Great Expectations (with apologies to Dickens) by LJ Cohen
[caption id="attachment_11908" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Panning for Gold, photo by ekcragg, used with permission, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0"]
[/caption]
I have been writing novels for almost 8 years, have 7 completed manuscripts to my name, and a wonderful agent working to sell those books. In the past 8 years, in addition to honing my writing craft, I have worked hard to develop a solid understanding of the industry so I could approach publishing in a completely professional manner.
Publishing is a business. It seeks a profit for selling a specific use of time and must compete with all kinds of other entertainments for its readership. If the publisher doesn't feel the book you have written will sell in sufficient quantities to earn a profit, they won't purchase it, no matter its quality.
When writers speak of gatekeepers, this is the guard at the gate: will this book earn more than the cost of its production and distribution? If the belief is yes, the gate is opened. The problem is, of course, that the track record of our guard at the gate is not all that good. So many wonderful books are not published and many books that are published, whether good or not, may not do well in the marketplace.
That makes for grumpy gatekeepers and frustrated authors.
Self-publishing (and the tools that make it a convenient way to bypass the guard at the gate) has become the wild card in publishing. And wild it is: self-publishing quickly became the new Gold Rush, the Wild, Wild West of book selling and marketing. Some pundits believe that the Gold Rush is actually over and that the days of making crazy amounts of money, catching the eye of the gate keeper, and being offered the key to that particular city are over.
When I self-published my debut novel in mid-January, it was with a very specific set of goals. My first goal was to produce a product that would be virtually indistinguishable from any book and eBook produced by a big publishing house. My second goal was to bring a story to the marketplace that even the gate keepers who passed on it agreed was publishable. My third goal was to give the story enough time to find its small, but passionate readership.
Because I had such specific and defined goals, I am able to say that my venture into the messy and complicated world of self-publishing has been a full success. By all accounts, both print and eBook versions of the novel are professionally produced, with appropriate formatting and eye-catching cover art. It is in the marketplace, both in e-Book venues and in local bookstores. As far as readership, I am happy with the nearly 200 copies that have sold in the past several months and am certain the book will continue to find its place on bookshelves and in the hearts and minds of readers.
Notice I did not set a sales goal or an earnings goal. While I would love to make the kind of money that will allow my patient spouse to be a kept man, I also understand that with one book in the marketplace, and as an unknown author, my chances of breakout success are small to vanishing. No, this first foray into self-publishing was a trial balloon; a way to learn about another aspect of the industry while I continue to also walk the more traditional road to publication.
Self-publishing is here to stay and will likely continue to change the publishing landscape in ways we haven't even considered yet. Authors seeking to control their own journey through the gate will need to approach the process with realistic expectations, specific goals, and armed with accurate knowledge.
Good luck!
[/caption]I have been writing novels for almost 8 years, have 7 completed manuscripts to my name, and a wonderful agent working to sell those books. In the past 8 years, in addition to honing my writing craft, I have worked hard to develop a solid understanding of the industry so I could approach publishing in a completely professional manner.
Publishing is a business. It seeks a profit for selling a specific use of time and must compete with all kinds of other entertainments for its readership. If the publisher doesn't feel the book you have written will sell in sufficient quantities to earn a profit, they won't purchase it, no matter its quality.
When writers speak of gatekeepers, this is the guard at the gate: will this book earn more than the cost of its production and distribution? If the belief is yes, the gate is opened. The problem is, of course, that the track record of our guard at the gate is not all that good. So many wonderful books are not published and many books that are published, whether good or not, may not do well in the marketplace.
That makes for grumpy gatekeepers and frustrated authors.
Self-publishing (and the tools that make it a convenient way to bypass the guard at the gate) has become the wild card in publishing. And wild it is: self-publishing quickly became the new Gold Rush, the Wild, Wild West of book selling and marketing. Some pundits believe that the Gold Rush is actually over and that the days of making crazy amounts of money, catching the eye of the gate keeper, and being offered the key to that particular city are over.
When I self-published my debut novel in mid-January, it was with a very specific set of goals. My first goal was to produce a product that would be virtually indistinguishable from any book and eBook produced by a big publishing house. My second goal was to bring a story to the marketplace that even the gate keepers who passed on it agreed was publishable. My third goal was to give the story enough time to find its small, but passionate readership.
Because I had such specific and defined goals, I am able to say that my venture into the messy and complicated world of self-publishing has been a full success. By all accounts, both print and eBook versions of the novel are professionally produced, with appropriate formatting and eye-catching cover art. It is in the marketplace, both in e-Book venues and in local bookstores. As far as readership, I am happy with the nearly 200 copies that have sold in the past several months and am certain the book will continue to find its place on bookshelves and in the hearts and minds of readers.
Notice I did not set a sales goal or an earnings goal. While I would love to make the kind of money that will allow my patient spouse to be a kept man, I also understand that with one book in the marketplace, and as an unknown author, my chances of breakout success are small to vanishing. No, this first foray into self-publishing was a trial balloon; a way to learn about another aspect of the industry while I continue to also walk the more traditional road to publication.
Self-publishing is here to stay and will likely continue to change the publishing landscape in ways we haven't even considered yet. Authors seeking to control their own journey through the gate will need to approach the process with realistic expectations, specific goals, and armed with accurate knowledge.
Good luck!
