Every now and then, someone asks me why I self-published. I addressed this somewhat in my “3 Reasons Iām Glad I Chose Self-Publishing” post, but I thought I’d try to explain why it’s not just me and why this movement is so popular right now. I welcome other authors’ (or readers’) thoughts, so please leave comments below.
Why Self-Publishing Is So Popular Right Now
1. For the first time, self-publishing (specifically e-publishing) makes sense from a monetary standpoint.
Ten years ago, anyone who self-published had to drop thousands of dollars to print a run of their books, books they then had to store in the garage and sell by hand. Who did that? Not many. Though I remember reading The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living a few years ago and being inspired. Not because I was going to do what this guy had done (a lot of work that involved going out and actually talking to people — as y’all know from my “Book Promotion Tips for Hardcore Introverts” post, that’s not my forte) but because someone was making it as a self-publisher. But it seemed like you not only had to work very hard, but you had to sell non-fiction, ideally in a specific niche not addressed well by mainstream publishers.
Fast forward a few years. Now we had LuLu and a couple of other companies offering print-on-demand publishing. This meant you didn’t have to order all those boxes of books for the garage. A book was only created when someone ordered it. The costs to get into POD publishing were low (as with ebooks, you’d want to pay for cover art and editing, but the respectable publishers didn’t charge a fortune for the actual service), but it was still hard to sell books. Why? You couldn’t price them competitively. Traditionally published paperbacks were running $6 or $7, and you’d be lucky to list yours for less than $10 (same goes for today, by the way; my paperbacks are $11.99, and that’s the lowest I could make them without losing money on sales).
That leads me into the Kindle era, 2009 and beyond. After the initial production costs (cover art, editing, and formatting — much of which authors on a shoestring budget can do on their own), ebooks cost nothing to produce. While some authors will argue vehemently that pricing ebooks at 99 cents is stupid, you can make money that way. I make a few hundred from Emperor’s Edge every month, even though it’s only 99 cents. Obviously, the higher priced Encrypted and Dark Currents make me more (though I sell fewer copies), but I like giving people a way to sample my work for a low price.
But, I digress. The point here is that self-publishing, thanks to the e-reader revolution, finally makes financial sense. Not only does it make sense, but I’d argue that it’s the way to go if you’re hoping to earn full-time pay (or at least a helpful part-time income) as an author right now.
No, not everybody is going to become a full-time author by e-publishing, but if you can get a few books out and if you can reach “midlist” status, you’ll be making $X,XXX a month. I’ve interviewed people making $XX,XXX a month. For most of us, e-publishing will never be a road to riches, but if you’re willing to market (and you have to do this these days even if you publish traditionally) you’ll probably make more as an independent author than you will with a traditional publisher. This is because you currently earn about 70% on every ebook sale.
And…let’s face it: most of us were never going to make it going the traditional route anyway. I know that sounds negative, but the odds say it’s true. As indies, we at least get a chance. We get to let the readers decide if our work is good enough. If it is, and they buy more, you might just have a career ahead of you.
I’m going to list a couple more reasons why self-publishing is popular right now, but you better believe the dream of quitting the day job to write full-time motivates a lot of folks.
2. You don’t have to write what’s popular or what’s easily placed in such-and-such genre.
Before I decided to go indie, I used to read literary agent Kristen Nelson’s Pub Rants from time to time. I even took a query-letter-writing webinar from her (it was a good class, and she’s a very nice lady). Every now and then, she’d go to some conference or meeting and write up a blog post about what editors were lusting after just then. This was “what’s hot,” and they were looking to buy stories in X genre.
You could hear the gears grinding as wheels turned behind the eyeballs of a thousand blog-readers. Heck, forget the epic fantasy novel I’m passionate about; I’m writing the next such-and-such-genre bestseller, so I’ll have a chance at landing a publisher! (No, Ms. Nelson doesn’t encourage writers to do this, but you know that’s what many people are thinking. I’ve thought it, even if I never acted on it)
While I’m sure lots of authors have made it following their passions, it’d be a shame to put one’s passion aside out of a belief that writing “what’s hot” will be more likely to lead to a contract and that it might be the only way to achieve one’s dream. One of my favorite Lois McMaster Bujold books has a line that goes, “Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can’t trade for your heart’s desire is your heart.”
My point here is that you don’t have to try and write what’s popular if you self-publish. Enough indies are making it in obscure genres to prove there’s a market for a lot of stuff that isn’t “what’s hot.” Because of that 70% royalty on ebooks, there’s no need to be a blockbuster hit to make decent money as an indie. (If you haven’t heard of Chris Anderson’s Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, it’s an interesting read, and, if you’re an independent artist, you’ll probably find it encouraging).
