Edited by William Konarzewski, Sunday, 12 Oct 2014, 08:21
For many years I resisted the temptation to self-publish. I told myself that if my books were worth publishing, they'd get published. And although I knew that the odds were heavily stacked against an unknown author finding an agent and publisher, I reckoned that persistence would pay off eventually. After all, lots of famous authors got rejections in their early years.
In the course of time, having submitted numerous novels over twenty-five years, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to get published in the conventional way; especially after reading that there are about a million submissions cluttering up the floors of London literary agents at any one time. Literary agents are only human. It's unfair to expect them to pick out every good manuscript amidst all the dross. There are probably thousands of publishable manuscripts out there waiting to be published but which will never see the light of day. Another problem is that publishers like to use well known authors with guaranteed sales. They don't actually need new authors - although they might be slightly interested in the next JK Rowling.
Anyway, a colleague of mine got some of her books published on Amazon and has achieved modest success with series of light hearted thrillers. So I thought, why not me? It's possible to publish for free via CreateSpace (Amazon's self publishing department). However I wanted my book to look professional and there are many pitfalls for the unwary new author trying to use unfamiliar software for the first time. So I found a firm called GoldWind publications who agreed to publish my book for about £900. So far I've received £21.06 in royalties, which means I can probably call myself a professional writer - for what it's worth.
Having published one book, I decided to go for another and dug out one of my old novels. They say that authors with multiple titles do better than those who've only written one book (although writing only one book didn't do Harper Lee any harm). This one's come out and I've actually sold six copies so far which isn't too bad in less than a week - not too bad for an unknown author that is.
What are the problems with self-publishing on Amazon kindle via CreateSpace? The main one is competition. There are 200-400 new titles every day; and there are about 3-4 million kindle ebooks available in total, so it's not easy to get noticed. The other problem is the software. In theory you can edit your book whenever you like, and add maps, illustrations, appendices and anything else you want to add. However it's quite easy to make a complete mess of everything and render your book unreadable - as I have done.
How do you get your book noticed? Many people will tell you that Facebook and Twitter are good starts. They probably aren't. It takes a lot of time to get people to "like" your Facebook page in substantial numbers. It also takes time to build up a following on Twitter. Time that's probably better spent on writing. On the other hand Facebook and Twitter are free so nothing lost by starting up accounts. Just don't spend too long on it. Only about 3% of the people who follow you will buy your book (that's an estimate based on a couple of examples but it's probably a pretty good guess.
The best way is to pay for advertising. There are a large number of advertising firms that will publicise your book. The larger ones have up to 700,000 potential readers on their subscription lists and virtually guarantee sales of 500-2,000 depending on price, genre etc. The best ones are pretty fussy about what they agree to advertise and accordingly have a good reputation with their subscribers. Encouragingly it seems that many readers subscribe to ebook sites and are happy to receive recommendations about good value books. There is a good market for books priced under $1. (Yes $1 - one US dollar - there are four times as many readers for ebooks in the USA as in the UK.) If a book is good, it can do quite well and you can make a reputation for yourself. Many writers have had some success by going down this route. I am considering it but I decided to invest in this course first.
However it's essential to realise that no amount of advertising will sell a bad book in significant numbers. Serious advertising starts at around £1000 a book and the sky is the limit. You can advertise a lot more cheaply, but remember you get only what you pay for.
Another strategy is to get your book published by a reputable firm who will undertake to market it for you professionally and make sure it gets into libraries and bookshops. This service costs around £2500 if you want all the trimmings. I don't know how effective these firms are - you'll need to do your own research - but do not trust any firm that wants to take on your book without having read it first. All they want is your money and there are a lot of rogue firms out there. (Ditto agents for that matter - if any agent wants to take on your book for a fee, don't touch them. All they want is your money. The publishing industry knows who the reputable agents are and won't touch anything from anyone else.)
Am I glad I've paid to have two of my books published on Amazon? Yes. It means I have something to show for the last 25 years. OK, it's an expensive investment, and I probably won't get my money back. But it's hugely satisfying to see your work in print and as far as I'm concerned it's worth every penny and much better value than a holiday in Ibiza.
