I just read this fantastic blog written by David Gaughran about the dangers of the supremely powerful vanity presses. For years, I have been writing and writing and submitting query after query to agents and publishing houses. And while I take the rejections and constructive criticism in stride and have hopefully improved my writing along the way, I become a bit irate when tragic celebrities are then represented by the very same people who rejected me. Naturally, there's more money for the publishers when the "author" is a brand name. I get that. It's a business.
But it's not just a business for me. I'm not making millions at all. Hell, I'm barely making enough to purchase the occasional caramel latte that I crave a few times each month. But the point is that after years of trying to get my writing out there, I now have nearly 3,000 people reading my work...after only 2 months. Many of these 3,000 people downloaded my book during a free promotion. This doesn't help my caramel latte cause. But the point is that they are reading my work.
I can't lie, I would love to be able to see my books on a shelf in Barnes and Noble. This has been my dream since I was thirteen. But I cannot possibly express how thrilled I am to have the opportunities that self-publishing has afforded me.
Along the same lines as Gaughran's article, I am also disconcerted by the fact that two "publishers" have contacted me to offer to consider representation. I'm not biting. And here's why:
1. With self-publishing, I write what I want, how I want, and when I want.
2. When I want to modify something in a published piece, I can revise and re-publish.
3. I can hire a cover designer and get exactly what I want. (Laura Gordon did my most recent cover and was extremely talented, very prompt, and more affordable than most designers I have seen and contacted. When I struggled to express exactly what I wanted, I fumbled through and Laura shot back a design that somehow met my vision precisely. She is AMAZING!)
4. I can price my books as I see fit, more or less, and monitor my sales as they occur. I can track when sales are up or down and try to anticipate trends.
5. I can market my books as much or as little as I want.
I wrote Bonds of Matrimony and Inner Moonlight myself, I got them edited, paid for cover design, and created all of the social networking accounts to being publishing. I ran my own promotions and marketed the events. I come home from my day job, enjoy some family time, and spend my evenings writing or marketing. And after I get off the ground, a "publisher" will step in and take over, use all of my work and take a cut of my profits. I don't really understand what they have to offer me that I can't handle myself. What service am I paying them for when I am doing all of the work?
And with everything that I'm reading about even the Big 6, I honestly don't know that I would consider working with them, either. Who knows? I'm still new to this entire scene. Perhaps when I'm making my millions, I won't want to be bothered with the nuisance of marketing. :)
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