There
are a number of factors that led me to explore the indie route after
publishing two trade books and five textbooks with traditional
publishers (Irwin/Mirror Press, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, McFarland
& Co. and Textbook Media Publishing).
First, I wanted to publish a
typically short book of poems for which there is essentially no
significant market and which no traditional publisher would be likely to
consider. Along the same lines, I wanted to publish a short story
collection. Because I am not known for my fiction or poetry, I knew that
finding a traditional publisher to take on either project would be a
very difficult task, if not an impossible one. Most traditional
publishers these days won't even read manuscripts from unagented
authors, and I was not likely to find a good agent to handle my fiction
and poetry without a past track record of success in these fields.
Agents that charge up front reading fees (or any fees, for that matter,
other than a percentage of the book's royalties/advances) are not agents
I would consider in any case, any more than I would consider publishing
through a vanity press masquerading as a small press. (Any publisher
that requires an author to purchase a minimum number of books at a
"discount" is a vanity press by any other name.) I could easily find an
agent to represent me as to my non-fiction, especially my textbooks or
law-related trade books. But I do not need representation as to these
since I've never had difficulty interesting traditional publishers in
such projects. When I complete my first novel, I will very likely search
for a literary agent as it is a prerequisite for submitting it to most
of the leading publishers today. For other projects, I'll go it alone or
self-publish. But I digress. During the summer of 2011, I needed a
break from my heavy research agenda that included research for a
scholarly article and work on the instructor's manual and test bank for
one of my new textbooks. So I decided to collect selected samples of my
poetry spanning some 40 years and my favorite short stories written
during the same time period and self-publish two books. I used
CreateSpace to produce the paperback versions of my first two indie
books and Kindle Direct Publishing for the Kindle version of these,
later also ported to Barnes & Noble and still later to Smashwords
for even wider distribution.
Second, I wanted to experience
complete freedom to publish precisely what I wanted and charge a low
price to encourage as wide a distribution as possible. I also wanted to
offer the book in both paperback and eBook formats. That was a
particularly important consideration for another work that I was working
on that summer, my intellectual property general reference work.
Ultimately, I published all three books.
Third, I wanted to
experience publishing on my timetable with complete editorial control
for the first time. There is no question that all three books would be
better had they undergone the vetting of the traditional editorial
process; I am not the best editor of my own work and without question
each work is less perfect than it would have been with an editor to help
guide and rein me in when needed.
Although it is equally true that at
times even the best editors can be difficult to work with, especially
when their preferences conflict with a writer's style and voice. The
perfect is indeed too often the enemy of the good.
(You can view the entire interview here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/VictorDLopez.)
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