It has been with much soul searching that I have finally decided to self-publish The Art of the Imperfect, the first in my crime series set in Scarborough. I have moved from saying, ‘I think I will…’ to ‘I will…’ And I am in the process of gathering information from various people who have done this in the past and from websites, guides etc.
For me, there’s still a certain amount of stigma attached to self-publishing. At the recent Harrogate Crime Writing Festival a panellist said the oft repeated, ‘If the story is good enough and the writing is good, you’ll find a publisher.’ (Easy to say if you’ve got one!) That’s the script I’ve grown up with, even though I know somewhere in my gut that there is much awful writing being churned out by traditional publishers and there is much that is quality coming out of self-publishing.
My decision has been helped by two things. One is an article in The Telegraph recently http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10934043/Val-McDermid-I-would-be-a-failed-novelist-if-I-started-out-today.html . Val McDermid is quoted as saying she would never have got a traditional publishing contract if she’d started out today. Also Jonny Geller, literary agent supremo, calls the traditional publishing industry ‘a lottery’.
Secondly the panel at the festival at Harrogate on self-publishing (with the lovely Mel Sherratt – http://melsherratt.co.uk/) was so inspiring and encouraging, it did give me more confidence that I could do it as well. They all said that the down-side to self-publishing is that the writer has to do everything; and many of them, as soon as they could, took advantage of the skills of an editor. However, they all appeared to relish the control and satisfaction self-publishing gave them in seeing their own works through to fruition.
I hope it maybe so for me too.
Scarborough Mysteries 
Go for it! I aspire to have a book published as well so I understand the difficulties of finding a publisher. Best of luck!
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Thanks. Good luck on your publishing journey too.
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There are so many positives to self publishing, especially for genre writers. Until traditional publishers start changing their archaic contract system, it’s probably the best option out there. Good luck!
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Thank you!
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The very best of luck with it. I follow you on Twitter and look forward to updates and more info from you on the journey. Bon voyage!
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Thank you.
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I have just published my first novel as an ebook. It’s too early to judge yet what kind of a success it will have but I have *some* sales already. If it takes off, I can then look at the Print on Demand services. As Jonny Geller said, the traditional publishing route is a lottery. You send your submission then wait 12-16 weeks to be told, ‘I enjoyed reading it but it’s not right for our list,’ — if the agent or publisher can be bothered to reply at all. Better to stride out on your own and services like Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords will do a little of the marketing for you. Ebook publication gives you an encouraging start. If a traditional publisher shows an interest in your book later, so much the better. It can happen.
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