My plan all along has been to self-publish my Sexton Chronicles and see how many I could sell flying solo. The answer is: more than I thought, less than I hoped, and far, far, far less than my wildest dreams.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not in the least disappointed. In fact, given the number of people who have continued past Sexton and bought Sexton Spice and Storm Clouds Over Sexton, I think I can make a solid case to a traditional publisher that the Sexton Chronicles is a viable series. I try to deliver a good adventure with believable characters, that brings the reader into a fun experience. Your kids, and their kids, aren't going to be required to read my stuff as part of 21st Century Literature in high school...and if they are, someone shoot me. I don't want my books to become the literature of the century. I'm not that pretentious and nothing sucks the fun out of reading a book like having someone make you read the book.
I won't assume a traditional publisher will pick up the books (though I hope one does) and getting published when you're an unknown is tough. Really tough. Publishing a book is a huge investment and we're still plodding through an economy that could be called healthy only by someone who doesn't know their buttocks from their chair. I've heard that some publishers won't touch a work that's been self-published. That might be true, but I don't think so. I think any publisher looks at a body of work with only one question that needs to be answered. That question is whether or not they will make money from the book(s).
My logic is pretty easy to understand: if I can make a couple of bucks on the books with nothing but a bit of talent and a lot of hard work, a publisher ought to be able to make money from the books. Any way one looks at it, I have nothing to lose by trying. Until a publisher buys my work and tells me to stop self-publishing it, my books will still be for sale at lulu.com, amazon.com, and Barnesandnoble.com.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not in the least disappointed. In fact, given the number of people who have continued past Sexton and bought Sexton Spice and Storm Clouds Over Sexton, I think I can make a solid case to a traditional publisher that the Sexton Chronicles is a viable series. I try to deliver a good adventure with believable characters, that brings the reader into a fun experience. Your kids, and their kids, aren't going to be required to read my stuff as part of 21st Century Literature in high school...and if they are, someone shoot me. I don't want my books to become the literature of the century. I'm not that pretentious and nothing sucks the fun out of reading a book like having someone make you read the book.
I won't assume a traditional publisher will pick up the books (though I hope one does) and getting published when you're an unknown is tough. Really tough. Publishing a book is a huge investment and we're still plodding through an economy that could be called healthy only by someone who doesn't know their buttocks from their chair. I've heard that some publishers won't touch a work that's been self-published. That might be true, but I don't think so. I think any publisher looks at a body of work with only one question that needs to be answered. That question is whether or not they will make money from the book(s).
My logic is pretty easy to understand: if I can make a couple of bucks on the books with nothing but a bit of talent and a lot of hard work, a publisher ought to be able to make money from the books. Any way one looks at it, I have nothing to lose by trying. Until a publisher buys my work and tells me to stop self-publishing it, my books will still be for sale at lulu.com, amazon.com, and Barnesandnoble.com.
Odds are against me, by the way. That's an acknowledgement of fact, not a pre-admission of defeat. I've beaten odds before, on a fairly regular basis in some portions of my life. Getting published is tough. That's okay. So am I.
1 comment:
God, I hope so.
I also entertained the same thoughts when I self-published War Remains. I am coming up on the six-month anniversary in two weeks and still thinking that it will be successful.
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