Self publishing - vanity or good business?
For many years I resisted the temptation to self-publish. I told myself that if my books were worth publishing, they'd get published. And although I knew that the odds were heavily stacked against an unknown author finding an agent and publisher, I reckoned that persistence would pay off eventually. After all, lots of famous authors got rejections in their early years.
In the course of time, having submitted numerous novels over twenty-five years, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to get published in the conventional way; especially after reading that there are about a million submissions cluttering up the floors of London literary agents at any one time. Literary agents are only human. It's unfair to expect them to pick out every good manuscript amidst all the dross. There are probably thousands of publishable manuscripts out there waiting to be published but which will never see the light of day. Another problem is that publishers like to use well known authors with guaranteed sales. They don't actually need new authors - although they might be slightly interested in the next JK Rowling.
Anyway, a colleague of mine got some of her books published on Amazon and has achieved modest success with series of light hearted thrillers. So I thought, why not me? It's possible to publish for free via CreateSpace (Amazon's self publishing department). However I wanted my book to look professional and there are many pitfalls for the unwary new author trying to use unfamiliar software for the first time. So I found a firm called GoldWind publications who agreed to publish my book for about £900. So far I've received £21.06 in royalties, which means I can probably call myself a professional writer - for what it's worth.
Having published one book, I decided to go for another and dug out one of my old novels. They say that authors with multiple titles do better than those who've only written one book (although writing only one book didn't do Harper Lee any harm). This one's come out and I've actually sold six copies so far which isn't too bad in less than a week - not too bad for an unknown author that is.
What are the problems with self-publishing on Amazon kindle via CreateSpace? The main one is competition. There are 200-400 new titles every day; and there are about 3-4 million kindle ebooks available in total, so it's not easy to get noticed. The other problem is the software. In theory you can edit your book whenever you like, and add maps, illustrations, appendices and anything else you want to add. However it's quite easy to make a complete mess of everything and render your book unreadable - as I have done.
How do you get your book noticed? Many people will tell you that Facebook and Twitter are good starts. They probably aren't. It takes a lot of time to get people to "like" your Facebook page in substantial numbers. It also takes time to build up a following on Twitter. Time that's probably better spent on writing. On the other hand Facebook and Twitter are free so nothing lost by starting up accounts. Just don't spend too long on it. Only about 3% of the people who follow you will buy your book (that's an estimate based on a couple of examples but it's probably a pretty good guess.
The best way is to pay for advertising. There are a large number of advertising firms that will publicise your book. The larger ones have up to 700,000 potential readers on their subscription lists and virtually guarantee sales of 500-2,000 depending on price, genre etc. The best ones are pretty fussy about what they agree to advertise and accordingly have a good reputation with their subscribers. Encouragingly it seems that many readers subscribe to ebook sites and are happy to receive recommendations about good value books. There is a good market for books priced under $1. (Yes $1 - one US dollar - there are four times as many readers for ebooks in the USA as in the UK.) If a book is good, it can do quite well and you can make a reputation for yourself. Many writers have had some success by going down this route. I am considering it but I decided to invest in this course first.
However it's essential to realise that no amount of advertising will sell a bad book in significant numbers. Serious advertising starts at around £1000 a book and the sky is the limit. You can advertise a lot more cheaply, but remember you get only what you pay for.
Another strategy is to get your book published by a reputable firm who will undertake to market it for you professionally and make sure it gets into libraries and bookshops. This service costs around £2500 if you want all the trimmings. I don't know how effective these firms are - you'll need to do your own research - but do not trust any firm that wants to take on your book without having read it first. All they want is your money and there are a lot of rogue firms out there. (Ditto agents for that matter - if any agent wants to take on your book for a fee, don't touch them. All they want is your money. The publishing industry knows who the reputable agents are and won't touch anything from anyone else.)
Am I glad I've paid to have two of my books published on Amazon? Yes. It means I have something to show for the last 25 years. OK, it's an expensive investment, and I probably won't get my money back. But it's hugely satisfying to see your work in print and as far as I'm concerned it's worth every penny and much better value than a holiday in Ibiza.