Promotion and Self-Publishing

Today’s posting updates last Sunday’s account of how the manuscript The Reluctant Spy went through nineteen drafts. I told you then that a friend—Judy—had offered to read it.  However, the demands of the publishing world have intervened on her plans. 
            For the past two years she’s researched, written, polished, and found a publisher—the University of Minnesota Press—for her biography of an important lumberman of the nineteenth century. Unexpectedly, the deadline for responding to the editor’s work has became October 15. Two days later, Judy leaves for France to continue researching the third novel of her historical trilogy, published by HarperCollins. On her return, she will read The Reluctant Spy. I eagerly await her response.

Photo from Wikipedia: Limestone cliffs of Normandy, France.

            To conclude today’s posting, I want to share a comment and response with you. Rita, whose blog Soul Comfort's Corner has taught me about living with fibromyalgia and remaining creative, commented last week:

IF you cannot get it published the traditional way (that’s gotten a lot harder, but not impossible if you do your homework and find a good fit), please don't forget about self-publishing. You’ve put so much time, effort, and heart into this so don't give up. I heard that the guy who wrote Chicken Soup for The Soul was turned down over 140 times! And these days I have heard that you can self-publish on Amazon for free—no money up front. ?? Where there's a will there's a way, right? Best of luck to you. :)

Today I’ll expand on my original response to her comment.

Dear Rita,

The advantage of being published the traditional way, which as you've said is really hard today, is that big publishers have sale reps who visit bookstores and get the books into those stores. These stores will then welcome a writer for a reading/signing event.

Moreover, I think—but I'm not absolutely sure—that newspaper reviewers are more willing to review a book published by a traditional publisher. I talked to the local librarians, but they do not shelve self-published books so that doesn’t work for reaching potential readers.

Self-published writers have to publicize their own books. They must spread the word that their book actually exists. And I wonder how many people will Goggle or go to Amazon to hunt for a novel about first-century Palestine.

Getting out the word requires a mastery of social media that eludes me. The number of followers for my two blogs is relatively small. Nor do I have a Facebook account, much less any working knowledge of Twitter.

The big question for me is “How do readers learn about a book on first-century Palestine?” 

Twenty years ago Crown published A Cat’s Life: Dulcy’s Story. I was fifty-six and had the energy to do a great deal of promoting. You can read about that in these two postings on my other blog: Promoting Dulcy’s Hardcover and Entering the World of Promotion.

Somehow today I lack that same resilience.

You’re right that Amazon has a subsidiary called "CreateSpace." It allows a writer to publish with little money up front. But a writer needs to be able to design a cover and format the book for both paper publishing and e-books. If one can't do that, the writer must hire someone(s) to do these tasks. So self-publishing can end up costing a modest amount.

But if somehow the news gets out there about the book and there's some "buzz" about it, the writer makes more royalty than with traditional publishing. So pros and cons! 
Peace.

I want to thank Rita and all of you for encouraging me to keep trying to get A Reluctant Spy published. You’ve offered to cross your fingers for me with regard to Judy’s reading of the manuscript. Thank you both for your enthusiasm and your support.