YOU CAN GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED-JUST DO IT YOURSELF! (Part Two of Two) By Marcia L. McNair, Author, E-Males Should you seek a mainstream publisher for your book, or should you publish it yourself? There are advantages and disadvantages to both which I will discuss here in order to help you make an informed decision. Ultimately, I decided to self-publish my novel E-Males, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this route to everyone. In Part One of this article, I discussed a series of five tips about how to finish your manuscript, taking you from the initial writing to the final editing. Once you’ve crossed the last t and dotted the last i, it’s normal to be excited about getting your book into print. As a result, you might overlook some important considerations and make hasty decisions that you will only regret in the longrun. Whether you decide to submit your book to publishers or publish it yourself, both methods have one thing in common: patience! Every writer has big dreams of signing a million dollar deal with a big publishing company. I don’t want to dash your dreams, but unless you are a celebrity, those kinds of deals are very rare. For one thing, most publishers will not look at your manuscript unless you have a literary agent. Gone are the days when editors shifted through a pile of unsolicited manuscripts looking for the next bestseller. Using literary agents save these companies time, and time equals
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money. Keep in mind that literary agents want to save time as well, so they require that you send a query letter describing you and your story. This always comes before they ask to see a manuscript. You should research, either at the local library or on the internet, how to write a query letter. It’s almost as important as your actual book because your letter is the deciding factor in whether or not an agent takes you seriously and asks to represent you. I was approached by several vanity publishing houses who wanted to publish my book, and I’ve talked to writers who brag that they have a publisher, when in truth, the only reason their book was accepted for publication is because these publishers accept everyone. These companies aren’t picky because they charge writers a fee. Often, this fee can be well over eight thousand dollars. Beware of any publisher who accepts your manuscript for publication without an agent. How do you find a good literary agent? Again, I recommend joining writers groups on or off-line to use a resource. Get recommendations from your fellow writers. Have a lawyer review the contract carefully before you sign it, and never pay an agent to represent you (his or her fee should a commission once the book is sold). Also, don’t sign a contract for longer than a year—that was my biggest
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mistake when I had a literary agent. I had to wait two years before I could approach another agent or even consider publishing the book myself. I was proud to have a literary agent, but she gave me reality check about what would happen if she sold my book. She told me I would make very little money from the sale of my book: five percent if I was lucky! And that five percent might look wonderful as a lump sum, but not so large considering that I would be losing all the rights to my work. She noted that some publishing companies even take the movie rights to your work, meaning you won’t get royalties from the movie. In short, that $65,000 (the average for new writers) you got on signing will pale in comparison to what the publisher makes on your book if it becomes a bestseller since they have both the movie and international publication rights. Lastly, if you don’t make back what the publisher paid you for the book at least several times over, your book is considered a failure, and you will be a pariah to other publishers when you approach them with other books! My agent never sold my book, and it wasn’t for want of trying. E-Males has an unusual format (a series of e-mails) which scared off many mainstream publishers. The characters in E-Males discuss controversial topics from an African American female perspective. Even my agent was disgusted that the mainstream publishers she approached were afraid to publish my book because
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they didn’t feel it was commercial enough. If she hadn’t believed in my book, she wouldn’t have taken me on as a client. Yet, my story isn’t unusual for many new authors, especially African Americans. Self-published author Valerie AugustePartin said, “I originally wrote my book, Eye Was Blind, in 1996. No publisher was willing to take a chance on me because I was an unknown author.” These are the factors that led me to the decision to publish my book myself. Once you’ve decided to self-publish, your next step is to find a printer. Buyer beware! Printers are in the business of making money too and not all of them produce quality work. This is the reason why you see many self-published books of shoddy quality. I did an informal survey of self-published authors, asking them who printed their books. When I saw a book at a book fair that looked awful, I asked the author who printed it. She shared her long tale of woe, warning me not to use her printer. I also asked authors with covers I loved for referrals. I discovered my printer, RJ Communications, after attending a writers seminar and receiving one of their free books. Some other authors had recommended them, and I liked how their free book looked, so I decided to visit their website. I compared RJ’s pricing, services, and quality to other printers, and by far, I was more impressed with RJ Communications. The more books you have printed, the cheaper it is, but in general, it
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shouldn’t cost you more than $3.00 each to print 1000 books. If you want the printer to design your book cover, expect to pay an additional three to four hundred dollars, but never skimp on the cover since it’s your greatest marketing tool. I found and purchased a stock photo on-line, so don’t worry if you don’t have a photo for your cover. I think most authors would be better off using a stock photo rather than a personal photo because the difference in quality can make or break the look of your book. The entire printing process took about six weeks from start to finish. Yet, the real work begins once your book arrives because that’s when you’ve got to hit the ground running and distribute and sell your book which is just about the only advantage to going with a mainstream publisher, because they do all that for you. Selling your book can be just as challenging as writing it. Auguste-Partin knows the trials and tribulations of having to market a book personally. She said, “People are having trouble selling their books because they have a tendency to expect friends and family to buy their book. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that the majority of your friends and family members expect a free book!” I have to agree with Valerie. Yet, she also had some ideas about how to sell books on a budget. “Create a website to promote your book,” she said. “Also, create a mailing list that consists of bookstores, book clubs, and other
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organizations that might have an interest in either buying or promoting your work.” Auguste-Partin shared five ingredients all successful authors share: “Perseverance, patience, promotion, publicity and profit.” She ought to know: The film version of Eye Was Blind won the Best Drama Award at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival and will be shown at the 2008 Nashville Black Film Festival. Turning your story into a screenplay is always an option. Despite the hard work, self-publishing has opened a whole new world to me of other authors, fans, and support groups. Now my book has a 4 ½ out of 5 star rating on Amazon.com, and I’ve done numerous call-in radio shows, talking with people across the country, whom I would never have had the pleasure of knowing, otherwise. Self-publishing is not just about the profits-- it’s about the pride.
Novelist and playwright Marcia L. McNair has taught English at Nassau Community College for over fifteen years. Her first novel E-Males is available through www.Emalesonline.com or www.Ayapressbooks.com. You can contact her at info@Emalesonline.com.