When is it Good to Self Publish?

When I first began going to writers conferences around 2003, vanity publishing (now called self-publishing) was considered only a dire writers avenue to get his poorly written manuscript to the public. These novels were not given any credit by publishing gatekeepers (such as editors, agents and book reviewers.)

A decade later and this attitude has changed a lot. Though some still hold the above attitude, it is diminishing and self-publishing is no longer considered the last nail in a writer-wanting-to-be-an-author coffin.

Just this past September, I attended a talk given by well respected literary agent Rachelle Gardner, a self-published author herself whose book highlights traditional vs self-publishing. She gave a talk touting some of the benefits of pursuing self-publishing and in some instances considered it a bonus to an author’s career.

What?!?

The dizzying pace of these changing attitudes can leave you scratching your head.

Personally, I’ve seen several close friends of mine pursue self-publication and have moderate success. By this I mean they earned back the money they invested in preparing the manuscript (for editing, the book cover and interior design) and perhaps have earned a couple of thousand dollars. A smaller minority had great success and went on to further get traditional publishing contracts.

What I’ve determined is that there is a good time and place to consider self-publishing as an author and here are some of those situations to consider.

1. You have a polished manuscript but it can’t find a home with a publisher. First, I want to qualify what I mean by a polished manuscript. This is much, much more than finishing a rough draft that your mother and friends slobber over. They’re not good book critics because they love you and don’t want to hurt your feelings. It means that it’s been professionally edited, at least twenty people outside of family (and are familiar with books, genre, and good writing) love it, and maybe your agent even shopped it around but it couldn’t find a home. An even better indicator of this caliber of manuscript is that it’s finaled in a well-respected writing contest like the Genesis Contest sponsored by ACFW. It takes six to ten years to learn the writing craft and a couple of written books under your belt to fit this definition.

2. There will be a delay in books releasing between your traditional publishing contracts. What I’ve heard and read is that it also takes six to ten years to build a readership. During that time frame, it’s wise to have a book releasing no longer than once a year. Some authors do more—some do less but you want a predictable stream of novels to keep readers’ interest piqued. This is the issue I’m facing. My current publishing contract for the Bloodline Trilogy is complete and the book proposal my agent is shopping around hasn’t been picked up yet. Even if I got an offer at this point in time, a book likely wouldn’t be released until 2015. This is one reason why I’ve decided to self-publish in the fall of 2014.

3. You are a control freak. Creatives like control over their product. Publishing is not that way. It is a collaborative effort so some of what you love about your creation is going to change. Some people enjoy all aspects of the book publishing process and want to have final say over every aspect—going strictly with their vision. Self-publishing is the best venue for the author to maintain total control. You also have to front all the cost and carry the entire burden as well for marketing and distribution.

4. You want to maintain your rights. When you sign a traditional publishing contract, your book is no longer really yours—in a sense. The publisher owns it in certain formats and most often times will have clauses in your contract on other avenues they have the option to pursue—like hard cover large print rights. Some authors don’t want to give this up but then, as in the above, you’ll also be the one to try and negotiate selling the rights in different formats if you choose.

5. Your want to write in other genres. Most often, an agent and traditional publisher are going to encourage you to stick with one genre but few authors I know really want to do that for their entire writing career. These might be good novels to self-publish under a pen name.

6. You want to build volume more quickly to increase income. The flip side of building a readership is how much material you have to offer. When my first novel released, if the reader loved it, there was nothing else for them to read. Now, if they love any one of my books—they have at least two others to choose from. The more books you have, the more options a reader will have to choose and buy another book of yours to read—thus increasing your potential earning income.

What do you think? Have you self-published? Did you consider a success? Would you do it again?

ABOUT JORDYN:

Jordyn Redwood is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. She hosts Redwood’s Medical Edge, a blog devoted to helping contemporary and historical authors write medically accurate fiction. Her first two novels, Proof and Poison,garnered starred reviews from Library Journal. Proof was shortlisted for the 2012 ForeWord Review’s BOTY Award, 2013 INSPY Award and the 2013 Carol Award. You can connect with Jordyn via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and her website. 

