Every now and then someone asks me why I chose to self-publish rather than try my luck with traditional publishers. The question always prompts a smile. In my particular case, there was no real choice. The only decision I had to make was this: do I want to live to see my book in print?
Getting a book published by a reputable publishing house has never been an easy pursuit and it has become increasingly difficult with every decade since the mid-sixties. The list of famous and recognized writers who "chose" to publish their own work because they could not get published otherwise is as surprising as it is lengthy. Conversely, there has never been a time in which it has been so easy and cheap to self-publish a book and place it on the market. For writers, these two opposing forces have created one of the most fascinating and frustrating times in the history of the printed word.
With the exception of the few who land contracts with publishing houses, most writers face the same set of choices I faced shortly after completing The City of Earthly Desire: I could have a manuscript that I could keep submitting to agents and publishers knowing that it would probably never be published or I could publish the book myself knowing that, on the whole, it would not be read. Faced with these two options, I chose the latter. Anyone who has read my novel The City of Earthly Desire would understand why.
Getting a book published by a reputable publishing house has never been an easy pursuit and it has become increasingly difficult with every decade since the mid-sixties. The list of famous and recognized writers who "chose" to publish their own work because they could not get published otherwise is as surprising as it is lengthy. Conversely, there has never been a time in which it has been so easy and cheap to self-publish a book and place it on the market. For writers, these two opposing forces have created one of the most fascinating and frustrating times in the history of the printed word.
With the exception of the few who land contracts with publishing houses, most writers face the same set of choices I faced shortly after completing The City of Earthly Desire: I could have a manuscript that I could keep submitting to agents and publishers knowing that it would probably never be published or I could publish the book myself knowing that, on the whole, it would not be read. Faced with these two options, I chose the latter. Anyone who has read my novel The City of Earthly Desire would understand why.
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