Self-Publishing Resources

Posted By Sue Collier on May 28, 2010

When I first read this article by Garrison Keillor, I kind of chuckled to myself—I mean, how seriously can I take the opinion of modern publishing from the dude who hales from the (albeit fictitious) “little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve.” Obviously, he would prefer that the publishing world stay just as trapped in the past as Lake Wobegon. Initially, I thought it was kind of an interesting—and sad—perspective from someone who was successful in the old school model of publishing.

But the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got. His condescending and disparaging view of “self-publishers” started to tick me off. First and foremost, the “self-publishers” to which he is referring are really authors who are going the vanity press route. And those pay-to-publish authors have been mostly scorned from the very beginning. Clearly, Keillor does not understand the traditional self-publishing model, wherein authors start up their own imprint and spend quite a bit of time and money to make sure the book they produce is top notch. These authors often hire companies that provide author services (note that this is quite different from pay-to-publish) to ensure their manuscripts are well edited and their books well designed. (Shameless plug opp: Yes, services such as Self-Publishing Resources.)

Second, he is clearly assuming that all self-published authors go that route because they were not “good enough” for the trads. Nope. There are many good reasons to self-publish, including maintaining creative control, making more money (yup, making more money), and producing the book more quickly, to name a few. And heck—you’re going to have to market and promote your own book anyway (the trads won’t do it for you!)…you might as well be in charge of the whole process and pocket all of the profits from your efforts.

Is a manuscript better just because you “mailed it to a New York publisher in a big manila envelope with actual postage stamps on it”? Because you typed it on a typewriter? Because you enjoy an “aura of martyrdom”?  All that sounds kind of romantic, but the past is the past.

I do agree that there is a lot of crap out there right now, but most of it falls within the subsidy press category. Once people begin to understand the difference between vanity publishing and independent publishing, I think (I hope!) that will begin to change and we will see more thoughtfully produced books. As more and more book review sites begin to cater to self-published authors (whether they are pay to publish or truly self-published), even if they are not the New York Times, I believe honest reviews will start to separate the wheat from the chaff. One thing I do know: Self-publishing is not going anywhere. Neither is the Internet. Or the cell phone. Or the microwave.

And does anyone else find it pretty ironic and kind of hilarious that Keillor’s article is surrounded by ads about self-publishing??!!

Categories: POD self-publishing, authors, book author, book reviews, book shepherding, books, do-it-yourself publishing, promotions, publicity, self-publishing, subsidy publishing, traditional publishing, vanity publishing, writing
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