Self-publishing: Any success stories??

Warning on "Success"

Although I'm not sure that the original request intends this result, I suspect that this thread is going to get some of the "classic stories of self-publishing success" up in lights.

They're mostly hogwash. That's not to say that there are no self-publishing success stories—just that most of the examples aren't valid. I've done a five-minute debunking of some of those "success stories" on my blawg. The flaws range from "it wasn't actually self-publishing" (e.g., John Grisham) to "it was self-publishing because it would have been illegal for a regular publisher to print it" (Virginia Woolf) to… well, go read the entry.

Yes but Jaws there just MAY be some VALID success stories posted on this thread that we could all stand to benefit from. I know of a couple nonfiction authors who found success self-publishing their books. I know a question like this is BOUND to invite answers such as what you've predicted but there's always that good post that'll stand out.

Christopher Paolini is a success

He, or I should say his family, originally self published and marketed Eragon. Of course he then sold the rights to a major house Knopf.

Dee

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "success." I know a woman who wrote and self-published a book on how to organize Christian women's conferences. She did not make much money on the book, but she considered it a success, because she was able to reach a very special niche market through reviews and advertisements in Christain publications. This is a case where self-publishing was probably the best way to go, since her target market was so specific.

I also know a woman who wrote a story for a non-fiction anthology about the Filipino immigrant experience in America that was self-published by a group of Filipino authors. The anthology was picked up for use in schools in the Phillipines and is now in its second printing. In this case, I think the profits went to an organization to help Filipino immigrants, and I don't know how successful, in a monetary sense, the book was.

Most people who are successful in self-publishing have a way to market their books. For example, they are primarily speakers who give workshops and market their book as an adjunct to the workshop.

An earlier poster cited Eragorn as an example. I believe the family was already in the publishing business, so although it was initially self-published, it was not typical of most self-publishing situations.

DeePower said:

He, or I should say his family, originally self published and marketed Eragon. Of course he then sold the rights to a major house Knopf.

Click to expand...

Umm, no. His parents actually had a publishing company that published works by other than family members before they published his book; so he's not a self-publishing success story at all. A success story, yes; but not of self-publishing.
This is parallel to the John Grisham story. His first book was published by a small commercial press. Using his author discount, he bought a fair number of copies (I've heard the number 500 a lot), which he then proceeded to sell out of the trunk of his car at swap meets. By no stretch of the imagination was this "self-publishing," but a lot of the self-publishing boosters continue to cite it as an example (even after Grisham Himself denied it).
I'm sure that there are self-publishing success stories. It's just that the vast majority of such assertions turn out to be invalid. I'm suggesting only that we all be very careful to check facts before proclaiming a particular instance as one.

Peter Bowerman: The Well-Fed Writer (and the follow-up book).

I promise it's self-published.

He did quite well with it, securing national distribution and solid reviews. Then he tried to convince me to self-publish. And I tried to convince him to get his butt over here and moderate the self-publishing board. Neither of us convinced the other.

Good luck trying to convince PB to even visit this board. He rarely--if ever--posts on his own yahoo WFW group. In fact, the only time I've seen his posts over on that board was through another member.

But, oh yes, he is a major success at self-pubbing. And the main reason, as he told me himself, is that he's a control freak (his own words) and felt it would be more profitable for him to do the whole thing himself.

As a result, he has two very nicely done books with reviews and great distribution, and has opened the field of freelance copywriting to a much wider audience. He also gives a lot of talks across the country, so that of course helps too.

utc

I would suspect that Peter has a little too much on his plate to mod a board or post in an online group that often....

Please. Like I don't? No excuses! You've inspired me. I'm going to hunt the guy down and make him come over here.

General comment on conventional self-publishing: If you know what you're doing, you CAN make good money with it. The first part of that sentence shouldn't be taken lightly, though. There's a LOT that goes into self-pubbing, and it's not a short-term project.

Too busy, huh? I"ll show ya too busy...

You rang? Yes, this is Peter Bowerman, answering Jenna's call. I mean, with a challenge laid down like that, how could I refuse? Either that, or I'm the victim of some pretty elementary child psychology... ("oh, HE'LL never come here..."..."Oh, YEAH?").

And utc (someone I know apparently, as I told you something personallly...), you're right, I need to visit my own board. Don't do it much. Bad bad writer...

So, was there a question or did you just want to see me show?

PB

I am such a child.

Yeah, mostly it was just to see if I could taunt you into showing up. BUT there's also a serious question on the table. We want to know about your self-publishing success! (And when's your book on the subject coming out, by the way?)

What specifically about my SP experience?

That's a miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty broad subject. Remember, I'm writing a book about it! As such, I can't discuss my SP experience in a few paragraphs... But if there are specific questions...

PB

Okay, I'll go a little narrower. You and I already talked about this, but I think it would interest the rest of the board...

In short, I know lots and lots of people who've self-pubbed and been disappointed with the results, and maybe 2 or 3 who've succeeded. So the question becomes, what sets those people apart? I'm sure that's what your book will set out to answer.

But until then, how about a biggie:

How did you secure national bookstore distribution?

Well, Peter Bowerman! All right, I eat my previous words. See, with your hectic schedule and your copywriting business, I always figured you were too busy to stop by the message boards. This is a surprise, sorry for doubting you, and I hope I did not offend you. Just thought you were busy busy busy .

