The Stigma of Self-Publishing

If my story can help aspiring writers with a difficult decision, I will be very happy.

I had a conventional publisher, although it was considered a small press. As a writer, you have the option of using an agent - if you can get one to represent you or finding a publisher yourself. If you're lucky enough to get your book done by a big publishing house - congratulations.

But most of us won't have that option. I didn't. The publisher will edit your manuscript, help you get it ready for publication, get cover design done, publish the book and at least get it placed on amazon.com and available for Kindle.

This was not my first publisher; the others went out of business. Using wait times between finding publishers and getting the next book published, I wrote six books in a series called the Sorcerer Series.

This publisher was averaging five years between each of my books. So, after fifteen years, I had two books published and was waiting for book three in the series to be done.

Imagine starting to read a series and having to wait five years for the next book.

I had always thought that a writer who had to be self-published was a either a writer who was not good enough to be accepted by a conventional publisher or didn't want to do the leg-work to get accepted by one.

Now, waiting for book 3 and with the publisher unable to commit to when it was coming out, I decided to take control. I contacted amazon.com about their publishing options.

About five weeks from that initial contact, book 3 was published.

Meantime, I discovered that my old publisher had "unpublished" the Kindle version of my first two books, although they had returned all rights to those books. I contacted Kindle Direct Publishing and they guided me so that I was able to get those books back into the world of Kindle.

My old publisher had taken 4 - 6 weeks after the book was published to get it into the Kindle format saying there was a lot of work involved in doing the conversion. Once I learned how to do it, I found I can  do it in about an hour.

A few months after book three was published, I published book 4 and did the Kindle process myself.

I'm going through a final edit pass on book 5 and expect to have it out in another month or two. Then I'll do book 6 a few months after that.

Having control of getting my books published is fantastic. With a small press, you do your on marketing, so nothing has changed in that regard. Editing is a very nice thing that the publisher does for you. It's a joint process and I've learned enough that I can do it myself, though I confess not at the same professional level the publisher used to do for me. But there are people who enjoy doing that kind of thing as a volunteer and are a big help.

Book 4 was published less that four weeks from start to finish and I know the other two will be done in the same time frame.

Since I had six books written and only two published (back when I had a conventional publisher) I stopped writing. Why write book 7 when books 3 - 6 hadn't been published? Now that I know all six will be published I can start thinking about writing a new book and look forward to getting there probably before the year is over.

If you're interested in looking at my books, go to amazon.com, select books from the drop-down menu then type David Lynn Anderson. I also have an author page there. Barnes and noble apparently sweeps amazon.com for new books because a week or so after my fourth book came out, it showed up on barnesandnoble.com including the image of my book cover.

If you are kind enough to read any of my books, please consider writing a review on amazon.com. Amazon has a complicated way of rating writers, and reviews help the author improve their rating.

I wish I had decided to self-publish long before I did. I am very happy to be in control of my writing life.

Any questions, please let me know.

I heard a quote once that said, "Writing is like marriage. You should only get into it if you absolutely, positively can't talk yourself out of it." And it's very true. 

But, if you can't resist the urge, it'a also one of the most (self) rewarding things you'll ever do. You're creating something that never exited that comes purely from your imagination. What could be better than that?