- Joined
- Jul 16, 2009
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- Long Island, NY USA
- Website
- www.kivatrading.com
I self-published my first book, last year. There had been six years in the research and writing and after a year of rejection slips -- each with lots of encouragement, "just not right for us at this time" -- I began to realize I didn't really know what I was doing. It was hard to accept that as I had come out of a 20 year advertising design and marketing background and had written , well...copy, for years. But as I wondered what to do, a few things became apparent.
First, with a soft market, any product must be perfectly niched. My book was not ever going to be a mass-market best seller. At least I understood that much. I also realized I had to begin thinking of my book as a product. A package on a shelf.
Coming to the realization also that it would take a long time to find an agent who thought they could actually make money from a narrow market book, in a terrible market, I began to wonder if self-pubbing it might be the way to go. I finally learned it wasn't the agents that were to blame. They all wanted to do business, but they needed to know it was not going to be a waste of their time. No promises mean you have to get real about what you are writing.
Since POD Self-Publishing involved some minor expenses (all told, well under $100), it forced me to focus and study. I read overviews everywhere and promotional material as it filled my mailbox. I eventually settled on the POD publisher who did the very least, but provided a good quality product and had some useful connections. As the entire market changed over the interim, the distribution opened up and eventually I began to see my book out there. I started to see it more as my calling card, not an end in itself. More of a way to establish a brand.
I have learned things I could never have picked up through advice or suggestion alone. I think as a teaching device, the move to POD the first book was very effective. I'm not as doubtful and hard on the "industry" as I was, and I know how the layers within it mesh to form a self-instituted quality control program. Not a bad way for a manufacturing industry to proceed, is it?
To cut to the chase, my second book, a sequel, is due to be released this August, also self-pubbed. I'm seeing some royalties and some reviews come in, most of them very good (the reviews, not the royalties.), but then I never expected to give up my day job. As a learning experience, it's been great. Currently I'm working on my third novel. This one is mainstream enough that I'm going to pitch it like mad, but at least now, I have a glimmer of how to do that more effectively, too. I would not dissuade a debut novelist from self pubbing it, but they need to know why they are doing so, first.
First, with a soft market, any product must be perfectly niched. My book was not ever going to be a mass-market best seller. At least I understood that much. I also realized I had to begin thinking of my book as a product. A package on a shelf.
Coming to the realization also that it would take a long time to find an agent who thought they could actually make money from a narrow market book, in a terrible market, I began to wonder if self-pubbing it might be the way to go. I finally learned it wasn't the agents that were to blame. They all wanted to do business, but they needed to know it was not going to be a waste of their time. No promises mean you have to get real about what you are writing.
Since POD Self-Publishing involved some minor expenses (all told, well under $100), it forced me to focus and study. I read overviews everywhere and promotional material as it filled my mailbox. I eventually settled on the POD publisher who did the very least, but provided a good quality product and had some useful connections. As the entire market changed over the interim, the distribution opened up and eventually I began to see my book out there. I started to see it more as my calling card, not an end in itself. More of a way to establish a brand.
I have learned things I could never have picked up through advice or suggestion alone. I think as a teaching device, the move to POD the first book was very effective. I'm not as doubtful and hard on the "industry" as I was, and I know how the layers within it mesh to form a self-instituted quality control program. Not a bad way for a manufacturing industry to proceed, is it?
To cut to the chase, my second book, a sequel, is due to be released this August, also self-pubbed. I'm seeing some royalties and some reviews come in, most of them very good (the reviews, not the royalties.), but then I never expected to give up my day job. As a learning experience, it's been great. Currently I'm working on my third novel. This one is mainstream enough that I'm going to pitch it like mad, but at least now, I have a glimmer of how to do that more effectively, too. I would not dissuade a debut novelist from self pubbing it, but they need to know why they are doing so, first.