People ask me all the time if I've ever considered self-publishing. And why not? Here's a story of a 26-year old who sells 100,000 Kindle books a month. Last week's #2 New York Times best-seller was sold entirely exclusively as an e-book. These are hard numbers to ignore.
I've always thought of self-publishing was -- to be honest -- for losers. I want the imprimatur of a distinguished publishing house, a book tour with posters mounted on foamcore, paper pages.
But then again, I also want something more than a passive piece of mass on a bookstore shelf. I don't want to be controlled by a bulky media company selling products that are struggling for relevancy. And then there's what Seth Godin asks in the Domino Project, "a new way of publishing, powered through Amazon":
Pick Yourself
Why is it that many successful people assume that permission to start comes from being validated by someone else? Even the most creative and entrepreneurial people among us believe that they have to wait to be chosen. Authors wait to be chosen by an agent and then by a publisher. Entrepreneurs find themselves waiting to be chosen by a venture capitalist or investor. ‘Pick me’ acknowledges the power of the system and passes responsibility to someone else to initiate.
"Who we are never changes. Who we think we are does." -- Mary S. Almanac
This is hard. Who doesn't like to be chosen? But it's like that trick to strengthen your writing. Do you want to be published? Or do you want to publish?
Something to think about. Selling your book in Kindle form is frighteningly easy. But the second you do that, there's no turning back...