>I’d be the first to admit that the decision to self-publish was one I never expected to make. Indeed, right at the start of this process I was firmly against it, and the more blogs I read on the subject, the more certain I became of that fact.
>Why Now?
3 Comments to “>Why Now?”
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>And you should be proud. Trying to get published traditionally is hellish. I'm still trying for my novels, but I've self-published an anthology of short stories and will continue to self-publish short-story and poetry collections, I think.The pervasive stigma against self-publishing is slowly but surely ebbing away. Of course, it makes things a little more difficult for the reader – do we really want to pay for a book that might turn out to be utter rubbish?Yet every so often, one finds an absolute gem. I'm eager awaiting the release of your book!Best of luck!
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>Really interesting post, exactly what blogs should be about in my opinion – personal journeys, a bit of experience-based advice and a viewpoint on the world.Best of luck with the book, I hope it finds a readership, but even if it doesn't, I think it's an amazing achievement considering everything else going on in your life (job, kids, continental movements, etc)
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>Personally, I don't see the ease of self-publishing as having increased – sure, it's now possible to do without cost upfront, but that has seldom been the reason anyone would choose not to go that route to start with.There's a vast list of people who have self-published because their work is either of only very limited interest (local history books, compilation of science papers) and therefore not commercially viable, or because a publisher has rejected it. Now I'm not saying that sometimes a publisher says no, and it really should be a no, but you need to take into consideration that if your work ends up being read from a slush pile by some graduate who is hoping to get off early because it's Friday, you're work isn't guaranteed a fair chance to stand or fall on it's own.Of course, publishers have been known to drop the ball completed in decent, commercially viable work even when they have read the things to start with.Ernest Vincent Wright, for example, self-published, in the days when self-publishing was never considered anything other than the Vanity Press. Throw his name into a self-publishing conversation, and the response would probably be that the only book he wrote that anyone knows isn't known because of its quality, but simply because it was written as a lipogram. Perhaps, but still, it's odd that no publisher saw the potential. But…it didn't hurt Lewis Carroll, or Poe, or many others now considered classics much either.It's always possible that going down the Amazon route isn't just technically and financially easier, but because they want the world to own a Kindle, they might give you a push which you couldn't achieve any other way.Sure, it probably won't be your proudest moment to see yourself pop up in the "customers who bought, also bought…" list, but it's another reader, and another step towards being known as a writer, rather than a worker ant who also writes.