Self-publishing is not failure. It’s the new market place

The ‘stigma’ of self-publishing

‘Self-publishing’ used to be scoffed at and for some good reasons. It conjures up images of badly designed books, unedited text, shoddy paper and poor quality printing and binding. Or even worse: covers that look as if they were produced on a Mac in the good old days of ‘Desktop Publishing’ using clip art (or these days, poor quality digital photographs) and Times New Roman or, horror of horror, Bookman or Hobo typefaces. These are all transgressions against what makes a good book so I understand how self-publishing earned its reputation.

And that’s without considering the writing. Not all writing is good writing. I know, I assess about three manuscripts each week: some are terrible, some are good and some are gems. But even the gems are difficult to get published commercially because things have changed. Having a book published by a commercial publisher is now afforded to very few writers. The number of publishers, particularly in New Zealand, is getting smaller by the day, so even if the remaining publishers keep their lists at the same size, there are fewer books being produced.

I have some wonderful people walk in my door, people with great ideas and a well-told story. Often they have tried all the publishers before they get to me and have received rejection after rejection. They have worthy books, interesting books, books well written and with a clearly defined target audience.

Full piece on Mary Egan Publishing blog.