“That's when I decided to take a little peek at the world of self-publishing. For the briefest of moments I felt like I was holding up the white flag. After all, anyone worth their weight in printing paper knows, self-publishing is for losers who haven't got a book worth publishing, right?”
The Huffington Post ran an article this week by a published author that told of her experiences exploring the world of self-publishing some time ago.
Ghostwriter mystery series author Christine Larmer said her prejudices against self-publishing were overturned pretty quickly. She’d found herself in a position where her book had been placed in front of traditional publishers by her agent, but the publishers rejected it because they felt they could not sell it and it was too similar to other books they had.
Ms Larmer’s feelings about self-publishing rapidly changed when she looked at Amazon’s mystery/suspense/thriller section, where self-published authors ranked higher than traditional publishing successes such as Harlan Coben and Janet Evanovich.
The number one slot was occupied by an author, whose book cover looked like something her teenage son could have knocked up, Mr Larmer noted. She also noted there were email addresses for both Harlan Coben and number one mystery/suspense/thriller writer Rod Hoisington and contacted both, asking for advice.
Guess who replied? She received three pages of tips and expertise from Mr Hoisington without any expectation of return, which spurred her onto self-publishing. Eight books in and she would now say “thanks, but no thanks” to traditional publishing.
Speaking about her experiences, Ms Larmer says: “I can’t speak for all genres of course, but in the world of crime fiction, you’ll never meet a nicer bunch than those who have gone it alone.
“I’ve had total strangers reach out and offer me advice – how to target my blogs, find a good editor [and] post giveaways online. I’ve been invited to join online mystery support groups and had my tweets and promotions reposted over and over by other authors whose only motive is wishing me more sales…
“Self-published authors are an incredibly generous, supportive bunch.”
The Huffington Post ran an article this week by a published author that told of her experiences exploring the world of self-publishing some time ago.
Ghostwriter mystery series author Christine Larmer said her prejudices against self-publishing were overturned pretty quickly. She’d found herself in a position where her book had been placed in front of traditional publishers by her agent, but the publishers rejected it because they felt they could not sell it and it was too similar to other books they had.
Ms Larmer’s feelings about self-publishing rapidly changed when she looked at Amazon’s mystery/suspense/thriller section, where self-published authors ranked higher than traditional publishing successes such as Harlan Coben and Janet Evanovich.
The number one slot was occupied by an author, whose book cover looked like something her teenage son could have knocked up, Mr Larmer noted. She also noted there were email addresses for both Harlan Coben and number one mystery/suspense/thriller writer Rod Hoisington and contacted both, asking for advice.
Guess who replied? She received three pages of tips and expertise from Mr Hoisington without any expectation of return, which spurred her onto self-publishing. Eight books in and she would now say “thanks, but no thanks” to traditional publishing.
Speaking about her experiences, Ms Larmer says: “I can’t speak for all genres of course, but in the world of crime fiction, you’ll never meet a nicer bunch than those who have gone it alone.
“I’ve had total strangers reach out and offer me advice – how to target my blogs, find a good editor [and] post giveaways online. I’ve been invited to join online mystery support groups and had my tweets and promotions reposted over and over by other authors whose only motive is wishing me more sales…
“Self-published authors are an incredibly generous, supportive bunch.”
