As a
mainstream and
self-published author who has also been working as a
professional editor and literary consultant for the past
ten years, I have learned so much about the industry, and even more valuable lessons (some the hard way!) on this awesome journey. The most important info and lesson combined that I've carried with me since the early days is this: just like buying and maintaining a home and car are huge, usually life-long responsibilities, so is publishing—particularly self-publishing. Now that I've had the fortune to be fully immersed in what's on both sides of the fence, I can truly say that my respect, admiration, and understanding for the craft and its process has increased immensely.
My biggest "hard way" lesson was
back in 2007, when I was finally able to self-publish my first novel (through a small independent publisher),
One Man's Treasure. I was about two years into my editing career, and I had started my editing business the year before. I was so anxious and excited to become a published author that I admit I didn't do the necessary research beforehand about what self-publishing truly meant. Because I had interned for a publisher in 2005, I thought I had a good handle on the ins and outs of the process. And I did, for the most part. But what I wasn't privy to during my interning days were the potential financial challenges that being a published author could (and for me,
would) carry. Here's where [this part of] the responsibility of being an author was first introduced to me.
Since I was so "ready" to get the book out there, and I didn't have the cash to use for my publishing venture, I used my brand-new business credit card with a $9,000 balance on it. Just the publishing process alone cost me nearly $5,000, which was a bit of a shock, at first. But when I looked over the fee breakdown of the services and I understood where the money was going, I couldn't really say much else except, "Welp, let's do it."
Because I was already working as an editor and I was well versed in the craft, I skipped having the book copy edited by someone else because I knew I could do it myself. The copy editing on my part wasn't the major mistake I made. I actually made two in the process. First, because I was in a hurry to go to print, and I was trying to stay on the timeline we were working with, I read my manuscript repeatedly—back to back, with no breaks—for three weeks.
Bad move. You should never read anything repeatedly if you're checking for errors, particularly a 300-page manuscript, without giving your eyes, mind, and body a break. Mind you, I had already read the thing a zillion times prior to the publishing process, so I was at a big disadvantage because I knew exactly what the book said, basically word for word; so even the typos looked like they belonged there. I was so familiar with the book's content that my mind and eyes weren't capable of catching everything that needed to be corrected, not to mention that I was absolutely
exhausted.
So, when the book came out, guess what I saw? Yep, TYPOS. Not that many, and nothing really glaring, but because I had read it so many times and made so many changes and corrections, I wasn't expecting to see
any. I just
knew I had caught everything. Let me tell you, I was
completely destroyed emotionally! I cried for weeks behind the fact that I had not only failed at the flawless editing of my own work, but I had also now released the work and
everyone would see these mistakes. I was so embarrassed and ashamed, but it was too late; the book was out, so I had to suck it up and deal with it.
Fortunately, there were no complaints since the book wasn't overrun with errors, but that's not the point. I wasn't happy with that snafu, and that's when I learned that my
second mistake was that I didn't pay to have it proofed. That's all it needed, but I didn't do it because I was trying to cut corners and save money, out of fear—fear that adding any more expenses to the process was gonna wipe me out financially. Sadly, some of the mistakes happened during my content editing, when I was revising sentences and switching out words, and I had failed to double and triple check the new content, so there were instances such as words being left out or inadvertently left there during the process. The worst part about it was that two of my professional-editor colleagues, both of whom I had worked with on several projects, were right there and available to do it, and I still refused. (By the way, I didn't make that mistake with the second novel; I had one of them proof it for me!)
Once I had dealt with that drama, another financial lesson came sashaying into the picture. As a self-published author, I wasn't aware that I would be responsible for making sure that my book stayed stocked in bookstores that agreed to sell it. I was naive enough to think that bookstores would be ordering it on their own to put on their shelves, and then I would just kick back and rake in the dough. I soon found out that I would need to shell out
more money, and regularly, too, if I wanted to have my books in stores! Not to mention that I'd need to have money to keep books in stock for myself, to sell independently (you know, trunk-of-car, book-festival, and street-corner style). FYI, ordering just 50 books cost nearly $400.
