, preferably a damp one where they can rot away. Two such in my case.
 

gingerwoman

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I think there are definitely a number of trends right now that make it easier to earn a living publishing outside the established tradition. That said, those trends don't guarantee anything for individual authors... And it's still early enough that there's a lot of uncertainty. There will be a lot of hype about things that fizzle out. Other approaches will come out of nowhere.

Thanks to everyone who posted on this topic.

To Katrina: I'm with you on having written novels that are best left in a drawer, preferably a damp one where they can rot away. Two such in my case.
I'm interested what genre(s) you write in Jold?
 
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