From Publisher to Self-Published: Lessons Learned

For many years, I was a publishing snob. Books weren’t books, they were self-published books, which made me clutch my pearls. Rather than admire the determination and bravery it takes to write a book and have the confidence to put it out there, I was mostly concerned with labels.*

Self-publishing was once an onerous undertaking which involved time and considerable upfront expense. In the 1980’s my grandmother translated keyboard music from, I want to say 16th century Iberian monks? You can imagine it’s a pretty niche market, but she thought it was important to preserve it, so she self-published. It involved finding a printer, paying large amounts up front, receiving the stock, then doing her own marketing.

Times have changed and so has my attitude. Few publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts and you usually need a literary agent to get your foot in the door. You can’t really get a literary agent unless you’ve published. See where this is going?

The idea of publishing a book for a respected publisher thrilled me beyond belief. I especially delighted in the fact that they came to me. I didn’t need to worry about editing, design, marketing or anything other than writing. Once the agreement was terminated, that all came crashing down. I should say that there are no hard feelings against the publisher. It was a really odd situation and the editor kept the project going as long as she could.

Now faced with self-publishing, I realized I am not:

• an editor

• a designer

• a marketer or PR person

I also once wrote a book about a rapping hamburger so I freely question my own judgement. (I still think it’s hilarious).

My approach was to stay close to my technical reviewer to check my Salesforce facts. Friends reviewed my chapters to ensure my anecdotes weren’t totally insane and I hired a savvy marketing team to assist with getting visibility for the book. If you’re reading this now, it means they did their job! I pushed the book out rather quietly. I didn’t fully trust myself. I wanted to have it in my hands to confirm it was a quality product before announcing it loudly. The marketing team set a launch date approximately 1 month after the book was available. I took that time to fix mortifying errors (epilogue, not prologue) and write an additional chapter (just one more!).

Looking back six months ago, I would give myself this advice:

• Hire a pro to create the cover and inside images

• Hire a designer for the interior of the book

• Engage with a marketing team earlier in the process to set a schedule

• Hire a copyeditor

Even with these investments, it would be cheaper than the old process of paying upfront to print manuscripts followed by the investment of trying to get it into the hands of readers.

I should note that around the time of publication, not one but two literary agencies opened by former coworkers! If only the timing had been different, I would have beaten down their doors for help. If you are writing a book and plan on self-publishing, seek out expert help!

You and your work is worth investing in.

*I do want to state that long before I started writing this book, my attitude about self-publishing had changed, and I always purchase books of friends and acquaintances, self-published or not!