Self Publishing: Look Before You Leap

by George J. Bryjak
(Bloomingdale, New York )

After writing textbooks, academic articles, and op-ed pieces for 25 years I decided to try my hand at fiction. The thought of penning a novel was intimidating (still is), so I started with short stories. One would think that after a lifetime of reading fiction (I was 55 at the time) I would be able to craft a half-way decent tale. Not so. Figuring out how to condense a mountain of relevant material into a chapter on violent crime (I’m a sociologist/criminologist by training) is a piece of cake compared to facing the blank screen, creating an entertaining story from imagination and experience.

Eventually, the stories came, though early drafts left much to be desired. Fortunately, I happened upon an editor/writing coach who provided excellent (often painful) advice resulting in nine published stories and a tenth that received a writing contest honorable mention. Two stories were published in Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine while others found a home in lesser known print outlets and online publications.

As my creative juices turned to short plays and updating textbooks became a full time job, I stopped writing short stories. Then, two years ago, I stumbled upon the box containing my stories, read a few and decided they weren’t half bad (two had received awards). That’s when the notion of publishing them as a collection first occurred to me. This thought was quickly followed by a second. “This will never fly, not with a mainline publisher.” Even a small press was a long shot at best. Self-publishing was the way to go.

I read Mark Levine’s The Fine Print of Self Publishing, a useful book ranking self publishing companies from “Outstanding” to “Avoid.” A number of organizations in the former category were especially appealing. However, they all had one or more drawbacks: First, most set a formula for determining the price of a book contingent on the number of pages, meaning authors lack control over the final selling price of their book. Few people are willing to pay $15 to $20 for a 150 to 175 page book by an unknown author. I wanted to keep the price (which turned out to be $12.95) as low as possible.

Second, in all but few cases, authors must purchase books from the publisher. These companies pay a printer “x” dollars to print your book, tack on a sizable markup, then sell the books to you. Third, many of these companies have packaged or canned covers that all but shout: “This is a self-published book” – the last thing you want a potential buyer to think.

With these shortcomings in mind I decided to go it on my own. (“Publisher? I don’t need no stinking publisher.”) I divided the process into four distinct parts: 1) editing; 2) page layout and interior design; 3) cover and interior art; and 4) printing. Realizing the cover process would not be a short term affair I decided to start there. After a couple weeks searching the Internet I found Cat Wong, a very talented illustrator who produced a dynamite cover. I told Cat I wanted something that would stop people in their tracks, all but compelling them to pick up the book. She did a great job rendering the ferocious goddess Kali in all her menacing glory. I found a local artist to create pen and ink drawings to highlight three of my favorite stories.

While Ms. Wong worked on the cover I had the book edited, arguably the most important aspect of the self-publishing process. Years ago, I read an article stating that two pieces of gear of utmost importance for a hiker are boots and a sleeping bag. Never try to save a few bucks there. The same sage advice goes for editing. I gave the manuscript to a friend with editing skills and she found lots of mistakes. Then I sent her corrected version to a buddy who edited journals for a living and he found a lot more. Finally, I sent this copy to another professional editor who discovered a few more mistakes. One can’t have too many talented people examine your work. Under no circumstances attempt to edit your own copy. It can’t be done. Nor can your sister-in-law the high school English teacher edit your work. Correcting student papers and preparing a manuscript for publication are two different animals. The absolute worst feeling for a writer – more painful than rejection – is holding the finished product in your hand (with a few hundred more copies sitting in boxes) and finding one stupid mistake after another.

For those with patience and sufficient word processing know-how, laying out the book, that is, page formatting, choosing fonts and type size, story headers etc is a place to save money. Since I haven't these skills (nor desire to learn them) I hired someone to do this for me. It was $200 well spent. The last step was to find a printer, no small task as a cursory Online search yields hundreds of companies with a wide price range. I settled on four, requested sample copies from each with three printers responding. The one with the lowest per unit price also produced the best books. In accord with their production requirements, I sent a CD with the book layout, had Cat pass along the cover, and purchased ISBN and bar code. Six weeks later I had 500 copies of The Power of the Dark Goddess and Other Stories. All the hard work paid off as the first nervously unpacked box revealed a first class book. So good that the manager of the local Barnes & Noble stated he didn’t know a publishing company was in town (Myopic Moose Press – my publishing name), and that it does very good work.

Regarding # of books printed, I caution against starting with 2-3000 copies, nor only 50-100. Somewhere between 300 and 500 is probably right for most self-published books. It’s tempting to buy a ton as the unit price drops, and declines considerably, as the number goes up. However, “a good deal” quickly becomes a costly mistake if you end up with a couple thousand unsold copies sitting in your garage.

After the euphoria of holding the finished product in your hand diminishes, the self-published author faces the monumental problem of distributing and selling his/her masterpiece. This turns out to be the most daunting task of all, and something I have yet to figure out. The days of walking into a bookstore (with the exception of rapidly diminishing mom and pop stores) and selling the owners a few copies of your work is over, and chain books stores only deal with major distributors. Unfortunately for the small fry press, the latter won’t have anything to do with self-publishers.

I had a very nice website constructed that gets a fair number of hits, but has yielded disappointedly few sales. I’ve done book fairs, book signings, library presentations, and placed The Dark Goddess in local stores (book and otherwise). I’ve sold some 125 copies in 9 months. My book is on Amazon and has received excellent reviews. However, few individuals browse Amazon as they would a brick and mortar store; if people aren’t looking for your book they aren’t going to find it.

I’ve been deluged with offers from companies and individuals promising to successfully promote The Dark Goddess, land me on Oprah, and have George J. Bryjak nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. These services typically cost between a few hundred and a few thousands dollars. I’m very skeptical. In addition, there are no shortage of books on how to sell your self-published work for fun and profit. Many of the strategies involve Internet marketing; all are time consuming.

Selling books to family and friends is tricky, at least for me. I'm uncomfortable charging 90-year-old Aunt Frances for a book. I included my Myopic Moose/Dark Goddess business card in our 2007 Christmas card/letter and had only two buyers out of some 50 recipients. I suspect some of these individuals are peeved I didn’t send them a free copy.

Promoting and selling one’s book is a colossal pain. I’m a writer, not a salesman, and I have little if any inclination to hawk anything, including my work. I want to spend my time at the keyboard, not trying to persuade the owner of a local gift shop to carry The Dark Goddess. However, the reality of self-publishing is that shameless self-promotion (and the many hours it requires) is a necessary, though not always sufficient condition, for success. Know that before you take the do-it-yourself plunge.

I continue to have mixed feelings about my self-publishing venture. The cost for 500 copies – including art work, editing, layout, printing, and a website – was just under $3,000. Not an insignificant amount of money. On the plus side, the end product exceeded my expectations, and I’ve received some heartfelt words of praise for my work. On the downside, it’s difficult having so few sales result from so much effort. Bottom line though, knowing what I do after the fact, I’d probably self publish this collection again. I think The Power of the Dark Goddess and Other Stories is a good read, and I’m proud of it.

Visit The Power of the Dark Goddess.