The "Self-Published or Traditional Publisher" Question

The first question on my mind, as I held the complete manuscript in my hands, was whether or not the subjects of my book - a Vancouver clusterfolk cider polka punk band called The Dreadnoughts who had become good friends over the years - would be okay with the content. I printed up copies on my laser printer for all five of them and asked them to read it and give me their thoughts. To my slight surprise they were all completely okay with it, just the way it was.

The next question was whether it was actually good enough to bother other people with it. This is one of my basic difficulties in being a writer - it's such a solitary pursuit that it can be difficult to know how others will take to what I've created. I sought approval from a number of people - a couple of friends, a couple of published authors that I liked, and, most significantly in the end, the sister in law of an old friend who works in the publishing industry. It was she who most enthusiastically said "yes, this is already better than some of the stuff I see coming across my desk." I already felt that what I'd done was "good enough", but this was the encouragement I needed to make me feel like it wasn't just an exercise in narcisism to pursue it.

And that led me to the next big question - to self-publish or to seek a traditional publisher.

In my head I knew that self-publishing was definitely an option, that it was something I could start on immediately, and that I can choose how much energy to put into it. But I also suspected that it would be a lot of work, and work of the kind at which I was not particularly adept. It would involve a lot of promoting myself and trying to be the centre of attention. For years, as a music photographer, I had taken it as one of my guiding principles NOT to be noticed. The irony is that I'm a six foot tall, middle aged, white guy with dreadlocks down to his waist - I can be hard to miss. But somehow I've learned to move around crowds without being distracting. If I was going to make the book a success I would have to turn that around completely and find a way to talk people into being interested in me and my book, and do it without becoming the kind of self-aggrandising schmuck that I hate.

I also suspected that the quantity of the task ahead, not just the quality, would be difficult. Self-publishing means you are responsible for all the business activities - managing stock, accounting for money, publicity and promotion, delivery, fulfillment, Web sites, speaking engagements, talking to the media, and much more. It seemed like a herculean task.

A traditional publisher, on the other hand, already has their network in place. They have systems for accounting and fulfilment, they know and are known by the media, they have sales channels, and those sales channels may well be unavailable to an independent author. Having a "proper" publisher meant I could concentrate on the part I enjoyed most - writing and talking. I could let someone else shout about how great I was and how wonderful my book is, and I could just look bashful and say "aw shucks." It's true that between the publisher, the distributor, and the retailer, most of the proceeds of each sale would disappear long before my pittance arrived, but they would also be taking all the financial risk. Less money, but for a lot less hassle.

In the I end I decided that I would rather get to work on the next book than spend all my time trying to find ways to beg people to sell, and then beg other people to buy, my first one. Oh, and one more thing - I felt (and still do) that having a book published by an established publisher, even just a small one, gives the book a degree of credibility. Any boob off the street can self-publish a book these days, but for a company to get behind it and put resources into promoting it sends a clear message that it's not just the author and their mother who thinks it's worth the time.

And so, with the generous help and guidance of my new friend in the publishing industry, I started writing up proposal and sending out the manuscript. It's a lot of work just to do that. Every publisher seemed to have their own magic recipe for putting together a submission, and I understood that the process of getting a publisher can literally take years. With the publishers I was looking at, I wouldn't even know if they were merely interested for six to twelve months.

I sent the book off to six publishers who I thought might be a good fit and then things came to a screeching halt when my mum fell ill and died rather unexpectedly. The book went back onto the shelf for the second time.

What happened next changed my mind about the self/traditional approach, but it wouldn't happen until I'd seen my mum off, gone to Poland to tour with The Dreadnoughts again, made my first music video, gone to Chesapeake Bay to attend a friend's wedding, and finally returned to Vancouver again in the summer of 2011.

To Be Continued...

The Back Story - How I Got Here

This blog is going to be about my experiences in self-publishing. It's not going to be definitive or broad-ranging in scope. I don't have the time or resources to compare different options. Rather than touch lightly on a lot of options, I'd rather go a bit more deeply into how it's playing out for me. From there you can make your own choices about how to handle your project.

First I should give you a little background into how I ended up with a book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the iPad, in local bookshops, etc.

I've been a photographer for many years, specializing in live event photography and in particular music photography. In 2009 I had the opportunity to spend a week touring Britain with the Vancouver gypsy-klezmer-celtic-polka-cider-folk-punk band The Dreadnoughts. I originally went just to take photos, but quickly started making notes as a cathartic outlet. Those notes and photos were put together into a book that was completed in December 2010. On October 26, 2011 I officially launched "This Place Is Awesome." As of this moment I've sold over 200 physical copies in the first three months. I don't have online sales figures yet. And the reviews have been very nearly unanimously positive.

Currently the book is available from six local book and record shops, independent bookstores in Toronto, Ottawa, and London, online in printed form from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and as an eBook for the Kindle, iPad/iPhone, Nook, and Sony eReader. It will shortly be available on the Kobo and in another format I can't remember. It's also available directly from me via mail order.

The book is self-published, with printed copies being produced by lulu.com and the eBook managed by BookBaby.

Over the course of this blog I will explain how all of that came together, what I did to get reviewed in the papers, how I promote and publicize the book, and various other bits of information that might be of interest or amusement.

As they say... your mileage may vary.

Comments are always welcome.

Thank you for your kind attention.
Adam PW Smith