I met you at a talk you gave in Cincinnati last year regarding your BFS book. And I had also corresponded with you in the past once or twice (but I'm not so narcissistic to believe you'd would remember me after the thousands of people you correspond with and meet regularly). After the talk I asked you why you self-published and how that was working for you. Hope you didn't mind my quoting you.

Welcome to AW, and I hope to see you share some of your wisdom.

utc

SP continued...

utc, no of course you didn't offend me. In fact, it was a good wake-up call for me. I REGULARLY engage with my readers via email (so much so that I am at risk of having my day eaten up, death-by-1000-cuts kind of thing...), but I don't visit chat rooms enough.

Anyway, SP... I'm guessing that a healthy % of the folks who SP'd unhappily probably did POD, which has its place, but NOT for the SP'er who wants to actually be successful at it. And THAT'S a whole other discussion for a whole other day. Suffice it to say I'm NOT a big POD fan, mainly b'c I think authros get sold a bill of goods about the upside potential. Others who weren't successful probably printed too many and/or promoted too little. SP'ing is a haul. A lot of work, but IMHO, well worth it.

As for how I got nat'l distribution? It's funny how that seems to be the BIG UNATTAINABLE in most people's minds and it was actually pretty easy for me. I didn't have a distributor, btw, despite the fact that the conventional wisdom is that you need one to be successful.

When I made application to Ingram (the big trade wholesaler for the bookstores), I included as part of my "Marketing Strategy" portion of the app, a one-page, single-spaced list of all the entities (mostly web-based) I'd already contacted who'd promised a review. Ingram was VERY impressed and told me that based on that, they were offering me what they called a Full Publisher Contract - treating me like a bigger publisher, not the one-booker I was. Lesson: They'll work with those publishers who demonstrate that they're serious about marketing their book.

Listing with Ingram just meant that anyone could go into any bookstore anywhere and order the book, but I didn't approach the bookstores right away. I went about building the demand through my (ongoing and mostly web-based) promo efforts and then I started getting "Requests For Title Information" from B&N and Borders, little faxes saying, in essence, "we're getting lost of request for this book, but we dont' carry it. Tell us about it." After I got a number of those, I THEN made formal application to the bookstores chains and they accepted and started stocking my book (ordering directly from Ingram, of course...).

Anyway, that's today's lesson, class... Have your homework on my desk by 9 am tomorrow and Billy, stop pulling Rachel's pigtails...

PB

Wow! Welcome to AW, Mr. Bowerman! Thanks for stopping in, and I hope we can look forward to seeing you here regularly! I'm a big fan!

Melina

Hi! I agree with Tish; it depends on the definition of success. I self-published my memoir a couple of years ago. It's been really fascinating, learning all the steps to create your own book. I've worked hard on obtaining reviews, and have been pretty successful there. As far as industry standards I've sold very few (around 2000), but for a newbie like me it's been thrilling! The best part if googling yourself and finding a teen's online diary or blog listing you as their fave author, or coming home to an e-mail from a kid who writes that your book has changed their life. That's the best success!

Peter, thank you for your advice! I have Baker and Taylor, but I didn't even consider Ingram because I thought their policy was hard and fast. I may be getting an agent (fingers crossed!), but if I don't I will definitely give Ingram a try!

By the way, this seems like a really neat site!

Welcome, Aimee! And 2000 sales is nothing to sneeze at for a self-pubbed book.

I echo your sentiments about seeing your book mentioned in a blog/getting "fan" e-mail. That's the coolest form of success.

...Welcome Peter Bowerman...and I look forward to more of your insights.

Welcome to the Water Cooler, Peter.

Thanks for the welcome...

Nice folks here at the WC... I'll try to come more often, but feel free to shoot me an email (as Jenna did the other day) to get my butt over here ([email protected]).

One comment. Aimee, you say you hadn't considered Ingram b/c you thought "their policy was hard and fast." What policy? I hope you didn't think Ingram doesn't take on SP books... SO not true. They'll take on any books that will move, but keep in mind, as of June 2001, Ingram doesn't deal directly with les than 10-book publishers. Was THAT the policy you were referring to? In that case, go through their small publisher arm, Biblio. Or, if you decide to go with BookMasters to print your books and/or fulfill them (which I've done for both), BookMasters has a deal to get you in the side door of Ingram. Details by calling BookMasters or visiting their site.

You really NEED to be on Ingram if you want to move some numbers. I'd love to think I could get to a point where I could bypass the bookstores completely and have SUCH a comprehensive marketing plan going funneling people to my web site and moving serious numbers just by web (where, needless to say, you have the highest profit margins...), but that's probably not realistic any time soon.
PB

True story: an author who got fed up with her publisher, with a number of books already out, and self-published her last one, and is doing just as well with it.

A lot of new authors are shocked when they realize what is needed from them in terms of marketing and selling themselves. When self-publishing, all of the responsibility rests on the author. Those who will succeed will either themselves have good marketing experience, or have help from someone who does. There's no need for huge costly events to get the word out - just constant and consistent.
There are author marketing books and articles out there, along with general sales literature. It's another whole world unto itself, but if a first time author wants to be 'successful', and that means at least paying for all of the books printed , then a lot of grunt work needs to be done.