Did I by now regard what I’d created as a monster? Not exactly, but I was made restless by the inanimate creation that constituted my novel.
It’s alive, Dr Frankenstein, it’s alive!
Did I by now regard what I’d created as a monster? Not exactly, but I was made restless by the inanimate creation that constituted my novel.
Even when I was immersed in my ‘commercial practice’, there was some part of me that knew the book was lurking, waiting to be progressed or put quietly to sleep.
I need to confess something at this stage. At no time did I consider an industrial approach to seeking an agent or a publisher. My only explanation for this is a cocktail of laziness and fear. Laziness because, let’s face it, there are many businesses out there who one could target, be they agents or publishers, and making submissions is time-consuming, particularly given the arbitrary nature of the acceptance process. Fear, because the only way to avoid rejection is not to invite it.
But the book would just not let me be and so I began to investigate self-publishing. At least this way, so I argued with myself, the book would be available as I had written it, warts and all.
I looked at Lulu and a host of similar offers and was immediately discomfited. Leaving aside the frequent opacity of the commercial offer, it seemed absurd merely to produce something with the appearance of a book when the definition of ‘publish’ is ‘to make public’. In other words, the essence of publishing is publicity. It was pointless spending money to produce an article if I lacked the resources (howsoever defined) to enable people to hear about it.
So finally I began to consider publishing it direct to Kindle. This promised significant benefits, not least of which was that it cost nothing and avoided holding stock and distributing it. Plus, of course, trying to market something virally is a function of time, insight and tenacity, rather than budget and, if it took off, I might even follow in the footsteps of other eAuthors and pick up a traditional deal.
I’d made the decision to do it, created a (free) microsite which would be my lead weapon in attacking the marketplace, and started to re-read it with a more editorial eye. Of course, this was bound to fail as there was insufficient distance (ie, none) between author and editor but, what the hell, I’m the man who once proof-read ‘Pipes, Mains, Cables and Sewers - A Practitioner’s Guide’. The Force was with me.
Then fate intervened.
Ian Phillips is a freelance writer for businesses whose first novel, Grosse Fugue, will be published by Alliance Publishing Press on April 11th. He’s tweeting developments @Ian_at_theWord.
Christina, Susannah.
Previous generations of writers really didn't have the multiplicity of options we now do. Of course, there have always been vanity publishers but that perjorative term I believe is essentially extinct.
There is now such a dislocation between the number of writers/manuscripts around and the 'traditional' publishing trade that the latter can simply never cope. I don't feel that any stigma attaches to going it alone, whether in print or by e-book.
The vast majority want our work to sell and be recognised for the quality we *know* is innate. That means sales and positive reviews, neither of which is possible without 'being out there'; Of course, for some it's merely enough to write. I believe that Bulgakov felt the same about The Master and Margarita - and that's now accepted as a classic.
If we are minded, we can make our writing available to the world via Kindle at not much more than the press of several buttons. The question really is: how much to we want it?
As I said in the blog, it's about publicity, getting the name about and vaunting one's work. I know how uncomfortable that makes people but the odds of being picked up by the traditional model (agent and then publisher) are, I would suggest, increasingly remote when expressed as a percentage of the total amount of writing being done.
Thanks, Jessica. I was oblivious to the Sylvia Plath connection so I'm off to research that this evening, Very intriguing!
I've been wondering about Kindle as well but feel I need to prepare for it i.e. do a great deal of pre-promotion and get all other aspects of promotion ready before I launch my creation on the world. Being a writer, of course I know nothing about marketing. Just want to sit in my ivory tower for the rest of my life! Am greatly interested to know how you get on.....