Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out
Watching: "Twister"; "Full Metal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa".
Listening to: Nothing at the moment.
Reading: Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (Page 173)
TOPIC: WHAT SELF-PUBLISHING REALLY MEANS
I know I've had this argument before...many, many, times over with people across the writing spectrum.
"Yes, world! Schuyler Thorpe intends to self-publish his own books! Hurray for me!" (Please note my underlying sarcasm in this sentence.)
But you know what? It's something that I have to do. It's the only option left open to me.
Why?
Because I've grown tired of the long-assed waits by the mainstream--in their decisions to decide who is good enough and who isn't; by a set of publishing standards that are more obsolete than a Model T Ford is these days.
My beef with them is quite obvious: They've forgotten the Golden Rule of Publishing--and they are more content to sit on their laurals; and dictate what can be taken and what can't--based on what I see as a lottery.
Just so their bottom line is protected.
But I've also come across articles in the recent months which point to a staggering trend of rejections by the industry--simply because the books written today do not follow the same path of illustrious commercialism as their previously published counterparts.
There is simply no chance these days for the new writer to show the industry what they can do--based on guidelines that are more restrictive than they are flexible.
But the usual attacks on me for pointing that out is that I am not "good enough for the mainstream", "your writing sucks", "I'm so naive"--and the usual put-downs that I've had to weather for years now--just so that others can illustrate how easy it is to belittle other writers' talents; simply because they refuse to conform to a set standard written by an industry that doesn't give a rat's ass about what being a writer really means!
I have nothing against self-publishing. But so many people do. They erroneously assume that self-publishing means vanity-press.
It's just so sad that so many people are blindly misinformed on what these two distinctive methods of publishing are.
Self-publishing means that you (the author) assumes all risks of publishing your own books, taking care of your own editing, and the covers which will later be incorporated into the target book in question. You also assume all the risks of the promoting yourself and marketing your own book.
THAT'S WHAT SELF-PUBLISHING IS! THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO! AND AM DOING RIGHT NOW!
Vanity-press publishing is where you (the author), pays a printing mill money to publish your book and has your rights stolen from you in the process. These outfits have a terrible publishing record, along with their nightmarish editing resumes, and the extremely crappy cover art which graces these poorly written pieces of literature.
Companies like:
- Publish America
- Trafford
- Xlibris
- Author House (and its various surname entities)
- Red Dog Publishing
- Dorrance Publishing
- IUniverse
- Lulu.com
These companies come off saying that they are usually traditional or are a respected subsidy publisher--but in all honesty? They lie or deliberately mislead the prospective public in order to get their money's worth from that same unsuspecting author or writer. That's what we call a scam.
And surprisingly, they've all worked rather well. People still publish through these same "mills"--believing that they are really published!
How sad for them.
And this is what people think I'm doing? I admit free and clear, I'm paying an indie editor and a book cover artist money to complete the work on The Starchild, but that is a far cry from going into vanity-press publishing.
The ignoramuses still believe that what I am doing (self-publishing), is still vanity-press; and they say that it will kill any chances of me being mainstream published.
Seeing what I see in that, knowing what I know about the whole backwards enterprise, I would rather take my chances doing this on my own--than rather have the mainstream take what I have and butcher it.
Self-publishing isn't the evil alternate that so many paint it be as "unreliable", "umarketable", and irrevocably a "blight" on our publishing careers.
So many people dream of being traditionally published, but the odds against them are greater and more tougher than they realize.
I know I did. I wanted to become traditionally published. But once I started looking into what it entailed, I didn't run away from the idea. I wanted to look at a different way of getting there on my own.
But as the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned to months, and then years, I started to become disenchanted with the idea that this is where my work was meant to be.
People may not fully understand my methods of execution, but this is what I want to do.
I don't want be contained, caged in, or restricted. I want to be free.
Money is something that I seek to use for my own benefit and those that I hardly know. Driving to be rich, to be famous, and well-known--? Is something that I have been shunning for quite some time.
It's not me. It never has been. I've lived with extreme poverty all of my life. Subsisting on what people and the government have given me to just barely make ends meet.
Having money, saving it, is something that I can only have in my dreams. Because reality--for me--is an ugly truth that I have to face each and every day.
So self-publishing for me isn't about screwing up my writing career in the worst way. It's about investing in a future I hope to one day cultivate through my books.
One small step at a time.
