Fifteen years ago, self-publishing was a course of action reserved for three categories of writers: the wealthy, the indulgent, and the desperate.
How much has changed in ten years!
Developments in technology and the economy have tightened the screws on traditional publishers, making it harder for them to consider risky and unconventional work. On the other hand, some of the very same technologies have made it possible for writers to self-publish at a fraction of earlier costs. Welcome to the revolution!
This post is the short version of the blogs raison d’etre. If you want a more detailed explanation, click here!
In 2003, I drafted my novel Hungry Rats, a teen noir set in Flint, Michigan. For the next seven years I did things “the right way,” even spending two years in New York earning my MFA in Creative Writing, and working with some gifted and brilliant writers in the process. I talked to literally dozens publishers and agents, but nobody was biting, and I realized it might be years and years before anyone gave my novel a shot. And so, in September 2010, I self-published Hungry Rats, and what an experience it has been!
I’m keeping this blog to document my own adventures in self-publishing, from writing the manuscript, through editing and proofreading, design and printing, and marketing and promotion. It’s a work in progress, and certainly a labor of trial-and-error. But for all this improvisation, it is a powerful and vital discussion that I am happy to have. If you are a writer, you surely believe in the importance of literature. And if you believe in the importance of literature, then you must surely want to know about the risks and rich possibilities in this new era of self-publishing.
Photo © 2009 Lisa Marie Ogle