I’m busily editing away this week, so have invited another indie author to guest post for you guys. Actually it’s a pair of indie authors writing together as M.H. Mead. They’ve just released their science-fiction novel Taking the Highway and are here to argue that self-publishing means you have more time to write. Here’s what they have to say:
Want More Time to Write? Go Indie
by Margaret Yang and Harry R. Campion
We’re always surprised when indie superstars like Amanda Hocking take a traditional publishing deal, claiming it’s because they want to spend more time writing. Here’s the dirty little secret. Publishing with a big company does not give you more time to write, and in many ways, it steals writing time from you. Forget, for a moment, the dollars and cents questions. Looking at it only from a days and hours perspective, indie publishing is a better deal.
What makes us qualified to say this? We’ve been on both sides of the publishing fence, having published short stories both traditionally and indie. We also used to have a high-powered agent, one of the best in the business. He was on the verge of selling our first novel to traditional publishing when we pulled the book and decided to go indie instead.
So let’s examine the ways that traditional publishing does and does not give you more time to write.
Day-to-day writing
Indie publishing easily wins this one. A big publisher releases books on their schedule, not yours, which means you have to do things like finish edits and proofread galleys when your publisher wants you to. Also, agents think nothing of calling during productive working days. Or they send emails that must be answered right away (while you spend three days waiting for a response to a single question).
We also need to talk about stress. Studies have shown that the jobs with the most stress are the ones where the workers have the least power and the most responsibility. Publishing houses will change your book any way they want and publish it on their schedule (no power), yet put your name on it (most responsibility). Also, writers are solitary creatures. Inviting editors and agents into our working life is hard, even when things are going well. When things are going badly, it’s a nightmare. One memorable week, we reached such an impasse with our agent that Harry couldn’t sleep and Margaret couldn’t eat. Not a healthy way to live. Sure, our agent was a bad fit for us, but even the best agent is going to cause you stress at some point. Remember: time spent freaking out is time spent not writing.
Interpreting royalty statements
Those publishing traditionally should be prepared for long, fruitless hours trying to interpret royalty statements from big publishers. An indie writer spends hardly any time at all reading her easily-understandable statements from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the other the other indie distributors.
Help with Publicity
You’d think, with all that infrastructure behind them, that the big publishers would win this one. Unless you are a household name, not so much. New writers still do all of their own publicity, and yet, they have to seek permission from their publisher for every bit of publicity they do. Publishers get snippy if you arrange book signings without consulting them. They have, in many cases, paid for author tours and/or better placement in stores. They don’t want you stepping on their superstars’ toes. Even blog tours can become problematic if the publisher is trying to get book blogger attention for other authors in their stables. Indie authors don’t have this problem. They can contact anyone they wish, at any time. The worst that can happen is that the blogger or bookseller says no.
Editing
This one is a wash. Big publishers edit for you, but again, on their own schedule. And it’s not as if freelance editors are hard to find, so indie authors can get the same services, usually more quickly, or at least more conveniently. It’s not unusual to wait months for galley proofs from a big publisher, and then have your editor say “I need these back in a week.” One friend of ours canceled his family vacation because galleys came that same week and needed to be sent back in a matter of days. To say no to the publisher was unthinkable, as it could have “bumped” the book back a year or more. An indie author would have finished the proofreading before vacation, or waited until she got back.
Distribution/Uploading to sales channels
Big publishers win this one. A traditionally-published author will never have to touch source files or deal with sales outlets. But how much time will you save? If you do it yourself, it takes about half an hour to set up accounts. After that, uploading each new book takes maybe five minutes.
Formatting
This one goes to the publishers, too. Indies can hire this job out, but if you decide to do it yourself, it will cost you quite a bit of time. However, even if you let your publisher do the formatting for you, you have to double check to make sure your ebooks are the same quality as your paper books.
Cover Art
A traditional publisher can save you time here, too. If you do it yourself, you will have to either hire and instruct a designer, or make your own cover. However, if your publisher makes your cover for you, you will have watch them to make sure they don’t whitewash or plagiarize your covers. You may spend as much time looking over your publisher’s shoulder as you would doing things yourself.
For us, the conclusion is clear. Being an indie author is a much more efficient use of our writing time. The time we spend in formatting and making covers is more than made up for with a more streamlined schedule and less stress. We are writing more than we ever did under a traditional system, and we’re happier too. Do you want more time to write? Maybe you should be going indie, too.
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If you want to hear more from Margaret and Harry, check out their site or catch them on Facebook. You can find their latest book, Taking the Highway, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. You can also try their Riding Fourth for free at Amazon and Smashwords.
