"Viva la revolution!" has to be one of the many favorite quotes from the RT convention this year, said by the lovely author
Emily Hemmer. In my little writing family group this saying has stuck as a war cry and a saying pride.
Why you ask, would a group of pre-published authors use this saying? Well, let me tell you cause it is no secrete of ours, but one of pride that should catch on. With the publishing world in a state of influx between traditional publishing vs self publishing vs indie publishing, along with paper vs ebooks, there is no one right way of doing things any more. The big publishing houses are having to adapt with the changing times of technology and the growing demand of not only what the readers want but that the authors wanting more control of their rights and being apart of the whole process. It is now an everyday thing that all, and I mean ALL, authors have to be part business owner not just a writer. And in this I mean that they have to be apart of their own marketing. Readers what interaction with the author, and no publishing house can do that for you.
I digress...back to the saying. Viva La Revolution is about self publishing. What this means is that the author has 100% control of their entire work. They have to do everything that the publisher does. While in the past self publishing has been looked down upon, and still is by many, their has been some major success stories that have come out of self publishing and it is possible to have a quality book come out of this process. Unfortunately there have been people who will put out their first draft of their work and call it a master piece. It is those works that have put a taint to the self publishing way.
While the tables are turning and self publishing is getting more respect, there is still a lot of cringing when you say that you are self publishing as a debut author. People will tell you no don't do it. Wait until you have a back list of published books to do it. That way you already have readers who will go out and buy your books. That your work will already have the NY editing touch to it.
"Don't pay anyone to get your work out there! They should be paying you." While is true when it comes to traditional publishing, in my opinion to go about self publishing the right way, you have to put money down to make your work clean enough to sell. You have to invest in your work, just like a publisher is investing in you. Go out to find the best editor to help you clean up your work, the cover artist that will give you exactly what you want to grab a readers attention, to pay for a website developer to help make the best webpage for your plateform.
Self publishing makes you a business owner and while it's going to be a hard journey along the way. At the end of the day you can sit back and look at all the hard work you did and say with pride that you did that. Not only did you write a book, but you invested in your career as a writer and are making the best of it. Maybe one day a big publishing house will make you an offer for your books and future ones that you will write, but there is no guarantee in that either. With self publishing you can guarantee that you are going to put out the best work possible without someone saying no you can't do that. What it can guarantee is that if you don't like some thing along the way you can change it, cause you have total control over everything. Even the pricing of the book.
You will end up learning more about the business then you ever would if you went only with the traditional route. But now days with the industry being in transition, it's time for the writer to take control and do what feels right to them. Just remember that you have to put in the same amount of effort into your took as they would with traditional publishing, cause your work deserves it!
When I went into RT this year, I knew self publishing was always an option, but I had personally felt that I needed that validation of the traditional publishers of saying I want your work, you are good enough for us to invest in you. After meeting several wonderful writers who are actively pursuing self publishing as well as authors who have started off there before moving into more traditional publishing, I was encouraged that I could do it. I can take control of my career instead of waiting for a subjective industry to validate myself as a writer. Thank you ladies for giving me the courage to really take control. To not wait for who knows how long till my work is actually put out into the real world.
I am pre-published. I can do it myself and still have it turn out just as good as if it went to a traditional publisher. That is with the help of a good editor along the way. Plus, I've always wanted to start my own business, so why not do that with the best investment I can think possible....ME.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!
Don't get me wrong, I don't thing that traditional publishing is wrong. I don't think that indie publishing is wrong. And I don't think that self publishing is wrong either.
Each writer is willing to different things and wants to be apart of the process in varying degrees. "The difference between them is if you want to be a business owner or just a writer." This is the best description I've heard about self publishing and traditional. And in my opinion it's the best of everything I've heard. Cause you are a business owner if you are self publishing.
With all of that being said, I have decided that I am going to join in the revolution. I don't have a date for when my book will be coming out as I've just started the process of getting my work out there, but it will be before I turn 27. That means some time before March 1, 2014 I will be releasing my novel as an ebook. Along the process of finding editors, cover artists, and formatting, I will be bloging about the whole process. That's right, all the ups and downs of the whole thing I will be talking about on here.
Unless something pops up and I get the deal of a life time (that means I get everything that I would want from a traditional publisher that I would get as a self publishing, yeah like that is ever going to happen), then I'm apart of the revolution as a writer, not just as a fan and cheerleader for my friends.
While within the self publishing world is very encouraging, it is rare for someone to talk about the whole process along the way. For some reason or another some people don't like to give out names of the vendors that they use or trust. Not sure why, if they are freelance then it shouldn't be a big secret.
Viva La Revolution! Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it! Keep writing! Keep putting your work out there! Anything is possible, you just have to put in the time and effort behind it.
One of the many books that I heard about while attending the RT Booklovers convention, was the Break-Up Psychic. With the release of it on May 29th, Emily Hemmer debuts her first novel The Break-Up Psychic, as a self published title. Having met Emily at the conference the first thing came to mind as we talked about her Romantic Comedy, if it's half as funny as she is in person then I have to read this.