Every major writer that anyone has ever heard of usually has a large publishing house selling their books for them, so why would an aspiring novelist choose to self-publish instead? The traditional path to making a living as an author is to write a manuscript, polish it until it shines, and then submit it to any number of literary agents appropriate to the genre in hopes that one of them will find your book idea worthy of representing. Once you signed an agreement with the agent, he or she will hand your manuscript to a professional editor who will make any number of suggestions about revisions and changes. The manuscript will be returned to the agent who, after reviewing the recommended changes, will hand the manuscript back to you for modification. You’ll make whatever alterations are necessary and send the manuscript back to the agent. This back-and-forth process between you, the agent, and the editor can happen any number of times until the editor and agent are happy with the finished product, which may take months or even more than a year.
Once the agent has a manuscript he or she thinks is marketable, your book will be shopped to a few publishers that handle your type of writing. Most of the major publishing houses won’t even look at a new writer’s work unless it has a reputable literary agent representing it, so bypassing the process with the representative isn’t really an option if you’re craving a royalty advance and a contract. Once a publisher has been found and a deal is signed, another cycle of editing, amending, and review will ensue until the publisher is satisfied that they have the most-marketable product ready for print. From the day you sign a contract with a publisher, your book might see release anywhere between one and two years later. They’ll usually try to move as fast as possible, but they’re not likely to cut corners or take shortcuts. They’ll have money invested in you and your book, so they’ll do everything reasonable to get the maximum return on their investment.
I’m not trying to bash the long-established method of getting a book onto bookshelves, as it is a time-tested and proven method of making household names of many great authors. However, it is no longer the only way to get your work in front of readers and money in your pocket – as it once was – due to the dramatic increase in unconventional publishing methods. While self-publishing has been saddled with a frequently well-deserved reputation for being the arena of hack writers that couldn’t otherwise find success in seeing their manuscripts find print, it has since grown into a legitimate alternative for aspiring novelists looking to find an audience. What was once the last bastion for untalented authors, self-publishing has grown into a valid and increasingly successful option for turning prospective authors into known and read novelists. More than one self-published work has found its way onto the New York Times Bestsellers List, giving evidence to the reality that attaining success as an author is no longer limited to conventional means.
It is undeniable that the best chance for seeing a literary work acquire a greater audience is proper marketing, and promoting a new book adequately requires money. Customarily a publisher would throw tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at an advertising agency to sell a book for them, but times and technology have changed dramatically. What once took exorbitant amounts of money to accomplish in spreading the word of a new book can now be accomplished at a mere fraction of the cost and, thanks to the ‘Electronic Age,’ carried out in a matter of days as opposed to the weeks or months previously needed.
Self-publishing books allows writers to retain the rights and integrity of their respective works, to see their manuscripts become sales-worthy books in a reasonable amount of time, and permits some types of literature to become marketable while the subject matter is still relevant. Some books have only a limited window of saleable opportunity while addressing a trend of public interest, a situation sometimes complicated or challenged by customary publishing practices that require lengthy periods of exchange between agents, editors, and publishers.
Kickstarter.com is a blessing to those with good ideas and dreams of finding success outside of the usual avenues of publication. The site – which collects funds through Amazon Payments – allows for people to gain backing for projects from virtually anyone that has the resources and believes in the proposed project. Where an individual may lack the necessary means to fund a project on his or her own, Kickstarter.com provides a venue wherein a hopeful writer may find others to help in achieving success and realizing a dream.
SKORPIÓ 