The Con’s
The follow-up to yesterday’s post on the Pro’s of self-publishing, today I’m posting about the Con’s…
1. No one with any publishing clout has your back. You don’t have a savvy agent or editor fighting for you, determined to sell your book whatever it takes.
2. Significant (although not prohibitive) financial outlay at the beginning as you’re having to pay to print the books in bulk quantities.
3. Lots and lots and lots of work. My writing was on hold for about a year as I donned the many hats of a small press owner.
4. Limited distribution. Unladylike Pursuits made it into Barnes and Noble and Borders, but didn’t have a chance in Target (my dream), Walmart, or any other discount or grocery stores.
5. The stigma. Particularly within RWA and with other authors–not so much readers. And while this doesn’t really and truly bother me, it does a little.
6. The warehousing. I currently store the inventory for U.P. If I self-publish my next book, I’ll have to add to my stock.
7. The dire importance of reviews. With publisher backing and placement, reviews don’t matter as much as they would for a self-published book. It had to be my reviews, particularly my review in Booklist, which I’ve recently discovered was quite the coup as they only review 100-200 romance titles a year, that got me the placement I had in libraries and bookstores.
Okay, that’s all I can think of right now. Anyone else have any thoughts?
07/30/2008 at 9:33 pm
I guess storage for books would run into a problem. I know I have trouble having room just for the books I own. I only have the room I have now because I donate books to the library a couple of times a year.
08/07/2008 at 4:39 pm
Wow, though. I’m amazed and impressed that your book is in libraries and bookstores. As far as I’ve seen, distribution is the #1 problem people face when self-publishing, and though your book isn’t in Target and Walmart, it sounds like you did get it into lots of good places, which is wonderful.