Why I Self-Publish

A few months ago I took a workshop on publishing short fiction stories. The presenter portrayed himself as a well connected expert, although I’d never heard of him. He name-dropped a bunch of other authors, though, in between regaling us with all his success with showing up in magazines.

The description of the workshop hadn’t disclosed that four-fifths of the time was to be spent on a monologue of his publishing history. It was supposed to be a two part session on the insider tricks and protocols of submitting work that publishers would buy.

In initial student introductions when I mentioned my credentials and the fact that I self-publish now, he assured me that his wisdom would rescue me from “the ghetto of self-publishing.” Typical older white male bullshit completely clueless about how racist, and demeaning that was.

I replied “wow” about his crass, inappropriate opinion.

He took it as a compliment.

I learned two useful things. Unlike 50 years ago when I wrote human interest stories and submitted them to various magazines as part of my job as a public affairs officer with the Air Force, some magazines now require a fee just to submit. And that the website submittable.com keeps their list of publications accepting freelance work current. This is good because the annually issued Writer’s Market books I relied on to find outlets are no longer being produced.

But let me get to why I self-publish these days. And mostly in digital format only.

It’s Much Easier

OMG. SOOOO much easier. Self-publishing eliminates pressure and arguments with publishers’ editors and cover designers. My vision for my work isn’t overhauled to conform with their policies, preferences, and prejudices.

You Have to Market Anyway

Publishers these days, including the big five, don’t really put much time and money into marketing the books of new authors or those without a blockbuster sales history. There is no advantage then to soliciting legitimate publisher if you want to avoid the labor of marketing.

People Read on Phones and Other E-reader Devices

For sure, many readers prefer the feel and smell of a paperback or hardback book. Yay for them. But you can’t carry a library around with you in that physical form. And, as I’m learning myself, aging eyes can find reading on devices easier due to the built-in lighting and adjustable font size. Publishing in digital form usually offers a lower price to readers, although this is changing and sometimes ebooks are more expensive than hardbacks. And the ability to select or reference a number of books that can be carried everywhere.

Boo, Hiss to Gate Keepers 

Personality-wise, I’m well beyond the age of tolerating gate-keepers. FU. Get out of my way. There are readers for every genre in all forms that story-telling and self-help books come in, and few readers care who the publisher is.

Instant Gratification

Small publishing houses can only afford to publish a few books a year. Large traditional publishers do little better. Recent stats say that even the big publishers produce about 30 books annually. This makes for either the rejection of a lot of submissions, or a year or more back log until your submission goes to print. Self-publishing allows you to get your book out there within days, sometimes hours.

Total Control of My Work in Print

With decades of formatting, design, writing, editing behind me, I have no trouble doing much of the preparation work that other writers may need to hire others to accomplish. And yet, even with this stumbling block for some, you are in total control when you self-publish. Because I almost exclusively publish digital books, I can correct typos and other minor mistakes in published works at will that inevitably escape the many rounds of pre-publishing editing. (I think with Kindle and Draft2Digital this is also possible with paperbacks too, but I'm not 100% sure about that.)

Bottom Line: Royalties are MUCH Higher

You’re lucky to get 5% royalty from a publisher on each book sold. When you self-publish, depending on which outlet you use and which book format – hardback, paperback, digital, audible -- you can get as much as 50% or more from places like Amazon Kindle or Draft2Digital’s Smashwords store. And digital products can earn back even more.

Extrovert Drawback to Digital Publishing

If you are the type to enjoy book fairs and other opportunities to lug boxes of books around, set up sales booths, do bookstore readings, and talk to people in person versus social media, marketing digital-only books is more challenging. But creativity could overcome challenges. I’m not drawn to that kind of marketing, though, so this isn’t a concern for me.

By the way, is there a difference between a digital book and an ebook? Well, I’ve noticed that a lot of publishers who offer all formats often use the term ebook. I don’t because it connotes for me an amateurish PDF file, not a finished, proofed, formatted product. Full disclosure, it probably helps that my preference is the term digital because I publish with Draft2Digital. And I like the cognitive link to the thought that digital has dignity, where ebook is an imperfect, unfinished document.

Final Thought

So for me the bottom line is that because I want my work available as soon as possible, without sacrificing either quality of the work or potential royalties, I self-publish. My advice to others boils down to this: If you are a good writer to begin with, and if you can do your own prep work or afford to pay for formatting and cover, self-publishing is worth a try. The only things in your way are myths and ego.