Many of the best books are published by small indie writers, unlike the big best-selling celebrity books. If you are going to publish your own book, don’t spend your life savings on vanity press publishers. Most people (even if their book is good) will only sell a few hundred copies at best.
How to Be Published is a lovely guide that covers all the basics. Published by an indie publisher, this is an unbiased guide to the pros and cons of self-publishing, along with other options. Also read the follow-up How to Market Your Book (most writers are expected to promote their book these days – something that fills introvert scribblers with dread. The book includes interviews with writers on how to market books (without gimmicks) and an overview of book marketing tips.
Writing is a calling. Prepare for a life of intense work at curious hours, likely obscurity and regular self-doubt, punctuated by periods of wonder that somehow make it all worthwhile. If this doesn’t appeal, try local government. Paul Kingsnorth
If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet – then you must write it. Toni Morrison
Thanks to social media, people can take pointless pictures and pollute the world with their dumb shit faster than ever before. Everyone thinks they’re entitled to their 15 minutes of fame. And it’s that narcissism that makes people (who have no business writing a book) think they can write a book. Oliver Markus Malloy
If you have a great book but no money, Unbound is a crowdfunding platform where people pitch in to help you publish, getting something in return (like a signed copy). Paul Kingsnorth did this for his book The Wake, and was nominated for The Man Booker Prize!
Most self-published books bomb. So if you are determined to self-publish, at least make money on those you sell. YPS Publishing (Yorkshire) is a small-run press. You do pay more upfront for the copies, but then you keep all the profits (they can also set books for distribution).
Here’s the rub: most people who think they can write – can’t. So avoid writing a book for your ego, as it will get smashed when the bad reviews come in! Janey Bennett who wrote The Pale Surface of Things spent years researching and two more years finding an agent and publisher. It had rave reviews, but today most people have forgotten it. You seriously have to love your craft to write!
Joseph Epstein says 200 million Americans believe they have a book in them. The mind boggles. Things fare better in Iceland, where 1 in 10 of the population has published a book. Writer Solvi Bjorn Siggurdsson believes it’s because it’s dark and cold with nothing to do, which has birthed a nation of storytellers. ‘After independence from Denmark in 1944, literature helped define our identity’.
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster. Isaac Asimov
Traditional publishing is even worse. You have to sell out for the cover, get your book edited, then after a few months, unsold copies will end up The Works bookstore at £1 a copy. Talent is no guarantee of success. Many wonderful writers likely visit food banks.
One badly written book is Hitler’s Mein Kampf. As well as being a hateful autobiography of ramblings, today’s students say they give up reading it, simply because it’s too awful. One wrote ‘The whole thing is incessant, dull ramblings which even Mussolini called boring’.
