There is a lot of chatter online in Facebook groups about Amazon KDP self-publishing.
I get a lot of eye rolls and tongue-in-cheek looks when I say that I am self-published.
“Oh, so it’s not really a book, right?”
“Well, I think it is. It has a lot of pages, and they are bound front and back with a cover that has a spine, and an ISBN number. So yes, I think it’s a book.”
“Oh. Well, you’re not really published right? Like I can’t go to a bookstore and buy it right?”
“No, but you can buy it on Amazon.”
“But I mean you’re then really not an author are you?”
“I think so. I mean, I wrote every word if it.”
“Oh. Because I’ve seen some…”
And then the wise cracks start. I don’t disagree with them either.
I have seen some of the stuff that gets published on Amazon. A lot of it is crap. Spelling and grammatical errors throughout the text. Irregular and uneven margins. Really bad, low-quality book covers with bad photographs or unprofessional drawings. Authors think they can publish on the cheap and expect to be competitive, but they haven’t taken pride in their product or its final presentation.
Is it enough for them to say, “I’m published” and not care what the book looks like or how it reads? That attitude negatively affects the whole idea of self-publishing. It’s not the big five publishing houses to be sure, but neither are we a big-five authors. It’s competitive out here. Every author has a novel they think the world needs to read but get offended when they get negative reviews.
If an author cannot put out a final polished product then don’t publish it and expect rave reviews. We write for ourselves first and then for the reader and they are our toughest and only critics that we need to worry about. Self-publishing is not a short-cut, and it is not free. If you want a professional looking book out there, then invest in your product and yourself. Get an editor. And then a copy editor. Get beta readers. Grow tougher skin. And then get a book designer if you are not talented enough to illustrate the cover yourself. Get a third, fourth, or fifth eye that is industry specific to look at your work and tell you what is lacking, what the book needs to be competitive. If you are not willing to pay for those services but want to palm off a cheesy product hoping for rave reviews and great sales you’re better off to staple loose copies of your manuscript together and send them to your friends and families to read. They’ll love every word you write.
Self-publishing is NOT cheap. I am working two jobs to pay for the editing, copy editing, and book cover design. I’ll never make that money back in sales, but I am extremely proud of the work my “team” and I put out.
In for a penny, in for a pound.