Thanks for posting, guys! I can think of arguments for both sides. I’m sure the editing process is less tedious as an indie, but as I get more and more ebooks out, I find there’s more upkeep than I would have thought with keeping files up to date (updating “also by the author” lists, fixing typos people report, changing out excerpts or afterwords if any of the notes were dated, etc.). I always know there’s something that should be updated somewhere, but since someone else does my formatting, it’s kind of a pain.
The back-and-forth on the cover art takes some time too. And, of course, for those who design their own covers, it’s even more time. It’s not a big deal, I imagine, if you’re publishing a book a year, but when you’re trying to be prolific, it does add up to a lot of non-writing time, at least for me. Maybe I just need to be more efficient. 😛
Hear, hear. I am looking forward to calling all the shots. Good luck with your books!
I do think indie wins the time thing hands down.
“However, even if you let your publisher do the formatting for you, you have to double check to make sure your ebooks are the same quality as your paper books.”
Unless you’re a bestseller or you’re with a non-Big 6 that cares, they’re not going to correct bad formatting unless it’s massively off. Just sayin’.
Takes me an hour to format a perfect epub, double-check it, etc. Count in the .mobi and my cautious nature plus uploading, and it’s still well under 4 hours total. I may be special. On the other hand, the process is simple.
Print design … That’s time consuming if you want to do it right. Especially if you want to do it proper proper right right. I wouldn’t mind farming that out. On the other hand, I’ve a new solution I’m about to try out to speed things along.
Cover art: Takes me an hour or less to write up a concept once I’ve thought it up. Then I approve the sketches and painting in various stages. Not much time involved in that either. Titling the covers does take a serious amount of time. But once you’ve learned it and bought a nice big set of display fonts, it goes faster.
Agents asking for rewrites and publishers asking for this and that, it interrupts your workflow. When I had an agent I stopped writing one book halfway through to write another because editors were interested in the pitch. Craziness that was. And the stress … I’m a control freak. In a good way, most of the time. Agents and submissions to editors was not healthy for me.
Most of all, I think there’s more incentive to write faster and work harder when you’re empowered.
I agree. I love being indie. I found a great cover designer I will continue to use. I have the creative control to determine what covers fit my books, what direction I want to go with editing, and everything else. I’m detail-oriented enough that it works for me. Yes, it might take a little more time, but it’s time well-spent because I get the result I want at the end.
Don’t forget all the time you don’t have to spend negotiating contracts.
True about the formatting.
JK Rowlings publisher released her book with formatting errors. This was for a $19.99 eBook.
If they can’t do a good job for Rowling, they sure as hell won’t for you.
Ditto. I can only add I’ve had no problems connecting with other authors who have expertise in both formatting and cover production. We trade services. I am also an editor.
By indie do you mean self published? Indie publishers would still have some control, even if they’re more approachable than the big six.
Hi Mh.
I am pretty sure that “indie” in this case equals self-published, where you have the entire responsibility and the entire freedom to do things the way you want.
Okay, I’d just like to put it out there that this isn’t the actual definition of “indie.” I edited for an “indie” publishing company and the process is similar to that of the big six–the author wasn’t expected to find his own editor or do the cover art either.
It’s probably a good idea not to conflate these if you want to be taken seriously in the industry, no matter how you get there.
Formatting is a bit tricky to learn, but once you’ve figured it out, it’s not a huge time suck. It takes me about two or three hours to format an ebook now, of any length. I can easily do it in an afternoon.
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Hmn. While I love being an indie—self-published, that is—author, and definitely enjoy the freedom, I can’t agree with everything in this post. I feel like, in a way, it’s bashing authors who go the traditional route.
Being a self-published author, you are in control of everything… which means that you have to stay on top of everything. Where publishers get things in order for your cover, editing, formatting, and promotion, you are the one responsible for these things when you run your own writing business. I can thoroughly understand why authors like Amanda Hocking want these things done for them rather than spending time hiring editors, looking over cover designs, and combing through formatting. It’s quite time-consuming, and it’s widely known that the modern authors spend less time writing and more time doing all of the things.
Whether you’re working for a publisher or yourself, you still have to take the time to double check your formatting. You’d be taking a big risk if you didn’t. Errors are made all the time. We’re all only human. I’m in the process of getting my debut formatted for print and just spent two days combing through for typos before it even goes to the formatter… and you can bet I’ll be combing the proof copy, too. This takes away from my writing time, but it’s worth it in the end; otherwise, I’d be paying my formatter to fix my own errors.
As for cover designs, it’s true that publishers give authors no or little say on the final design. Working with a graphic designer or even designing your cover yourself subtracts from your writing time as well, though.
I think the decision to go traditional or on your own is definitely a personal one, and I wouldn’t look down on anyone because they chose one or the other. I think both sides of the coin have their pros and cons, and it’s up to the author to decide what works best for them.