Something About Why I’m Self Publishing

Self-sufficiency is the name of the game.

So I’m a little late on this post, but things have been busy. I wanted to talk a bit about why I’m self publishing. There’s advantages and disadvantages to being an indie author. Some have chosen this path and others have been thrust upon it–so which am I?

I have never tried to get an agent to represent my works, nor have I sent in any of my manuscripts in to a publishing house. You might be shocked to hear that, but I’ve never even thought that road was the way to go. Probably for a number of reasons. I can only lay out the ones I know of, though I imagine something might be going on subconsciously as well.

I’ve chosen from the beginning to walk an unconventional road, and I think I’ve always known it would have to be this way if I wanted my works published.

So here are my reasons for self publishing.

Reason 1: Independence.

While there is both positives and negatives, there’s a lot of advantages to going independent. For one, I own the rights to my works. As I understand it, if I were to sign onto a publishing house for a book series, they would be the ones with movie rights. This is how many publishing houses are making money–by selling movie rights and hoping the series takes off. I’m not interested in seeing a soulless husk of my books in the future.

I know of self published authors who have sold the movie rights to their works, and they’ve negotiated a level of control over the content of scripts and casting. Now personally I don’t expect to ever be in this kind of situation, but I really don’t like the way Hollywood butchers IP after IP. Even authors like Stephen King are not immune to their works being desecrated.

Reason 2: Autonomy.

One of the most important aspects of my writing is the content is wholly mine. No one is behind the scenes telling me I have to cut this or add that.

I like the way I write my characters. I know some will see my style as meandering, but I like to infuse my characters with little moments where their idiosyncrasies are revealed. The way I write my characters would be left on the editing room table of a publishing house, and that I will not abide.

Likewise some of my themes are not commercially mainstream. I doubt any publishing house would take up a series like The Children of Gomorrah, even if it were secretly written by a bestselling author. All the writing talent in the world wouldn’t help.

Reason 3: Self-Determination.

I get ultimate say in everything about my works. From the cover to the editor, I get to say what goes. There’s a lot of work that goes into this, so it could definitely be seen as a disadvantage. After all I have to do everything, which includes knowing when to outsource.

I can’t do a copy edit of my own work–I’ve tried. It doesn’t work out so well, even when paired with WritingProAid. My manuscript for Intersection was never cleaner after making the appropriate changes from my editor.

However what I can do is figure out how to design a website. So rather than spending thousands on a web designer, I chose to pull my hair out making my own.

Having a killer cover for my book was really important. And seeing how my own attempt at cover creation for Intersection was blah, I needed to outsource.

When everything is in my hands, I have to figure out what I can do and what’s worth pursuing other talent. But in the end I’m trusting this process will be rewarding.

Reason 4: Self-Rule.

I’d really like to get into merchandising in the distant future. T-shirts and hats and the like, but I wouldn’t have control over any of that if I wasn’t going independent.

As an example, I designed this logo for The Children of Gomorrah, and I think it would look awesome as a graphic-T. I would likely have it tweaked a bit, but it’s core would remain.

Price control is another matter. I like that I can set the price for my books (and merchandise in the future) to what I think is fair for me and my readers.

I think you get the picture.

There’s a lot of reasons to self publish, and independence is my prime reason. As you can see, there are many aspects that are effected by how you pursue publishing. It all comes down to who has control over your work. For a nobody writer like me, I’d have no chance of negotiating with a publishing house. Why would they give control over to the writer? There are hundreds of writers who are dying to be published. I’d be replaceable.

So I have no interest pursuing traditional publishing. Yes my path is harder. But in my estimation, the benefits outweigh the negatives.

I’d like to have my first YouTube video up this weekend, so perhaps I’ll talk about that next Tuesday.

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day,

Colin J Switalski