Self-Published Vs Traditional

I participate in a lot of writing groups online. I guess the right phrase is that I lurk in a lot of writing groups online. Depending on the group, I may or may not write anything, or participate, but I always learn. It’s a great way to interact and build relationships with other writers. Most are super positive and helpful. We’re all learning the craft after all. There’s always something new we can gain from the interactions.

A little while ago, I read a post that just floored me. It was deleted pretty quickly by the admins, but the commenter asked if there were writers in the group who were serious about their craft or if they didn’t care and planned on self-publishing no matter what.

Over the past few years, I’ve interacted and met multiple self-pubbed authors, and I’ve got to say, they know what they’re doing. They’re putting themselves out there without support of a publisher, and all on their own. They’re brave, and they’re definitely serious about their craft. If they weren’t, then they wouldn’t bother.

Of course, that doesn’t apply to all self-published authors. Years ago, I gave away free critiques, and one of the girls I gave a critique to asked me what she should sell to make the most money. This was around the time that dystopias were big, and she made the comment that she should probably write that because she heard vampire stories are out.

It’s pretty easy to tell which author is serious about their craft, and it has nothing to do with traditional or self-published. It has to do with the effort they put in. Whether or not they’re willing to learn about the craft, and whether they’re willing to take criticism. Those are the authors I admire, no matter which path they choose.

Last month, I read a book by a self-published author, and I was very impressed. In fact, I had no idea it was self-published. The cover was professional, the writing solid, and I fell in love with the story. For those of you interested, it was the Unfortunate Fairy Tale Series by Chanda Hahn.

Professionalism has nothing to do with pathway. It has to do with the end result.

The Best Gummy Bears in the World

Creating something takes time and talent. Making it go viral takes good planning, the right storm, and good publicity.

I don’t think I really understood how things can happen so accidentally until recently. I work with some awesome people. During night shift, we often eat to keep ourselves awake, and we like to share what we like with other people. A few months ago, one of our nurses, a part time nurse, shared her favorite gummy bears with another nurse. She loved them so much that she went out and bought some for herself. At that point, they were only being sold at one particular chain of gas stations, and only in one or two of them.

She then shared it with the rest of us. Slowly, but surely, we all started eating them because she kept sharing them with us. Soon, we were starting to buy packs of our own. Then the day shift started to notice that night shift was eating these gummy bears. Not long after that, I noticed some of the day shift nurses bringing them in at the beginning of their shift.

During nurses’ week, our DON had a jar full of these gummies, just because everyone in the building loved them so much. Most of us started buying two or three bags a week. Some were buying up to ten.

But it didn’t stop there.

I started buying them and sharing them with my family. I took them to write-ins with my friends. I wanted them to try it because it was so good. I was talking to my coworker, who told me that she noticed that another store started to sell them.

This week, I saw them at our grocery store, in a neighboring town, and they were flying off the shelves.

That’s how things go viral. I never once heard a commercial for them, and I never saw an ad. It was word of mouth. The product was good enough that everyone wanted to share it.

That’s encouraging for me, as a writer. I just need to make the best product I possibly can, and if I can create that perfect storm, it will be shared.

Don’t Even Try

This month, I’ve been gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and since I’m ML of my region, it means that I’m trying to get a hold of other writing groups and find those who would be interested in writing a novel in one month. The town I live in is almost half students. When they’re off track, it’s like a ghost town, which means that the largest potential candidates for NaNoWriMo are students.

My Co-ML and I have been attending the school’s different classes, seminars and clubs, looking for writers. I’ve also been listening and participating in each club and seminar, because I want to know what writing students are being taught in college.

I haven’t been super impressed.

The advice that astounded me the most came from a student leader in the Writer’s Critique group. She started out the meeting by teaching all of the writers about publishing. She premised by stating that she didn’t know very much about publishing, but since they asked, she got the information from her teachers. She taught them about how to find small press publishing, to find publishers who are willing to take unsolicited queries.

She taught them that it was the only way to get published. One of the girls asked what to do if she wants to be published by one of the big five. She had no idea. She told them that it would be impossible to be published by one of the big five without an agent and it’s harder to get an agent than to be published by a small press. She said that an agent wouldn’t even look at someone who hasn’t published.

I was stunned. Basically, writing students were being taught to not even try. It’s too hard, so take the easy way out. Everyone says that it’s better.

I’m so grateful that I’ve learned about querying, and about publishing from those who’ve actually experienced it. In different online communities, I’ve met those who have published without using small-publishers. Those who spent years of querying before actually succeeding. With an agent who landed them the big five. Those who decided to self-publish and have already sold an entire series on their own, no publishers needed. I’ve even read stories of those who have already published with small press, but don’t have enough sales and actually have hurt their chances in the future to publish with bigger press.

What about you? What kind of advice would you give the girl who wanted to publish with one of the big five? What kind of experiences have you had with publishing?