Why it can hurt
One of the impactful questions that lurks behind the question of self publication (or in some cases micro-presses and scam organizations) is:
Why does self-publishing have a stigma?
There are two answers to this, the first is the simple one, the second will no doubt get me unfollowed on twitter, unfriended on Facebook, and generally labeled a member of the evil, repressive, elitist establishment who aren't bright enough to recognize true genius when they see it. Of course if you read the FAQ on my website, I've admitted to that for years.
So, answer of the first part:
There isn't. Yes really. There is no stigma attached to self publishing or micro-presses, at least not for works that just won't be attractive to a large market. Generally books that fall into this area are family or business histories, instructional manuals or anything that is just not going to draw several thousand sales from a fairly broad audience and be saleable at a reasonable profit.
Answer of the second part:
Generally speaking, a good percentage of the people who go with micro-presses don't have one of two qualities as professionals either they lack the ability to recognize and properly address faults to their work or don't have the ability to recognize the system treats the vast majority of folks the same and work within that system.
The first of those two is in theory the worst because the ability to differentiate is finite. Just like some people can't hear the difference be Rush and Bon Jovi, or recognize three or four different paint shades as individuals. As a rule, its not something that changes very much over the course of someones life once they hit a certain level. In practice though, the latter insufficiency is worse. We all have worked with, gone to school with or simply stood in line in some public place while someone like this runs up to the front of the line and demands to be waited on before anyone else, and can't understand why anyone is upset with them or why they shouldn't have to do things the same way as others.
As an agent or an editor a writer who takes up time needed for other tasks is a best a nuisance, and at worst in the most strict professional view, a money sink. If a publisher has to pay to for printing time they can't use because they spent their time working with someone who expects to be coddled and the center of their editors time demanding other people do their job (like turning in clean copy on time) they've wasted a great deal of company money, time and this will have a snowball effect on other projects. Generally, they are also people like this or this.
As for scam publisher, that's also a two part answer.
1; A new scammer with a competently designed scam is pretty hard to spot, I can't say I'd spot every one of them, but there are few warning signs.
2: For long time dishonest operators, well take a look at this search using "get published" as our search term.
***
Also, juicy rumor of the nonce:
A recent conversation says that Lois Bujold is working on a book following "That Idiot Ivan". Not being her agent, I haven't talked to her about it... but wonderful.
Why does self-publishing have a stigma?
There are two answers to this, the first is the simple one, the second will no doubt get me unfollowed on twitter, unfriended on Facebook, and generally labeled a member of the evil, repressive, elitist establishment who aren't bright enough to recognize true genius when they see it. Of course if you read the FAQ on my website, I've admitted to that for years.
So, answer of the first part:
There isn't. Yes really. There is no stigma attached to self publishing or micro-presses, at least not for works that just won't be attractive to a large market. Generally books that fall into this area are family or business histories, instructional manuals or anything that is just not going to draw several thousand sales from a fairly broad audience and be saleable at a reasonable profit.
Answer of the second part:
Generally speaking, a good percentage of the people who go with micro-presses don't have one of two qualities as professionals either they lack the ability to recognize and properly address faults to their work or don't have the ability to recognize the system treats the vast majority of folks the same and work within that system.
The first of those two is in theory the worst because the ability to differentiate is finite. Just like some people can't hear the difference be Rush and Bon Jovi, or recognize three or four different paint shades as individuals. As a rule, its not something that changes very much over the course of someones life once they hit a certain level. In practice though, the latter insufficiency is worse. We all have worked with, gone to school with or simply stood in line in some public place while someone like this runs up to the front of the line and demands to be waited on before anyone else, and can't understand why anyone is upset with them or why they shouldn't have to do things the same way as others.
As an agent or an editor a writer who takes up time needed for other tasks is a best a nuisance, and at worst in the most strict professional view, a money sink. If a publisher has to pay to for printing time they can't use because they spent their time working with someone who expects to be coddled and the center of their editors time demanding other people do their job (like turning in clean copy on time) they've wasted a great deal of company money, time and this will have a snowball effect on other projects. Generally, they are also people like this or this.
As for scam publisher, that's also a two part answer.
1; A new scammer with a competently designed scam is pretty hard to spot, I can't say I'd spot every one of them, but there are few warning signs.
2: For long time dishonest operators, well take a look at this search using "get published" as our search term.
- Question: How many publishers and literary agents do you see you recognize from a book on your shelf or your ebook collection?
- How many places do you see that are from places you've seen writers publish multiple books from over a period of four or five years?
- In this one you can see two big name publishers, one is listed first.
- You also see a professional organization for publishers.
***
Also, juicy rumor of the nonce:
A recent conversation says that Lois Bujold is working on a book following "That Idiot Ivan". Not being her agent, I haven't talked to her about it... but wonderful.