Self Publishing Is Sometimes The Only Road To Take (article) by Wendy Willett on AuthorsDen

I am in agreement with Mary Tilley's blog. It was too long to reply to, and I thought all should read my understanding of self publishing vs traditional publishing. I've been traditionally published and I have recently self published with a Print On Demand publisher. This decision didn’t come to me easy either. My past isn't all coffee and teacups.Here's what happened to me . . . Two years ago I signed with a literary agency only to find out close to the contract renewal time that I was not being represented in the professional manner in which I should have been. They made mistakes on query letters and misinterpreted part of the story when writing out cover letters. At the time I sent a letter of termination, I found out after several emails and one certified letter later that they were closing their doors. During the year they were representing me, I was told a few publishers wanted at least two or more stories to make my title a series. Hearing this I was excited and the creativity flowed. I did this within one year, unaware that the agent was not honest with me. I figured the first book was exciting to create and turned out exceptionally well for being my first completely polished novel for young adult genre, so I was inspired to write my second and third book in the series. When I found out that my agent failed me, I decided to play self-literary agent and submit my manuscript to over 20 publishers, all of which were custom packages/proposals. I was still determined that traditional publishers were the way to go. Somewhere along the timeline of my writing life I must have brainwashed my intellect into believing this. Anyway, I went through impatient periods of waiting and finally in December of 2006, I decided to self-publish with a Print On Demand publisher in January if the last three publishers did not get back to me. January came and still no word from those three publishers, and after not-so-bad-rejections I just decided to find a part-time job and go through with my self-publishing. One thing some people who have been traditionally published forget is that the waiting period for us authors is stressful and exhausting. Sometimes writing becomes too bothersome and our attention span tears away from the story/article/novel we are trying to create. We find ourselves dwelling on whether or not the manuscript is going to make it or not. No one can admit they haven't worried about their masterpieces coming back rejected, and if they deny it then they couldn’t be as serious about writing as those of us who feel it is a part of our lives. Waiting around, unable to create heightens our fears while whatever publisher we send our work to, takes anywhere from 6-8 months to respond to us. We’re basically being asked to put our lives on hold. Please!I used the Writers' Market book, did my research of which publishing house was a match for my work, and chose only those publishing houses that accepted my genre and didn't require an agent. In doing so, several of the publishers got back to me that they recently dropped the genre I was writing for and my manuscript got turned away unread, even though it sat on someone’s desk for 6-8 months. Then there are those publishing houses that want exclusive reviewing time to discuss publishing an authors' book for several weeks to months on end, and then they decide that they are going to reject the manuscript. Our work gets dismissed as though it was nothing more than a breakable thimble. Don’t misunderstand me, I do have respect and sympathy for publishers too, they have tons of manuscripts to review, and they take their work home, but we have lives too, and both the writer and the publisher have valid arguments to sustain their viewpoint.I can't and will not speak for anyone else, but I have writer friends that agree with me that we don't have two to three years to wait for one publisher to accept/reject our work. It isn’t fair to ask for exclusive review when we're in this business to make money too. Although many writers will say they write solely for the purpose of therapy or their love of the written word, deep down we all want that feeling of being acknowledged for our creative brilliance. If that's all they want from their writing efforts, then that is their choice. But let's be honest, we've all dreamt of grandeur and successful returns from our writing efforts. I can admit I have. Think of it this way . . . you can't sell your work to someone who needs your submission to be exclusive, sitting on his/her desk for several months only to reject it, or drop the genre they originally accepted. Many people believe that the publishers have declined making offers to first time authors even though the story was brilliant, because they don’t want to invest in the book until we decide to invest first by self publishing. Then when they see how well our books are doing, they try to move in and offer us a deal. Smart authors who have experienced this will tell you they turned the publisher away. We shouldn’t have to bleed blood before a publisher will take a chance on us. All established authors had to have started out as new authors at some time in their lives. Strangers I've met with to discuss my book and even family members that have read my book, love it and think it should be in the movies. I’ve even had some criticism, but I used it to my advantage and never regretted it. Hopefully my book will someday make it to the silver screen, until then, I believe that all of us, whether traditionally published or Print On Demand, are writers as long as we cultivate our talents and write our hearts out. A writer isn't classified as an author by being listed with a traditional publisher, a writer/author is someone who has a story to tell and writes it down for all to enjoy. And if it’s successful, then it becomes our sweet dream of grandeur come true. If you would like to self-publish and have control over your masterpiece here is the link: http://www.outskirtspress.com/agent.php?key=15872 Here’s to your next best seller!
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