The Self Publishing Journey: writing the book is only the first step. Next steps, edit, format, and release. Promote, market, repeat.
Don’t wait. Have faith. You can do this.18
The author journey almost ended twenty years ago when I failed to set the Trad Publishing industry alight. Burning all those rejection letters when I moved house was a cathartic experience.
Is the the Trad Publishing industry any better today? It’s not responsive, not customer-focused, arrogant and operating on a business model that died when Amazon parked its Death Star on the front lawn.
The retail market may have changed, but trad publishing clings to the old ways. Writers stand more chance of winning their local lottery than getting picked up either by an agent or a trad publisher.
Trad publishing doesn’t have the patience for writers who don’t sell big numbers immediately. The discard rate is shocking. The marketing and promotion tail is very short. Trad publishing gives a book that took years to write only a few short weeks to sell, then moves on to the ‘next big thing.’ A book that might take months to build momentum and a long tail of sales gets pushed to the back of the publisher’s dark closet within days of launch.
The conclusion? The only guarantee is to publish it yourself. There are many print-on-Demand platforms besides Amazon. To quote some evangelists, “it’s never been easier to become a writer.” But publishing the book is only the one step down a long road to being a writer.
Becoming a writer who’s actually read isn’t any easier. Getting the market to notice your little minnow of a book amongst the large shoals in a very big ocean demands a lot of time and effort. It’s a long journey.
But it’s worth it. You have control.
So I’ll say it again.
Don’t wait. Have faith. You can do this.