So, Why Self Publish?

 


To take control

You want final say— total control over your project.

Because it’s yours!

You want ownership of the rights to your work.

Time is of the essence

You have a project that simply cannot wait. It takes time to get published through a traditional trade publisher, who often schedule eighteen months or more into the future for a limited number of annual releases. You’d like to see your book out in the world within three months of submission of your manuscript.

You haven’t found the right fit

Or perhaps you have a project ultimately suited for trade publication but have not found a publisher willing to take it on. Wayne Dyer’s Erroneous Zones and the highly successful What Color is Your Parachute series are two prime examples of projects that could not find publishers — until, of course, they became runaway bestsellers through self publication.

 

“Do I really need an editor?” 

 

“And,” you may be asking yourself, “why do I need to hire an editor? My sister-in-law, who teaches fifth grade, has volunteered to give the proof a read-through for me. My husband’s read it three times, bless him, and he thinks it’s just fine. In fact he’s been pushing me to send it out to some publishers. I don’t need the added expense of an editor,” you well might be grumbling.

Rather than go into a boring lecture on the necessity of professional editors, especially the kind who find the Chicago Manual of Style great beach reading, let me have one of our authors, Gerry Dougherty, tell you everything you need to know, in his own inimical style.

As sophisticated as I consider myself, I found out I was pretty naive about the world of publishing. After I’d finished my book, I immediately set to getting it published. I sent several unedited copies to publishing houses in New York, figuring they’d be sitting around dying to get the next great book idea. They are. This wasn’t it. I never heard from them but I think I could hear the laughing all the way from New York.

I gave copies of it to a couple of folks on the ski patrol to read. They came back with similar sentiments. “Interesting pile of words you’ve got there. Why don’t you find an editor?” One suggested I contact a friend of his named Nancy Grossman. I did. Nancy was immediately enthusiastic.

Nancy had a ready understanding about how sensitive we writers can be and that any little thing will send us into a snit. At the same time she immediately got what I was trying to do here and embellished it. It was amazing to me what a difference a word here or a changed phrase there could make. For any of you who think you might be sitting on the next best seller…you could do worse than to run it by Nancy. Give her a hello at ngstudio@comcast.net. I won’t be getting a finders fee, but you can consider my advice on this solid!

─ Gerry Dougherty, author of A Slippery Slope: A Middle-Aged Guy's Bumpy Run from Early Retirement to Ski Bum to Ski Patroller to Physician Assistant!