Why You Should NOT Self Publish Your First Book

You’re probably thinking, why in the world would a primarily self published … oh, wait, PC term Indy published author say not to self publish a book?

Allow me to add to the title of this blog. It should be, ‘Why you should NOT self Publish your first book … right away’

‘Right away’ being the key words here.

I have a friend who right now is going through the tedious content edits of his first book. I know they’re tedious, I did the first half. I left page after page of notes and suggestions. The book is very good and it has the makings of a really good seller. Anyhow, midst of the edits he is sending out queries to agents. A little ahead of the game, but ambitious is never a bad thing. When he told me this, I was like, “What the piss, Dude. Why would you go through all that, give fifteen percent of your ten percent when the world of digital editions is at your fingertips and easy …”

Ah, that’s the word … easy.

It’s easy.

I’m from the old world of publishing, when self published or vanity held a stigma. It still kinda, sort of does, but it’s getting better. But I am also from the time when you worked so damned hard to get published, that you dropped to your knees in gratefulness over that acceptance letter and framed that first royalty check for $1.35.

I am fortunate enough to be in that percentage of indy authors who makes some money from their writing. Not as much as I would like, but a hell of a lot more than I did years ago. Heck, if I had a time machine and went back to show a present royalty statement to my past self as I read through rejections, past-me probably would tell me, “yeah, right’.

But I wouldn’t tell my past self that. In fact, I wouldn’t  tell my past self about the opportunities in the future. Why? Because I wouldn't have worked so hard.

Yeah, I have some success, but I don’t measure my success by dollars, I measure it by the people I have enjoying my work. People are reading my stuff! That’s all I ever wanted. Really. Read it and like it.

I can say few have been rejected more than me. I said I’d quit when I had enough rejections (Books, poems, short stories, screenplays) to place one on each step of the Empire State Building. I didn’t quit, I just stopped counting … at 1172.

I have been rejected, told I sucked, told to give up, and even ridiculed for my genre of writing. But I didn’t give up. I was beaten many times, cried over it, but I kept writing.

I called them the ‘dreaded thumps’, when a publisher would ask to read the entire book. But when they rejected it and sent it back, it landed with a ‘thump’ on my porch.

I remember one day, my daughter, still a little girl and innocent said to me as she opened the door, “Mommy, another one of your books was rejected. It’s just laying there. Sad.”

That day forever stands in my mind, because I think that day I felt as if I looked so pathetic to my own kids. Did I suck so badly that no one wanted to take a chance on my work.

Someone did, it wasn’t the best opportunity but it was an opportunity. Then another took a chance. But after years of zero royalties, I took that chance on Kindle.

Again, I’m doing okay, my works is out there, but I appreciate it more than anyone knows. Each time a stranger emails me to say they enjoyed my work or a regular reader compliments, it means the world, I’m doing what I was mean to do. I’m doing what I love to do. I am a writer. But without that long road, that hard road of rejection and self doubt, self publishing would have been too easy and I wouldn’t have appreciation for what I have, I would probably be greedy for more. Make sense?

So, no. Do not self publish your first book right away. Submit, query and send to anyone that you think may be interested in your work. If you get rejected, embrace it. After you feel like you are a complete failure and no one wants to publish you … submit again. Hey, you may strike gold.  Pick a magic number. Carrie was rejected 120 times. One you hit your magic number, and you absolutely feel you have exhausted all avenues, then self publish. And it will be worth it. For most of us, I honestly believe the rewards in the literary world match the road you have taken to get there. For some the rewards are financial, for others, like me, it’s people reading and enjoying their work.

Appreciation is the operative term here. Self publishing is too easy today. And true appreciation doesn’t come when rewards are easy.

The Rigors and Rewards of Making Audiobooks

I can’t tell you how many times I hear from another author, “Wow, your books are in audio, I wish I could have that.” Or actors say to me, “Wow, audio books, I wish I could do that.”