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Pick Your Poison...I Choose Jordyn Redwood

Dare I admit I'm not an avid blog reader? I do, however, have my favorites, and one of them is Redwood's Medical Edge. Jordyn Redwood captured my attention with her posts, so much that I had to check out her novels, which led me to contact the author. So today, allow me to introduce you to this rising star...

Tell our readers a bit about your journey. How long did it take you to get published?

I’d dabbled in writing for years reading craft books, attending smaller writing conferences and doing every paid critique I could afford.  In 2009 when the ACFW conference was scheduled to be in Denver—I decided to finish my current novel and see if I could land an agent. I was blessed that Greg Johnson took me on as a client. That novel, Proof, was published in June, 2012.

Tell us about your current release.

Poison takes place five years after the Chapter 2 hostage incident in Proof. Keelyn Blake is one of a few survivors of a hostage incident where her step-father, under the directives of an hallucination he called Lucent, murdered half her family. Now Lucent has materialized and is threatening what remains of her family and those involved in the hostage crisis are dead or dying. The question becomes, can Keelyn figure out how Lucent became real before she gets killed herself?

As with all medical thrillers—there is a medical mystery at Poison’s center. Can someone be brainwashed? Does hypnosis facilitate brainwashing? All that with a mysterious toxin mixed in. 

Was there a specific ‘what if” moment to spark this story?

The toxin portion of Poison was inspired by an actual patient experience. I had never seen anything like the way this patient presented and the great part is his illness could mimic several other disease processes which is always good for suspense—to go down roads that aren’t the right answer first.

Why medical thrillers?

I love the medical thriller genre. One, it lends to what I know and do. I’m still nursing in the ER so writing is a good outlet for those emotions that come from my work. Two, medical thrillers are a good avenue for examining ethical dilemmas. If you look at some of the well-known medical thriller authors like Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, Michael Crichton and Harry Kraus to name a few—at the heart of the book is an ethical dilemma. In Crichton’s Jurassic Park—is genetic engineering wise? Cook’s Acceptable Risk—was a toxin responsible for the behavior of those accused of being witches during the Salem Witch Trials? Kraus’s Stainless Steal Hearts—is experimenting on aborted fetuses ethical?

Where do you write: In a cave, a coffeehouse, or a cozy attic nook?

I would love to have a cozy attic nook—that’s for sure. I have a home office. It’s in the middle of construction and I can’t wait until it’s done because it will have lots and lots of bookshelves and aren’t all authors book fanatics at heart?

Are you a plotter, SOTP writer or somewhere in between?

I am in between. I do find it helpful to know the climactic points of the story but everything else in between I want the story to take me where it will. Though I am loath to admit it, I do see the value in writing a good plot synopsis because it covers the major points of the story but leaves room for the little surprises along the way.

What’s your process for writing a book?

For me, the plot is paramount so I begin with tons of research. It could probably be said that I’m a research hound and use my books as an outlet for all the fun stuff I learn. After that (honestly, the research probably never stops for me until the book is published) I develop a plot synopsis and get to work on the first draft.

Do you ever bang your head against the wall with writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it?

Writer’s block for me usually signals that I don’t have a good direction for the story. That either means more research, more plotting or just time away from the manuscript. Hopefully I haven’t eaten a bagful of chocolate in the process.

Novelists sometimes dig themselves into a hole over implausible plots, flat characters or a host of other problems. What’s the most difficult part of writing for you?

The first draft is the hardest part of the writing process for me. Everything depends on getting that finished. You can’t edit an empty page. I do also want to say that I think there is a dark moment during the writing of every manuscript where the writer feels like what they’ve written is just trash. Many authors I’ve talked to have expressed this. I’ve learned to recognize this for what it is—part of the writing journey. Often times when you come back to a manuscript, it isn’t as awful as you might have first imagined it to be.

How do you balance your writing time with family and any other work you do.

It is hard and I have to admit I haven’t found a great balance yet. I operate on a schedule and set goals for the things I need to accomplish. This helps me to stay on task. I’m not good at taking breaks. Here it is a Sunday and I’m writing this post. I’m hoping to get to a place where I do truly “rest” one day of the week.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve heard?

In order to make a living at writing, you have to treat it like you would any other job. You’re going to have to write when uninspired, when you’re not feeling, and even when life is falling apart. The BIC technique works (Buttocks in Chair!)

Thanks for stopping by today, Jordyn! 

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