3. The media is recognizing self-publishers
While self-publishing will probably always come with a stigma (too many poorly edited books out there by folks who haven’t put in enough time to improve their craft), the success stories are creating a cult coolness for the movement.
Several independent authors have sold more than a million ebooks over in the Kindle Store and many more have been picked up by mainstream publishers for six-figure deals. Thanks to a few newspapers (but mostly the blogosphere), these stories have taken off and been spread far and wide.
There’s all sorts of talk about agents and publishers starting to use the Kindle bestsellers list to shop for clients. Self-publishing is the new slushpile, some say.
I don’t know how much of that is true, but it’s arguable that the very fact that self-publishing does come with a stigma means that if you can make it this way, you can make it any way.
At the very least, it’s starting to be trendy to self-publish.
If you’re a writer, thinking of going this route, check out some of my posts at Savvy Self-Publishing (I’m starting from the beginning over there and writing up the basic how-tos on getting started and promotion).
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There are more reasons to dig self-publishing (speed to market, ability to set price, ability to make revisions down the road, real-time sales reporting, etc.), but I thought I’d leave some things for a future chat.
Do you have thoughts on the matter? Did you chose to self-publish, or would you? If you’re a reader, do you find yourself giving more indies a try these days, or is there too much muck out there to wade through for your tastes?
I went indie this summer and never looked back. Not only do I publish indie, I read indie, and I have found the most wonderful books! No more bland corporate offerings–indie books have spice.
Thanks for chiming in, Margaret!
It’s nice to see how many people are going out of their way to support indie authors. Not just other indie authors, but many readers too. š
I think I’m psyching myself up to go this route, but like everyone else I feel like I’ve to do myself (and others) a favour and try the traditional path first. Just so I can say ‘I’ve tried but then decided…’
The most attractive thing about self-pub for me is the fact you get to hold the wheel. I can be a bit of a control freak sometimes, but to know I may be able to release some epic allegorical fairytale with pictures without having anyone else disturb my vision of it, that’s exciting. But at the same time, a small voice in my head says: ‘You’ll be all alone. You’ve no idea how to make it out there and you’ve to write novels as fast as the shinkansen, a thousand blogs a week to get readers, AND constantly market yourself…” that’s terrifying.
About the stigma, I tend to get this from writers rather than readers. Whenever I tell my reading friends I’m seriously considering self-pub, they get really excited and ask when my book will be released. When I tell my writing friends, the reply is usually ‘try the agents first…’ There seems to be this expectation that one has to prove one’s worth by having an agent pick up your book or at the very least, interested. Perhaps it’s true in the literary world, I don’t know, I’m still learning the ropes here.
But I know since I bought an Ipad, I’ve been reading more indies and it’s hit and miss, I think, I do get some dud ones but when I’m lucky, the occassional gems… Just like the books I picked up from bookstores anyway.
In any case, if I go indie, I know who inspired me: You š so thanks for your posts, Lindsay, you rock.
You can always do a little of both, Lydia. I know some authors who are looking for an agent for their novels while they’re dabbling in self-publishing by turning some old short stories into ebooks.
Addressing chasing hot genres, I think it’s a lost cause for the most part. It takes, I don’t know, at least a year to write a full-length novel? By the time the author finishes the book in hot genre, the market may be already completely saturated or it has already moved on. Most SF/F classics bucked the trend during their time anyway.
As a book blogger receiving a lot of submissions, I have to be really honest, it’s difficult for me to want to read another post-apocalyptic book with zombies, vampires, werewolves, or some combination of the three. I have reviewed books with those elements and have immensely enjoyed them and given them good reviews, but I’m less likely to pick up other books with similar settings. Maybe half of spec-fic submissions are post-apocalyptic, and I’m just not always in the mood to read them.
That’s not to say that if authors shouldn’t write in sub-genres that happen to be hot. If the story is genuinely inspired, well-written, and has a fully realized world, it’ll stand the test of time. Write where your muse takes you, that’s what this reader thinks.
So, Frida, does this mean you’re not interesting in reviewing the YA dystopian vampire-werewolf love story I’m writing? š
That depends on whether the werewolf is my kind of werewolf ;D
Per Lydia’s point, the writer is much more in control via self-pub. You decide how often your books come out. How polished to make them. When and where they’re available. Under what terms and pricing. Which promotions you want to run.
So whether it’s for fun, for pleasure, for extra coin, or for a living, you’ll have a better chance of achieving your aspiration when you, not others, are making the key influential decisions. That’s not always been practical or even possible. Until today.
Good post, Lindsay.
Thanks for the inspiring comment, Todd! Good points. And there are lots of reasons that motivate people to choose this route. I had a couple of folks on Twitter say, “Because I’m a control freak.” š
Nice post.
