Writer Validation Through Publication

     Every aspiring writer out there wants the same thing in one form or another – to be recognized as a writer. For most of us, it’s the motivation for why we write. We can craft stories, create worlds with amazing characters who can do amazing things but in the end, we want people to read them. We want to get validated for our work.

     That means seeing our books being picked off the shelves, taken home and enjoyed. We want our e-books to be downloaded and we want to see amazing reviews on all the effort we put into them so others can enjoy them. It’s the process of how they get into readers’ hands that stumps many of us because we don’t know our options. There are three at the top of the list most writers are aware of; traditional, independent and vanity.

     Traditional publishing is seen as the go to for any author who feels this is how they will make a name for themselves – and money. This is how we gain the credibility, the prestige, the validation proving we have officially qualified as a writer who is good enough to make the cut. I mean, it comes with so many perks, right? We write the book, ‘sell’ it to a publishing house and they take care of the rest – design, printing, marketing, distribution, all we need to do is wait for the money to start rolling in while we work on the next project.

     It’s all great on paper but here’s the reality most of us are unaware of. First off, there’s a long waiting time before we see our book on the shelf. For most publishing houses, we have to find an agent. This could take a couple of years because the book has to make the cut. Once found, our agent will act on our behalf to solicit our book to a reputable publisher the agent deems a good fit, which can take up to six months or more before they get around to reading it because most of them have a fairly large slush pile to go through already. Be prepared for a lot of rejections. It may take another several months for them to go through another round of edits before they deem it fit for public consumption. Factor in cover design, marketing, printing and shipping times, we can look at another full two years before the book is actually available on bookshelves.

     Then, and only then, will we get our validation. We can tell the whole world as soon we are accepted by a publisher but two or three years later, most of our audience will have moved on. It’s on us to find a way to keep them excited about the release.

     Most of us don’t have that kind of patience. It already took a long time to write the book, now we have to wait years to see it in public…?

     This may work for some writers, however. The business end of authoring and self-publishing is a heavy undertaking, so they just want to write. That’s awesome. It keeps publishing houses working and people employed. Nothing wrong with that at all.

     But is self-publishing, or indie (independent) publishing the answer?

     Indie publishing is not a new term to the writing world. The Joy of Cooking was independently printed in 1931 before being purchased by a publishing house. Other titles include Fifty Shades of Grey and The Martian. Look how well they did. And therein lies the bridge between two worlds.

     Taking the route to do it alone simple means we bypass the traditional publishing house by seeking out a printer (more or less) who is able to print single or multiple copies of our book and make them available for sale. This is termed print-on-demand. More options have sprouted up over the years with the rise in popularity for authors choosing to seek out this method of publishing because of unfair terms through the traditional publishers. The largest being Amazon who purchased CreateSpace in 2005. Their process is about as simple as it gets. We write the book, format it to suit Amazon’s requirements and upload the files and set a price. A bit of meta-data and information to fill out and zippity-bing, the book is ready for sale by the masses in hardcover, softcover or e-book. They even provide a page for the book to be viewed and purchased.

     Unlike traditional publishing, we keep all rights to our work where the big houses want all rights whether they use them or not. We keep all creative control over the design and story, we keep a larger part of the profits on sales (well, maybe not on Amazon), the book is ready in as little as a few hours and if someone wants to make a major motion picture out of it, well, that’s all us baby!

     However, all of the background work falls on our shoulders as well. The story has to be up to par and the editing top notch. The cover design has to catch the attention of potential buyers and the synopsis has to make them want to read the book. But the current use of AI – though does create great pieces of art, is widely frowned upon and seen as taking the art and skill out of the hands of human designers. Designers are the preferred route but it rarely come cheap. You can save money and do it all yourself but you better know what you’re doing. The cover art has to tease something about the story while looking absolutely fantastic. This is the reality of the business end.

     Do we get the validation of being a writer? Sure, why not? We wrote the book, that does qualify the use of the title. If we put the effort into it and the book can competitively sit on the shelf beside mainstream authors, you bet we can get the validation. If we can market effectively and draw the attention, retain followers who will want more, absolutely we can grow a reputation. No one said it will be an easy road, though. You have to want it.

     The last, and least used, is the vanity press. This is the self-publishing route but we pay thousands of dollars to a printing press just to print the book. They don’t take any rights, they don’t do any marketing and they don’t actually ‘publish’ our work. They take our layout and cover design, they our money, and they print the book. The rest is up to us. Personally, taking the self-publishing path is a no-brainer over vanity press.

Put Together a Plan

     There is a possible win-win scenario found in a hybrid solution. Use the best of both worlds by choosing which of our books we can afford to indie publish and those we can afford to wait for the traditional publishing process. I have a few books available through Amazon in print, e-book and one in audiobook format, which I will use to gain an audience and followers. Hopefully, those followers get to my website where I will keep those great folks updated on what I’m doing and offer whatever advice I can to help them on their journey – through blog posts like this one and dedicated book pages. This establishes my work and my quality of writing.

     With my current trilogy, Jacob Derigo, I will likely self-publish first to get the book into the hands of anxious readers quicker and hope it gains enough traction to find an agent and seek traditional publication from there. The publisher may see a greater potential if I already have an established sales background. If accepted, I still won’t be quick to sign anything until I’ve worked out a mutually beneficial contract with said publishing house. For instance, I don’t plan to hand over the audiobook rights if they will never plan to create the audiobook. Same with movie rights (you never know!). I may negotiate the amount of the advance as well. I can accept a smaller advance to see profits quicker. Profits on sales aren’t paid to authors until the advance is covered and likely, the expenses the publisher put out to print and market the book. Always investigate fully what the publishing house wants before you give anything up.

     I fully understand it won’t be an easy going but I can accept the responsibility because writing is what I want to do. It’s my retirement plan. I will put the work into my projects to make them the best I can. Success can only follow a well laid plan, believing it can be a reality, and the hard work that follows.

Share any thoughts or experiences on your publishing journey or just ask questions…