Self-publishing is a complete waste of time and money

By Imran Mojib - The Gulf Today - 7 November 2013

SHARJAH:  Self-publishing is a complete waste of time and money, said bestselling British author Jeffrey Archer, while getting up, close and personal with his admirers at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Wednesday. “It doesn’t work, don’t do it. The only person who reads it is the person who gets it published,” he said. When a member of the audience pointed out that he wrote a book, published it as well as marketed it and sold 100,000 copies of the book, the literary icon said, “You can get lucky, but only one in a million get this chance.” He also suggested aspiring authors to find out a good literary agent, although, it is another challenge to find one. “Publishing houses get 1,000 books every week, thus yourself sending your work to publishers may not work. So you have to find an agent, because a good agent will see you hit the ground running,” he added. Earlier, he revealed several facets of his persona as well as people who cast an impact on his life author during a session, aptly titled “Lord Jeffrey Archer on Life, Writing and His latest work.” The hour-long discussion proved that he is not only a writer or a story-teller, as he loved to be remembered, but a master actor as he doesn’t only tell a tale but performs it in front of the audience. Interacting with his followers, Archer said he became an author by accident as he always wanted to build a career in politics. He became a member of the House of Commons at the age of 29. But he resigned from the House and left a promising political career behind him as he was on the brink of bankruptcy. He still laments not becoming the Prime Minister of his country though.