I tell them, ‘you can’, and I wave my magic fairy wand and direct them in the direction of ACX. If you don’t know who they are, time to do some homework. Because all those wishes and wants start with them. They make it easy for the Indy and small publisher to get their works out in audio books.

It’s this simple. Check this out. You register. You click ‘add a title’, you fill in a few blanks, upload an audition script and post. That’s it. Then wait for auditions. Narrators, it’s the same way.

As of now, I have 15 live audio books titles out there. Here are a few things I have learned.

Pick a good, but not long audition sample. Tell the narrator if it’s in the middle of the book or the beginning. If your book has a lot of dialogue, pick a part with dialogue.

Fill in the section ‘Audition notes’ tell the narrator why they should audition. And for God’s sake, look for narrators if you don’t get auditions. You never know.

There are some downsides. One being, I still feel Audible treats the ACX titles like the red headed step child. But ACX is still in infancy and I think its time will come.

It’s a gamble for narrators who pick the 50/50 split. A book can be doing great on Amazon and tank on Audible (There’s where the failure of the red headed step child comes in). Audible needs to recognize these sellers on Amazon and maybe spotlight them. For example, I have one title that did fantastic on Amazon, was featured on the History Channel just last month, the narrator did a superb job, yet, it’s one of my lowest selling titles.

Authors, do not treat your narrator auditions like online dating. These are real people who took time to audition. Acknowledge their audition or send a nice note if you aren’t using them.

Think you want to narrate your own book? You can, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Leave it to the professionals. I did one and I only did the reading, my producer did all the other stuff and still. Even with a sound room, it was impossible. I hated my writing, I heard every noise and I realized my house is haunted because I picked up EVPs.

Give someone a chance. Say you hear a narrator. You like them, but they don’t have any books out. Instead of waiting for ‘the next best thing’ like most online daters, discover a gem. I use ABW Voiceovers a lot. Why? My first audiobook was his first. He did a great job. But now, Andrew Wehrlen is freaking amazing. I love Andy, he knows me and my writing now. He’s in my head, I hear him when I write. DavidDietz, an actor I have known for years wanted to try ACX. I gave him Peacekeeper. He did a fantastic job. He’s on a second one for me and it’s blowing Peacekeeper out of the water. He’s magnificent.

A good narrator can make a good book great. They bring it to life. I like ‘1^st’ book narrators. They listen to what I suggest, are so eager, and sure they make errors, but they’re all fixable. If you work with them, you not only help them, they help you and it’s a great experience.

Listen to the files the narrators send you or post. Download them, burn them on a CD, take a drive. You can pick up things they may miss.

Be realistic narrators. Don’t take on a project you cannot do. I have two titles in the queue that are overdue and I haven’t heard back from the narrators. Drop a line to the author. I hesitate to contact ACX because I don’t want to get these narrators in trouble.

Join Audible club, use that book credit each month as a promo. There are some good audio book reviewers, too. Contact them, gift your book to them.

Authors – push your audiobooks as much as you do your Kindles. We are not Gods and our books are not the Holy Grail. Not everyone is going to want to buy it, remember, especially if you picked the 50/50 split, try your hardest to make sales. The narrator counts on it. Trust me it is not easy to be a narrator.

Marketing Tip - Join groups and discussions relevant to your books topic. Do it as a PERSON, not narrator or author. Nothing more annoying than someone interjecting with ‘Buy my Book’. If people like your posts and you, they’ll find out what you do. It’s a arduous process but it pays off.

Another and final ‘be realistic’. Your book, despite our best efforts and promoting may not sell. The narrator, you, put a lot of hours and hard work and you can’t catch a bite. It happens. BUT, remember, today’s flop can be tomorrow’s great seller. New Readers emerge daily. My book, Dust is proof of that. For years, maybe five sales? All it took was one person to start talking about it … and Dust rose from the ashes.

Hope to see you on ACX with us!