Samantha March: Why I Chose Self-Publishing

When I first started getting serious about writing­­––about three years ago––my first thought was not about self-publishing. I was thinking write a great book, get a fab agent, and then get hooked up with an even better publishing house. Get a big contract, lots of advances, have my books be turned into movies, and not do anything but write books the rest of my life. Sound familiar to anyone else? Then this little thing called a recession hit the US, and things started to change. Agents stopped taking on so many clients, publishing houses stopped taking on so many authors, and little devices called eReaders started popping up. The publishing world was shifting.

What did this mean for authors? Securing an agent (which is never a guarantee to a publishing contract) was already hard enough, but now with tighter budgets and dwindling staff, it was getting harder. Agents and publishers alike were less keen on brand-new authors and genres that they didn’t feel could market as well as others­––hello, chick lit. Self-publishing websites such as Lulu and CreateSpace were becoming an enticing option for those who wanted to be published.

Due to my book blog, ChickLitPlus.com, I am often queried from agents and publishers to review their clients work and feature them on CLP. But I noticed a trend that was rapidly becoming the norm back in late 2009 and early 2010––authors promoting their own work. More and more people were choosing to self-publish. Many book bloggers weren’t taking on self-published authors, but I thought, why not? I readily agreed to review their work, and I’m happy to say I found many great authors––and made great friends––with these authors. The more I spoke to them about the novel I was writing and how I was anxious for the agent query process, the more I found out about self-publishing and why these authors chose that route. My eyes were opened to a new world, and I started to wonder which path I would choose––traditional or self-publishing?

The months ticked on, and I was writing every chance I could get. CLP was growing as well, and I was meeting more people, making more connections, and hearing more advice. At long last, in the summer of 2011, Destined to Fail was complete. Now what? I told myself that I needed to try to get published in the traditional sense. I needed to write that query letter, I needed to give it my best shot of securing an agent. So I started working away. But I realized in the middle of writing my query letter and researching agents that my heart just wasn’t into it. I won’t lie––I simply was not into it. Why? Heck, I’ve asked myself the same thing. Who wouldn’t want the security of an agent and a publishing contract? Who wouldn’t want the advances and seeing your book in a bookstore? Why couldn’t I get excited about this?

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever answered that question. But the truth was, I was more interested in self-publishing. That was a fact. I did query a whopping three agents, and received almost an identical response from each one. Promising writing, market is not good for that genre, blah blah blah. I also was told from an editor that agents might not want my story because the characters and situations were too old for YA, but too young for standard women’s fiction. So I had to completely change my characters and the timing of their lives to fit “the norm?” Bull! I happily turned to self-publishing.

Has this road to publishing Destined to Fail on my own been easy? No. Heck, it’s not even complete yet. As I’m writing this, I’m still fighting with my print copy cover. But people who say self-published writers are lazy and taking the easy way out are insane. The hours put into the actual publishing process are gruesome. I kept saying that I thought writing was supposed to be the hard part. That was a breeze compared to all the formatting, designing, uploading, converting, marketing….Self-published authors are doing all of that on their own. There’s no one there to hold their hand, do their marketing, find them an editor, design an eye-catching cover, secure them interviews, etc, etc. Self-publishing is a full-time job, and the risks are there. Maybe your book won’t sell. Maybe you just paid multiple people to help you format, design a cover, do your marketing, and you don’t make that money back. But what isn’t a risk? Will you let your fears constantly hold you back? I didn’t want to. I wanted to take my goals, my dreams, into my own hands. I have an entrepreneurial spirit anyways. I started Chick Lit Plus as a book reviewing site. I now offer editing services, marketing services, and am on the verge of launching two new businesses in early 2012. I went to a business college and learned how to start and run a business. To learn how to market, to advertise. Please know I’m not bashing traditional publishing, or the authors that secure their agents and publishing contracts. That takes a lot of work in its own right. I would never want to take anything away from those talented authors. Nor I am trying to tell you that you must self-publish. Self-publishing is definitely not for everyone. But with the industry changing the way it is, new authors are more easily looked over. I know some fantastic authors that have self-published that I’m utterly clueless as to how they haven’t been snapped up yet. But that’s the way it is. Did I really want to sit around and wait for years and keep hoping to get published? No. Maybe I would have become so frustrated and down on myself that I would have given up on writing completely. Maybe by self-publishing, I am paving my own path to finding an agent and getting that contract. Maybe I will always self-publish. I don’t know. You don’t know. But I do know one thing. I know that self-publishing Destined to Fail was the right choice for me. I’m proud of myself that I let nothing stop me from pursing a goal I set for myself at eleven years old. I’m published.