Fork In The Road

Traditional or self-publishing?

My journey has only just begun and I’ve already reached a major fork in the road. Three books in my series, Shadows of Miskatonic, are ready to go and I’m searching for the best way to release them.

Traditional publishing is the ultimate dream of writers, but the industry has changed a lot in the last few years. Authors used to get a lot of support. If you were lucky enough to land an agent who sold your book, you had a team that worked with you. They would arrange publicity, tours, promotions—all the things writers need to sell their books. Now, even established authors do much of the work themselves. In spite of this, agents still take a cut on any royalties a book makes.

Self-publishing diminishes this cut in revenue, but the writer needs to take responsibility for the entire process. You must do your own editing, design your own cover, and promote and distribute your work (both on-line and in bookstores). The upside of this is that you have total control over your work. The downside is that you have total control of your work. Any mistakes are yours and yours alone.

I have to be honest. I have already explored each path a little. As I worked on finishing the other two books in my series, I shopped around my first book, Darkness Below, for traditional publication. While I got some interest and encouragement, no one offered to be my agent. The reason? Many of them liked the writing and my voice, but they were unsure how to market the series. The sub-genre, Lovecraftian horror, was an area they were not familiar with.

After years of pursuing agents, I decided I had more of a sense of how to market my books.

I am going to pursue self-publishing.

The next question is: what type of self-publishing?

FUN FACT: Did you know that Charles Dickens self-published A Christmas Carol?

Read about his groundbreaking journey as an early viral celebrity here.