As someone who has – in the last month – become a self-published author, and with plans to continue to do so into the future, I just have to add that it’s hard work. Becoming self-published is not an easy ‘put it out there and wait’ formula. There is nobody else (besides those you may hire) to help you do the marketing, keeping up web presence, maintaining an up to date status, working on cover art, formatting for different epublishing programs… well, you get the idea.
It’s a non-paying full-time job until you’re successful – at least I think so, being that I’m only just starting out. Personally I’m having difficulty getting reviews and beta readers for my published book, and non-published WIP. This isn’t a shout-out, but it is a fact of those without name recognition. No-one knows who you are in the beginning, so you have to be patient, be confident – have commitment and self belief. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself! š
Yeah, the first six to twelve months seem the toughest. You really have to work to get some momentum going. It really helps once you get some people who want to keep track of you and read all your books (and, of course, it helps to have more books out!).
I gotta admit, I totally bought the stigma on self-published works before, but since I’ve been reading them I’m getting more and more excited about what I’ll find.
Oddly enough, I made the leap after reading a book from an independent publisher, which I also had doubts about. Those went away after the first few pages and I’ve been walking around starry eyed ever since.
It’s definitely hit or miss. I’m glad you can download sample pages with e-readers. š
I’ve always wanted to self-publish my work, but never actually thought I had the resources till last spring when I discovered blogs and e-readers. Don’t ask me where I’ve been. I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to my “art.” Writing is my soul and I everything I create has a purpose, I don’t want some suit telling me I can’t pay an artist to design the cover I want. That pretty much was all I needed to never even query an agent. Instead, I just kept practicing.
I also became jaded with the traditionally published novels I kept buying, feeling like it was all the same. I kept looking at the books in the stores and thinking, I don’t want my book to look like one of these and I don’t want to be conformed into a specific genre as a fantasy writer or thriller writer. I can and want to write several genres.
Then after getting a kindle and chatting with several Indie writers, I decided to buy a few of their very affordable books to check out what an Indie book looks like. I have been very surprised at the quality of some of them and the fact that some of these writers make a lot of money. There are of course a few I was… unimpressed about the quality. To date, Lindsay’s novels are some of the best quality writing novels I’ve read so far, even compared to traditionally published.
I set my bar there where I found enjoyable reading from talented and professional Indies and now I don’t believe I would ever take on an agent or a publisher unless I get a deal where they handle the book store distributing and keep their hands off my e-books and my artist choices. That includes my covers. Just like one of those famous Indie writers who sold a million got. š
Thanks, Tim!
I was kind of in the dark about this revolution myself until fall of 2010 (when I got my first kindle). It’s not too late to jump on board. š
success stories are creating a cult coolness for the movement
Love this.
Thanks for the great post!!
I have been very happy with my self-publishing experience. Nothing feels better than positive feedback from readers and reviewers.
The biggest challenge has been marketing. Readers like the novel, but how do I get it into more hands? I have no fear of promotion, I just don’t feel like I’m using all the tools available to me.
That’s definitely the hard part, Matt!
I think most people will tell you that it’s a lot of little things that you do that start to add up rather than one main thing, but giving away a free short story or free Book 1 is helping a lot of people get seen. People gobble up those freebies, and then some of them will (we hope!) move on to your non-free ebooks.
I love the self-publishing movement, and as a reader and blogger, I’ve embraced it whole-heartedly. Ebooks have really opened up the market. I love finding authors and books that I might never otherwise have found.
Great post Lindsay!
I’m glad I chose the self-publish route. This way I can connect directly with my readers – they either like my work or they don’t – but at least they have the chance to TRY my books! Tastes are subjective – if your work doesn’t please the agent or editor you send it to, it won’t sell. With indie publishing you remove that gatekeeper.
While I never expect to be a bestselling author like J.K.Rowling, at least I know that my work is out there for people to choose if they want to.
Cheers!
Michael
Well, you know I’m now a convert.
How many sci-fi writers can you name making a living wage off their writing? Not many. I figure my best shot at it is the self publishing, epublishing route. If I make enough to cover my expenses, I’ll be happy.
I’ve been writing for twenty years. I had a non-fiction book published with a mainstream publisher (“The Happy Athlete,” Langmarc Publishing, 2006), and I’ve self-published a novel (Beloved Testament, 2001) with Author House (formerly 1st Books Library). I’ve also had poetry published by Joyful Noise. What I’ve consistently discovered throughout my entire writing experience is that the quality of the writer’s work is secondary to its marketability. So I want to remind all you writers to take heart and to not take rejection personally. Just keep writing and improving your craft. be bold and persevere, and mighty forces will come to your aid! And enjoy the writing process as much as you can, because it’s the only thing you have control over in the literary world!