Self-Published Authors
The five authors cited below have self-published non-fiction books on various topics and represent a wide array of strategies and experiences. The full interviews fill 15 pages of the Self-Publishing Revolution book. Purchase your copy today!
Interview Excerpts
Steven Morrison
An Extra Year: Grief and Loss in the New Age
(Spirituality, Memoir, Grief & Loss)
AnExtraYear.com
SpirituallyResponsibleLiving.com
Why have you decided to self-publish your books? Have you considered pursuing a contract with a traditional publishing company?
I fully expected to pursue a contract with a publishing company in the traditional way. If anyone ever mentioned “self-publishing,” I was full of judgment and had a very negative reaction to the concept. Then, upon completion of my manuscript, I just couldn’t summon the energy to pore through the Writer’s Digest, craft letters to agents and editors and publishers, and wait three months or more to perhaps never even hear back. I began to poke around and realized that in the time it would have taken to do the first round of all that to maybe a dozen or so “targeted” people, my book could be available on Amazon and so I went for it with BookSurge [the now defunct print-on-demand company run by Amazon, who now runs only CreateSpace].
What's the most important advice you could give to people who are planning to self-publish a book?
Be clear about what your objectives/intentions are for the book. Do you want/expect it to be a NY Times bestseller, or is it for your extended family members or something else altogether? How do you expect to use your book? As a “way in” to further discuss who you are or what you do? To entertain an audience? Etc.
Know your audience! Who is going to buy your book and why?!
Get ready to make a LOT of decisions!... I am used to back-and-forth of design projects and making decisions and I remember being BLOWN AWAY! That said, it gives you a great deal of control about how it ultimately looks and feels so if you are not good at that, get some help. Thinking about this will also help you decide which services - or package - you will ultimately buy as the range is significant, including editing services.
Jody Rose Helfand, Joey Hellrose
The FtM Sex Guide (Transgender, Sexuality)
Places Male & Female (Transgender, Poetry)
But How Did They Live? (Jewish studies, Poetry)
JodyRoseHelfand.com
Why have you decided to self-publish? Have you pursued a royalty-publishing contract?
The answer is simple. I want creative and financial control. Publishing companies, for the most part, are self-invested and often times ask you to change your work. I experienced this firsthand with a major publisher and turned them down when they totally wanted to alter the meaning behind my idea and exploit my experience changing gender.
What's the most important advice you could give to people who are planning to self-publish a book?
Make sure you really write an amazing book. Proofread it extremely carefully. Organize it extremely carefully. Give it to other people to read and ask for their feedback. Be honest and have pure intentions.
Also, know that it’s easy to self-publish and very empowering. It does take time and you'll need to research how to self-publish, but there are many books out there that can help. It also helps to talk to others who have already self-published. Self-publish if your heart tells you to; if you feel a desire to get your message out there.
Claire Ruth Winter
Understanding Transgender Diversity: A Sensible Explanation of Sexual and Gender Identities (Transgender, Education)
TransgenderPortal.com
How did you get inspired to write and self-publish a book? Did you consider pursuing a contract with a traditional publishing company?
I was inspired to write this book because there did not exist any publication that presented a readable and concise overview of gender diversity that could be read by the average "lay" person in an evening or two. I very much wanted such a book in my own transition, yet none existed. People want concise and intuitive answers and explanations, and my book gives them exactly that.
I did in fact pursue publishing companies by writing and sending copies of the initial printing to known diversity publishers such as Cleis Press. I also joined the PNWA and used that resource to contact several possible agents. I received no response from any agent, and one "no thanks" from Cleis stating their content in this genre was already overfull.
How do your public speaking efforts contribute to your book sales and networking? How does the audience feedback affect the changes and updates you make to your book?
I always generate interest in my book after I speak, whether it's at a conference or lecturing graduate university counseling classes. I have revised the book twice in response to feedback from readers, most of which I got from sending out almost 200 books the first year (at no charge). For the past year or so I've not gotten any feedback which suggests changes, but I'm working on yet another edition due to my own desire for improving the book to my standards.
