Last night, I attended a dinner party with a bunch of my husband’s colleagues. Inevitably, at some point someone asked me politely what it is I’m doing these days. Last year, I felt comfortable telling people I had an editing business. To me, that was a solid identity. This year as a full-time writer, I found myself almost making excuses for my job because I haven’t produced a solid product…yet.
Because there’s been so much fighting of traditional versus self-publishing, I prepared myself to defend my choice when I said I was self-publishing a book soon. What surprised me was that all the insecurities were my own, perhaps reflecting that attitudes amongst general readers are changing.
Yes, there are naysayers of self-publishing. However, for the first time at a large event, many of the people I talked to actually understood not only that it was a great choice for getting my work out there but also that it’s something that it’s a viable business. Many people possessed more knowledge about what’s out there in the self-publishing world, and that’s a new phenomenon. One person even talked about how they like having so many choices to read for not only themselves but also for their children.
The total openness got me thinking that maybe while the war about the publishing business happens out there that the real movement isn’t the bookstores, the bookseller businesses, or the publishers. It’s actually with the readers themselves. The more they are accepting of any book available to them and their own ability to choose what they want to purchase and read, the more the war of publishing won’t matter anymore.
As a writer, I tend to either write in “isolation” at my own desk in my house or elsewhere. I pick the instrumental music for background inspiration, plug in my headphones, and let myself get immersed in the world in which I’m writing. If I go outside of that world, it’s typically to commune online with others of my ilk like on message boards. Talking with people who are very much outside of that world and getting as much enthusiasm and comprehension as I did makes me excited for the opportunities afforded to me.
Because I’ve recently made some choices and commitments with my publisher‘s hat on, there’s a lot of movement with my writing going on – more than I would have thought. It’s got me excited. But for the first time, I feel as if there are no excuses that need to be made and no reason not to smile brightly and proclaim that I am a writer who is also self-publishing.
Falls Into Writing 
I found the same when I decided to self-publish (though now I’m going with a hybrid press). Readers I’ve talked to don’t care where or how a book is published. They do find some pretty terrible self-published ones (I think a good bit of that will be remedied the more self-pubbers realize they still need to get editors, etc.) but overall I think readers, myself included, are happy to have more choices. It means they’re buying more, not less–same as happened with the music industry.
That’s awesome that you’re using a hybrid press. That’s also a piece of the future. I think it was surprising to see how many were aware of their new choices. It shows promise that the readers are catching up to what self-published authors already know.
Good for you! Great work!
Thanks!
So glad you posted this! It’s great to know that I’m not the only one having anxious feelings about sharing my writing status. In my head, I am totally 100% for self-pubbing and I am so glad I did, but for whatever reason I tend to cringe a little when people ask me about publishing. Perhaps its my own insecurities (if I say I self-pubbed will they think my book wasn’t good enough to be traditionally pubbed?) or just the fact that I know the stigma is out there, but I’m always a little hesitant to answer. Glad to know that there are readers out there embracing indies. Certainly puts me at ease a bit. Again, thanks for sharing and best of luck to you in all of your endeavors!
Same to you in your endeavors! And you’ve got it exactly – I feel as if I’m going to have to explain how self-publishing makes sense. This was really the first time I didn’t! And they weren’t just saying it to be polite – they were pretty informed. I do think it’s a good idea to know what you might say if you had to do more explanation, but it was great to be able to just talk about my material rather than talking about what it takes to self-publish. I wish you much success!!!
Another timely and interesting post, Jenn. Thank you. I’m torn, myself, I don’t quite know which way to jump….I am affirmed that many people at the moment are informed about self-publishing. I’m fascinated by hybrid options, too. Thank you for your post.
Wendy, you’re more than welcome! The one piece of advice I can give is to know what genre your writing would fit in with. There are genres that do extremely well in self-publishing, and then there are genres that actually struggle going that route. That’s the biggest thing to decide first. That’s why with my pieces I’m working with now, I am self-publishing. When I go back to my middle-grade genre pieces, I will pursue traditional publishing as it gets it to the channels I want that work in (schools, libraries, & bookstores). And there are more hybrid options happening all the time. It’s an exciting time! Good luck, and keep me up to date how things go!