Let's dive into the rabbit hole of traditional publishing vs. self-publishing!
I self-published my first non-fiction book in 2014. It was a whole moment in time for me, and for the internet. We weren't quite at AI but there were tons of tools out there for creation and publishing on your own. I had just "retired" from music after 20 years of giving the craft my heart and soul.
As a bootstrapping indie musician, I had already tackled self-releasing and self-promoting professional material, and getting it distributed globally across dozens of digital platforms. Using those chops, I sought out ways to do the same with books – in my case, a collection of interviews.
Here's how that self-publishing process went - zero gatekeeping:
Funding
To fund my project, I chose crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, and set about gathering support and booking tour dates to talk about the book.
Content
I conducted most of the interviews virtually to build out the book, and, using the free word processor Pages in my MacBook, I found a template for a 6x9 trade paperback layout and started organizing and laying out the interviews in a book format. Then, I wrote some front material to introduce it, and Voila! I had a book.
Layout
I designed a cover, and uploaded the manuscript to Lulu Publishing online for free, making sure to follow their guidelines for printing and distribution. They provided me with an ISBN and barcode. I purchased a test copy, made some edits, set my markup prices, then chose the distribution channels I wanted the book to appear on.
Promotion
From there, I made a landing page for the book featuring the interviewees and pull quotes as well as a few reviews and a buy button. I also created an email list for receiving one interview a week.
Basically that was the whole process in a nutshell!
It wasn't so bad... and since that time, I've re-published the book as a second edition with a new landing page and more creative interviews.
For a non-fiction book, this worked well for me.
Mostly, the EPIC FAIL super win project served as a centerpiece for me to snag related public speaking gigs like the ones I did at Cali State and Carnegie Mellon. Beyond being a passion project, it's been a calling card to show the world what topics I care about discussing.
But, what about fiction?
Short answer: Ficton is a different animal.
At the moment, I'm working on the Cat Mann Is PAX series. Part 1 Legend of the Keyholders is a roughly 450-page tome, and it's just one of three books in the series.
My hope is to be traditionally published as a fiction author, meaning I'd need a literary agent, editor, and publishing house to be willing to get behind my writing.
But, I don't really have a fiction author platform YET.
So, what am I doing about that?
Research. Bootstrapping. Social media (ugh).
Yeah, much like the music industry shake-up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the publishing world has turned on its head. Traditional publishers don't advance as much as they used to. One of the first things they look for is your author platform.
What is this mysterious platform, you might ask?
It's fans.
Publishing houses (if they're worth their salt) want to see that you've done some market testing. Do you have followers, or any name for yourself as an author? If not, there will need to be something stunningly remarkable about your work.
And, even if you do get a novel published as an unknown fiction author, you won't get some fancy marketing team doing all the promotion. Chances are, the publisher will require you to do the vast majority of the marketing themselves!
However, to make it into many stores, libraries, and bigger lists (like, for example, the NYT Bestsellers list), you usually need a traditional publisher. Furthermore, to get shopped for television and other opportunities, you need at least a literary agent. Short of "knowing a guy" who can pull strings, there's still this narrow bottleneck.
So, what could possibly be the advantage of self-publishing in the enormous and competitive arena of fantasy fiction, with that kind of barrier to entry?
Here's my hot take:
90-100% royalties (instead of 1-5%) but on grass roots sales
Testing out the market to gauge interest
Self-publishing tools have gotten absurdly advanced
Creative control over my story, merch, and messaging at the beginning
It forces me to practice all that marketing I'll be doing anyway
I go to market (and iterate) quickly, with little to no red tape
No "owing" the publisher, if I don't break even on sales
If I'm successful, I can choose whether to stay indie, or shop trad publishers
I'll have reviews, and that desirable "platform", if I do choose to go traditional
I get the incredible privilege of meeting readers "boots on the ground" style
I'm aware there are a bazillion excellent guides and resources out there talking about all this, so I hope some part of my experience provides a missing piece for you!
<3
Alex
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