I wasn't thinking about any of these things, so I was totally unprepared for them. I was heartbroken by these rude awakenings that self-publishing threw my way. The only thing I was concerned with was getting the book published. Period. With all of the financial obligations on my plate, my credit card was soon maxed out, and I was sorely disappointed that I didn't do my homework prior to diving into the deep end of publishing.
But I lived and learned, and now I'm here to say this:
Prospective (and current) authors, in the same way you need to be prepared for the financial responsibility of buying and maintaining that home or car, you need to be financially prepared for publishing. If you're new to writing and/or publishing, or if you're working on a type of project that's new for you, then you may need creative guidance before you begin your work, or if you're stuck in the process, so you can have a clear view of your literary journey and be able to move through it with ease. Be prepared to pay a literary consultant to aid you. It's not an unnecessary expense. If you were sure of how to proceed, then you'd have done so already, with confidence.
On top of having your money ready for all that comes after your book is out, I cannot stress enough how crucial it is to take care of business properly before that, and have your work
professionally edited prior to publishing; this includes content editing. Content editing is set up to ensure that you put the best material in your book, and that the messages you want to convey are all there and are as clear and concise as possible. Both copy editing and content editing are vital steps that should not be skipped if you want to put out a quality product. In fact, if you get a book deal with a mainstream publisher, you
can't skip these processes; they're mandatory. To clarify, I don't mean you do them yourself, as
someone who is not a professional editor, or that you have someone who isn't versed in the editing craft do it. You see the issues I had with copy editing and proofreading, and I
was the professional, albeit a new one.
That said, I'm imploring all of you to seek out someone who
specializes in this craft. I know publishing is an exciting endeavor and
you can't wait to see your work in print, to have people buying it, praising it
(and you), giving it five stars, etc., but if you're finished writing your book and you haven't had it professionally edited, then you're
not ready to go to print. Respect your craft and product, and respect your future potential readers' time and money by investing in a high-quality editing service. When people put enough faith in you to support your work by giving you their money and time [to read it], they deserve to receive your best. It should show that you cared enough to give them the quality they expect.
Also, publishing work riddled with spelli
ng, punctuation, grammar, and even formatting errors (yes, that needs to be in good shape, too) is not only insulting to people's intelligence and a huge distraction, but it also makes you look extremely unprofessional and selfish to those who truly understand the importance of publishing the right way, and your reputation will be at stake. I say selfish because when you publish any work, it's no longer just for you; it's now for the world. Again, your work should show that you cared enough about your audience to make sure things are done as correctly as possible. If you don't make that effort, then I don't believe you're publishing to gratify others, only yourself. Yes, your family and friends will likely eat your product up, no matter what it looks like, because they're so proud of and excited for you; but others won't take you seriously in this field.
Please stop being in such a hurry to call yourselves published authors that you skip steps in the process. If you're going to publish, then it's highly advised that you do it right from all angles. Cutting corners to save money, not wanting to pay editors what they charge for their time and hard work, and rushing to put out a book because people are waiting for it, or because you can't wait to be published in general, are not signs of respecting the writing and publishing crafts or taking them seriously.
Also, all of your work deserves the full publishing process, not just the ones you feel are more worthy of it. The same care and effort should go into publishing a small project that it should when publishing something large. Just because your project is 10 pages doesn't mean you should skimp on your commitment to putting out your best work. A poorly presented 10 pages can ruin your credibility just as much as a poorly presented 300 pages.
Lastly, I know we're now in the age of Kindle and Nook, and many of you may not offer hardback or paperback books, so in that regard you'll be escaping some of the financial burdens of publishing by not having to order physical copies. But your digital works deserve the same pride and attention as physical ones.
Later, I'll blog about some other responsibilities that come with publishing. For now, I truly hope this post has helped you understand how important this subject is. Please pass this along to all of your writer/author friends, family, and acquaintances. Please be sure to backtrack on all of the informational links I inserted in the post if you haven't had a chance to check them out.
Thanks for reading, and happy publishing!