Raw Chef Andi
The Fruits and Greens Diet
(Natural Health, Special Diets)
RawTaDa.com
Please explain your online book launch strategy, how you got the support for it, and how it went for you.
To effectively market my book, I brought in marketing partners. We established a launch date and offered buyers lots of free gifts with their purchase if they bought on that particular date. It was over three months of hard work, but it paid off by putting my book on the bestseller list.
What's the most important advice you could give to people who are planning to self-publish a book?
Editing. Never rush the project so quickly that you turn out a half-baked book. Get it done. Be prepared. And if you can, get together with a mentor who has traveled this path before and can help you through the process. I was fortunate enough to find out about self-publishing through Jordan Grantis (you!) and learned the initial strategies to get started. My friend Peggy McColl helped me with the marketing process. No one can do it alone. We all need to be humble enough to look for help and support.
Lee Harrington, Lee “Bridgett” Harrington
Sacred Kink; Shibari You Can Use; Spirit of Desire; The Toybag Guide to Age Play; Rope, Bondage and Power; Shed Skins: Journeying in Self-Portraits
(Spirituality, Sexuality, Transgender, BDSM)
PassionAndSoul.com
MysticProductionsPress.com
What is the relationship between your work as an author and your work as a teacher? How do those two endeavors work together for you?
I like my work as an author to overlap my work as an educator, but not to be a simple transcription or duplication. Folks need to learn something from me that is not in the books, and the books need to have material that I do not cover in the flesh. It is a symbiosis. However, because I am not in peoples homes/backpacks/on the subway with them (unless I am, which you know, happens especially with my one-on-one clients), the book also has to stand on its own. People who have never heard my voice before need to still "hear" my voice in the work.
What kind of editing input did you get from others, if any? How have you connected with the people who have helped design your book covers?
I pay for: Content editor(s), Copy editor(s), Layout editor, cover artist. I also have friends and fans test-read books. I take books to writing groups who do not know my field, and make sure the project is not too obscure in its language to be inaccessible to a lay audience. I workshop the project. I leak it in advance and ask for critical feedback.
To find these folks, I use my social networks... thus my current copy editor, JoSelle Vanderhooft (she rocks, and is available for others), I found via publishing editor Rose Fox, who I met via fantasy author Catherynne M. Valente, who I met via the fandom/conference circuit... I support friends of friends who actually do their jobs with excellence- not just friends who need a job.
Underestimations...
In a report whose findings are sure to be questioned by many in the industry, the Book Industry Study Group has issued a report that says book sales have been seriously underreported. The study, “Under the Radar,” says that approximately 63,000 publishers with annual sales of less than $50 million generate aggregate sales of $14.2 billion.
Jeff Abraham, executive director of BISG, says that while some of that revenue is represented in current industry sales estimates—which puts revenue at between $23.7 billion and $28.5 billion—a significant portion of the revenue is not. Abraham says the discrepancy between the findings of “Under the Radar” and historical industry measurements is that the study tracked sales from companies whose main business is outside of book publishing. The study also found that the majority of sales made by midsized and smaller publishers are made outside of traditional bookselling channels such as non-book wholesalers who serve outlets such as sporting goods stores.
- BookStatistics.com quoting Publishers Weekly
Jumping ship...
For more than a century, writers have made the fabled pilgrimage to New York, offering their stories to publishing houses and dreaming of bound editions on bookstore shelves. Publishers had the power of the purse and the press. They doled out advances to writers they deemed worthy and paid the cost of printing, binding and delivering books to bookstores. In the world of print, few authors could afford to self-publish.
The Internet has changed all that, allowing writers to sell their works directly to readers, bypassing agents and publishers who once were the gatekeepers.
It's difficult to gauge just how many authors are dumping their publishing houses to self-publish online, though for now, the overall share remains small. But hardly a month goes by without a well-known writer taking the leap or declaring an intention to do so.
In addition to [Joe] Konrath, bestselling author Seth Godin, science fiction writer Greg Bear and action novelist David Morrell recently have used Internet tools to put their works online themselves. Earlier this year, suspense master Stephen King, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho and Stephen Covey, the author of bestselling self-help books, self-published some of their works exclusively on Amazon's Kindle bookstore.