Came across a 6/22/10 post by successful Kindle author Joe Konrath, one of the countless online discussions percolating about this new wild, wild west-world of “self-publishing.” One commenter, Kathleen MacIver had this dead-on comment:
I think the sticking point is going to be quality of writing, though. There are so many aspiring authors who think their books are polished and ready to publish, yet they’re not. Their sentences don’t make sense. They haven’t learned how to paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind…things that are clear in their own mind are clear as mud to a first-time reader. Their spelling and grammar is atrocious. And that doesn’t even address plot holes and plots that aren’t believable.
And she didn’t even discuss good interior layout, cover design, indexing, etc. But she’s right – it’s all about quality when you self-publish a book. Always was. Always will be. And understand what’s at stake here. Never has the expression, “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression” been truer.
Say you put out crap the first time you self-publish a book, naively believing the world is just waiting for your self-published masterpiece in its raw, unprocessed glory, and it flops. So, you learn your lesson, and for your next book, you really put some time, thought and resources into it.
Bad News Travels Fast(er)
What do you think that fickle audience of yours (who bought your first book on a whim and was pretty disappointed) is going to say when they see you’ve got a new release? And when they’re surrounded by a zillion other books vying for their attention?
“Hmmm, his first book sucked, but I’ll give him another try”?
Not bloody likely. More like:
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
And given how wired and connected our world is now, if a book is lousy, readers won’t be shy about “going viral” with that piece of information. But, get it right and do a bang-up job, and you unleash an army of unofficial salespeople you’ll never met who will trumpet your praises from the rooftops.
No, everything that’s selling well isn’t fine literature by any stretch, but often the middling stuff that’s posting huge sales numbers is doing so because they were first in the genre. And as is being borne out, the “genre copycatters” who follow can’t hope to do nearly as well as the pioneers.
Learn From Traditional Publishers
What so many of these new authors forget (as MacIver notes above), as they smugly flip off traditional publishers, thrilled at being able to bypass these gatekeepers, is what these publishers actually do the vast majority of the time. And that is to create a superior product – by virtue of professional editing, design, typesetting, etc.
Remember, traditional publishers have the toughest row to hoe. They don’t make a dime until they sell a ton of books. As such, they not only have to be enormously selective about the manuscripts they take on, but the ones they do choose are then molded and reworked, often exhaustively, and finally, packaged for prime time.
Even after all that, most conventionally published books fail! What chance do books have that neglect all that?
No question, traditional publishers often fall down, and hard, when it comes to ongoing book marketing and promotion, but one thing they typically do a first-rate job of is creating superior products. And that’s something all authors can learn from – something we need to learn from.
Baseline Expectations
That stuff isn’t peripheral – it’s integral.
You need all of it whether or not you’re ever going to print a physical book – if you want that book to even have a ghost of a chance of being successful. And remember: that’s just to bring your book up to a baseline minimum level of production value. Then, the challenge is – and always has been – separating yourself from the herd.
So, it starts with the quality of the book and its production, but ends with marketing.
Then Again…
In my quiet moments, I sometimes wonder if I’m wrong about all this.
That maybe, the dumbing down of America has become so pervasive that quality truly doesn’t matter anymore.
That any garbage, if marketed aggressively enough (or even Tweeted and re-Tweeted enough) can find its audience.
Not like there aren’t plenty of precedents. I’d like to think – and hope – books are different. One thing is sure: quality is always the better bet.
Great post Peter.
To me, publishers DID serve this very important role at one point… but that role is slowly evaporating. In my opinion, the traditional publisher will never “die”… but if they don’t adapt, that part of the industry will rapidly collapse. Only the strongest traditional publishers will survive.
But I digress…
I think that anyone who wants to truly make a living via the self publishing model, digital or otherwise, will have to learn what it is the traditional publisher does… and do it well themselves.
I think that content, in any industry, always gets produced in different “quality levels.” The traditional publishers have let out quite a few “pieces of crap” themselves… so they aren’t immune to the problem just because they are traditional publishers.
Overall, the Internet and other tools make it EXTREMELY easy for anyone who is truly interested to dissect and copy a business model, including the traditional publishing model. I think this (the “self publishing revolution”) was inevitable… it just needs to play out. Unfortunately, I think that even though traditional publishers (the major ones) are still profiting… their time clock is ticking down to the buzzer.
As the old business adage goes… adapt or die. Right now, traditional publishers have a LONG way to do before they even begin to adapt IMO.
Well said, Peter. I like to tell my clients and prospects that by hiring me (or some other editor), they are making an investment in their book, and they should be proud to tell their market that they’ve done so. After all, if THEY don’t believe in their book enough to give it professional attention, is it fair to expect that consumers will want to invest in it?
Thanks Joseph and Melanie,
No question, Joseph, conventional publishers put out their fair share of crap, but in most cases, it still LOOKS good, even if the book’s premise hasn’t been as well developed. Yes, those that were ahead of the technology curve are more likely to succeed in the long run.
Though one advantage they have still (though who knows how long it’ll last?) is the cachet authors still ascribe to a publishing house. It’s kind of funny actually…
Even though going with a publisher is often a really bad deal for an author (i.e., low royalties, 18-24 months to publication, loss of artistic control, giving up the rights, STILL having to do most of the marketing, etc., etc.), somehow the fact that this bona fide publisher has validated them with their acceptance seems to make up for all the bad parts of the deal. Sort of like the MD-in-the-white-coat mystique. It’s got to be causing a bit of cognitive dissonance in those authors…;)
Thanks Melanie, and we both know that for those who do receive this message, it’s usually a case of preaching to the choir. Those who need to hear it most are convinced that they can get by without all that expensive stuff like good editing, design, layout, etc, and hence, they can’t hear it. But hey, just makes it easier for the cream to rise to the top…. 😉
PB