Over the past few decades, the whole realm of independent publishing, self-publishing, or being an independent author has grown. Not only have independent authors increased, but the whole industry has developed.
A number of decades ago, a self-published author would write a memoir or a story. They would pay for a company to typeset, edit, create a cover, and bind the book. Then the author would have a garage full of a thousand books they don’t know what to do with.
Another scenario. An author would write a manuscript and submit it to an editor at a publishing. These editors would be overwhelmed with submissions. A lot of manuscripts saw what was known as ‘the slush pile’. A pile that might never be read. Or an editor-in-training might look at. If someone was discovered, then the writer had hope. The submissions were so numerous that publishing houses stopped receiving submissions.
Authors turned to agents. Agents would review manuscripts. If they thought it was something a publishing house might like, they’d pitch it to editors at the publishing houses. Much of this still happens today. And for authors who ‘make it’ that’s great.
So why the rise of independent authors? There are a lot of reasons, and I’ll give my own for choosing to go the route of self-publishing. Have I published traditionally? Yes.
Traditional publishing has a lot of wonderful qualities. They publish your work. They take care of all the publishing details (editing, printing, type-setting, cover design, etc). They have distributors, so your book will get into stores and be made available on all platforms.
With traditional publishing, the author still has to do a lot of the footwork for promoting their book. The author still has to build their social media presence. They still have to do book signings and events.
There are other sides of traditional publishing. If there is a new editor, they might choose different authors. Then that author will have to find a new editor/publishing house. If a book is overly popular, the author is stuck writing more of the same. This happened in the case of Agatha Christie.
While I absolutely loved the experience with a traditional publishing house, in the end, the book didn’t feel like mine. Essentially, all I did was write. The editor made a lot of decisions and changed a lot. The book design team made all the decisions regarding the layout. Someone made a cover. Everything came together, and it looked great. However, when I looked at the finished product, I thought, ‘my name is there, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s mine.’
With self-publishing, I get to make a lot of the decisions. Yeah, it is more work, but the product is mine. There is a sense of, ‘I did this.’ And that feels good.
I love reading self-published authors. There is so much creativity there, and there are many unique voices and ideas.
Self-publishing authors invest their own time and resources into their work. They pay thousands of dollars for editing, cover designs, typesetting, etc., before the book even hits the market. They do this with no guarantee that they’ll recover the cost. And authors might do this for a number of books before they start to see a profit.
Why? Why do we do this?
Honestly, we love writing. We love putting our work out there. Authors experience joy and satisfaction when readers love our work.
People ask me about my work and why I self-published. There is still some negativity attached to it. People will pass over a self-published book for something from a traditional publishing house. (They don’t know what they’re missing.) Sometimes people think a self-published book is poorly written and lacks editing. These days, most self-published books undergo multiple edits. And I’ve found typos and errors in books from traditional publishing houses. Overall, a self-published book is equal to a book from a traditional house. There is no competition.
Reading makes us better. It shares ideas and develops our thinking. If you love reading, then consider self-published authors and traditional books. Try mainstream and explore lesser-known works. If you love reading, then you’ll find hidden gems if you explore something a little different.
K. M. Wray 