Should Writers Consider Small Press or Self Publishing?

The publishing landscape has changed dramatically over the past several years, most notably with the rise of self publishing as a valid career path. What was once the sign of a rank amateur and dismissed as vanity press is now acceptable, if not always respected, and there are also plenty of authors juggling both a traditional contract and self publishing with great success. In fact, Author Earnings has some data suggesting that there may be more writers earning a living now in self publishing than with a purely traditional model, which is a stunning development.

Having said that, I see an awful lot of queries from people who have tried self publishing, only to crash and burn. Like anything else in publishing, it's a long, hard road to find success as a writer, whether you self publish or land a traditional contract. Be prepared to put in the work over a period of years.

That's the non-controversial part of this post. Regardless of which side of the trad/self fence you come down on (or straddle), I say go for it! Who can argue with that?

Now for the controversial part: go big or go indie.

I advise writers to avoid small presses and digital only imprints. Basically, anyone who won't pay you an advance.

Why? Because I have rarely seen writers make money from them, they go out of business and tie up your rights with them, and sometimes they flame out spectacularly. Frankly, anything a non-advance paying publisher can do for you, you can do yourself, including hiring editors and cover artists. If you don't like the indie model, then I would recommend putting the book aside and working on the next thing for the trad market

A final caveat. By self publishing, I do not mean those outfits that charge you thousands of dollars to put out a shoddy version of your book. Those are still vanity presses. For God's sake, please google anybody you hire, together with "complaint" or "scam" in the search bar.

David Gaughran has done yeoman's work on this subject, and that's as good a place to start as any.

How to Keep the Faith

One of the hardest things for aspiring writers is keeping the faith during the months and years and hundreds of thousands of words that consist of one's apprenticeship. For one, who knows how long that apprenticeship will last? It's not like going to medical school, where you know that if you keep on task, you can spend some number of years, followed by service as an intern, etc., and end up a doctor.

Some writers sell first novels. Others write three or four or ten before they find success, and many, many others give up. There's no way to tell if the next book would have sold, or if they'd have kept struggling, perhaps indefinitely.

Apart from the uncertainty, there's one other factor that I believe makes it more difficult to be an aspiring writer than an aspirant in one of the other arts, and that is anonymity. If you play a musical instrument at a high semi-professional level, you may not be ready to join the Vienna Philharmonic, but you can impress the pants off your friends. If you can paint well enough to almost get your own show, you can bet that friends and family will proudly show off your art work on their walls.

But what about writers? You publish a story in a magazine paying a hundred bucks, and it seems to vanish a month later. Only you and a few writer friends know how important that is. You get an agent who doesn't sell your book, and nobody you talk to even knows what that means. Can you break out your manuscript at a dinner party and pass around a few pages? Not likely. You can't even tell people you're an aspiring writer without condescending comments or declarations from the listener that he, too, is a writer, just as soon as he retires and puts together that brilliant idea that has been kicking around in his head all these years.

So how do you keep the faith when it feels like you're working in a vacuum? Here is a quick list, that is not intended to be exhaustive:

1. Join a writing group. Find a group of like-minded individuals who are all working seriously (not the once a year, read a few pages kind), and who talk about a mix of craft and business. Virtual communities are just as valid as the in-the-flesh variety.

2. Attend writing conferences as you are able. This can be expensive, and some people find them stressful, but if you consider a conference as more about recharging the batteries than the nebulous "networking" opportunities, you'll come back with renewed dedication to your work.

3. Read books about writing. Some are inspiring (Stephen King's book, On Writing, is one of the best), while others talk about craft. You're having a dialogue with the masters of the craft, or at least solid journeymen, and that's incredibly helpful.

4. Consume lots of good fiction. This gives you something to shoot for, and it reminds you that you're part of a noble calling of storytelling. Perhaps the most noble calling there is.

5. Always keep writing. Barring health issues, divorce, or the like, you should be working constantly. Even on vacation take a few minutes every day to jot down something or to write 200 words, or something easily attainable. It's easier to remember that you're a writer when you're actively engaged in a new project.


Unrelated, but I can't resist sharing some exciting agenting news. From the January 2 edition of Publisher's Weekly:

Kensington Re-ups Wiseman

John Scognamiglio, editor-in-chief of Kensington, acquired world and audio rights to two books by Ellen Marie Wiseman in a new-contract deal negotiated by Michael Carr of Veritas Literary. According to the publisher, Wiseman’s 2014 book with Kensington, What She Left Behind, about a woman who becomes immersed in the diaries of a psychiatric patient living during the Great Depression, was “one of Kensington’s bestselling digital and trade titles of the past two years,” with half a million copies in print. Wiseman’s next novel, The Life She Was Given, will be published in summer 2017. The first of the two books acquired in this deal will be published sometime in 2019.