Why Write and Self Publish?

by John L. Campbell
(Brookfield, WI, USA)

In this country alone people are reaching the age of 60 at the rate of 330 an hour. What are these people, who are in good health, going to do in their retirement? I suggest writing. Write a family history for your grandchildren. Write a memoir as a catharsis for the soul; or start your own business as a freelance writer.

Deena Katz, President of Evansky, Brown and Katz, financial advisers in Coral Gables, Florida, said in an Internet interview, "I don’t think Boomers will be a traditional generation of retirees. We will be a generation of repositioners," another way of saying Boomers will continue to work in some fashion and stay active in their version of retirement. In addition to freelance writing for newspapers and magazines, corporate clients use outside writers for special projects, and they pay better than most publications. I started as a technical writer and acquired skills for poetry and short stories. The secret to success, which is a little late to learn for me, is to begin writing early in the life.

I knew when I retired that writing would be the outlet for whatever creative energy I had left. That was thirteen years ago...four paperbacks, three chapbooks of poetry, and one of short stories, all of which were self-published. With the computer any writer can do most of the work themselves.

My most recent book, Writing In Retirement, tells how thirteen other writers-in-retirement found a satisfying outlet for their creativity with time left over for golf and bingo. I enjoyed interviewing other writers, learning how they succeeded and at my age (eighty this year) I wasn’t going to wait for a publisher. Print-on-demand or POD publishing is the way to go. John Grisham sold his first novel from the trunk of his car. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, established his own print shop for his work. Walt Whitman self-published his early editions of Leaves of Grass. As J. Glenn Evans, a Seattle author and poet says, "Who has more right to self-publish than the authors themselves?"

John's website is Writing In Retirement.