To Self Publish or Not to Self Publish

by Eva Santiago

“What do these famous authors and their novels listed here have in common? Mark Twain– Huckleberry Finn, John Grisham– A Time to Kill, Walt Whitman-Leaves of Grass, Richard Paul Evans– The Christmas Box , Beatrix Potter- Creator of The Peter Rabbit series and Julia Child– the Joy of Cooking. These are among the many famous authors who self-published their works first then went on to become best sellers. These writers never gave up after receiving numerous rejection letters from publishing houses. So they took a stab at it an did it themselves. What followed for them was that once they self published, the publishers took note and picked up their self published work.

Before I had written one word of my first book, As Clear as Claire Gets, A Conversation with the Past, I did my home work. I was astonished to find that one of my favorite writers, Mark Twain had gone through the self publishing process. Would a major publisher take note of my work? But then I read a long list of other authors who had done the same thing and I thought, ‘ There’s obviously something to this! ‘ So heck yeah, I went for it! I self published my first book,which is my life story. As Clear as Claire Gets,is a legacy to my family. I didn’t promote it much and I did sell some copies. I also have it in a couple of libraries here in town. I was hoping to use it as a stepping stone and it did work that way. As Clear as Claire Gets, is long because I didn’t have the money to hire a professional editor. But alas, the writing business is a learning process like no other right?

A year and a half after my first book, I finished my second manuscript. Salsa! The Taste of Life, is a volume of mostly short stories with some poetry. I was thinking of self publishing again; I seriously had my doubts about sending it anyplace. One of my daughters kept telling me that she thought it was very good and that I ought to send it in to a publisher. I was terrified of those terrible rejection letters so I said no way. But I started looking around on line and I was overwhelmed with the whole process of having to have a literary agent in order to even pitch anything to most major publishers. So I kept looking and then I found Tate Publishing; one of the very few publishers left who still take manuscripts without all the hassle. So I sent them my manuscript and held my breath for several weeks. Six weeks later I received the news of my life: We want to publish Salsa! , the email read. They also informed me that out of hundreds of manuscripts they receive every year, they only publish 4% of those. I had made the cut, I was elated!So what have I learned from self publishing verses traditional publishing? Well for one, I had an editor assigned to help me polish my work and I thoroughly enjoyed it because it helped me see my writing in a new light. I also lost the fear of having my project scrutinized by the editor’s professional eye and realized she was there to help me take my writing to a whole new level. When I self published I had no idea what to do to market my book. Now, I am being trained by Tate Publishing so I can learn how to get my book out there. They invested in me so now they are going to do their best to make sure I do well because if Salsa! Succeeds it’s good news for them.

http://hendersonwritersgroup.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-15th-meeting-notes.html

WHAT THE OTHERS HAVE SAID

Today I will post quotes from famous writers. This writing business is tough folks. So next time you run into a writer friend just show him/her some love because it is rough out here in the writing world!

A writer should say to himself, not, How can I get more money?, but How can I reach more readers (without lowering standards)?- Brian Aldiss

It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.- Isaac Asimov

Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil – but there is no way around them.- Isaac Asimov

He was such a bad writer, they revoked his poetic license.- Milton Berle

I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly.- Edgar Rice Burroughs

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.- Orson Scott Card

There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing — to find honest men to publish it — and to get sensible men to read it.- Charles Caleb Cotton

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Don’t be dismayed by the opinions of editors, or critics. They are only the traffic cops of the arts.- Gene Fowler

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.- Ernest Hemingway

My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.- Ernest Hemingway

As for the adjective, when in doubt leave it out.- Mark Twain

A critic is a man who knows the way but can’t drive the car.- Kenneth Tynan

Inside every fat book is a thin book trying to get out.- Unknown

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 172

I was just telling Esther that God doesn’t ask us to do the impossible like wake up every morning and run the universe. “ Ok, kids, today you will align the planets, make the firmament firm and run things for me. Good luck guys!” No, His ways are so simple: “ Today kids, I want you to TRUST ME and be content and thankful no matter what your circumstances look like. Think you can do that?” No, we are more interested in helping Him run things. Bleh He gives us the easiest job and we botch it up by trying to do it all ourselves. Man are we dumb!!! HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER and longest day of 2012!