Publishing – Setting Out on the High Seas

Writers are among the bravest people in the world. More so, those who self-publish. My regular blogging buddies know that I took the plunge into self-publishing in September, 2011. This, after having been published traditionally. The book (Don't Get Mad...Get Even) hasn’t sold very well, but that’s okay because I didn’t do much in the way of promotion. 

Since that time, I’ve become part of several Triberr groups, and made the story collection free. To date, there have been 16,200 downloads, the book has been in the No. 1 spot a couple of times, and I’ve gotten some good reviews. I was confident they would be positive because the stories I submitted to the national creative writing competition medalled, and on that basis, I included three of them as part of the collection. However, it meant little when I decided to put my work up for public consumption. 

Recently, I checked out a book by a blogging buddy, which I haven’t read yet. The reviews were good and there was the usual one-star review by one reader. You see where I’m going with this topic?  I know that no matter how good a book a writer produces, not everybody will get it, nor will everybody be honest enough to say ‘I didn’t get it’ and move on, minus the one-star review. In cases where I don’t understand a book, or think it needs work, I won’t write up an Amazon review. There are enough people who enjoy spreading misery. I’m not one of them. 

That review I looked at has me thinking about something I’ve mulled over for a while now. The subject of my next novel is relationships. Some of them include adulterous ones or arrangements where people use each other for mutual benefit. I know that not everybody will get to the end of the book and see the subtle and not-so-subtle themes and their implications, but I’m hoping for the best. 

The one thing I can say about many writers I know is that they have the ability to give constructive criticism regardless of their personal opinion on the subject matter, characters and sexual orientation of said characters of a book. Not all of us can do this.

The Kindle Direct Publishing route that allows enrollees free promo days is a wonderful thing. It gives readers who want to try out a book the option to download it without paying. I’ve noticed though that once this happens, it also opens the door for people who clearly don’t read the book, and never would have bought it for anything over $0.00, but feel obligated to produce a negative review. 

I’ve seen this done to books that have fairly decent reviews and some of these books have been written by established authors. Far be it from to say that every famous writer produces books that are all of stellar quality, but I do raise an eyebrow when I see a trashy review posted for a book that I thought was an interesting or good read. 

Source

But to get back to courage, I lift my hat to each and every writer, whether self-published or traditionally published. It takes talent and guts to enter the public domain, knowing that putting out a book is like taking a journey by boat on the high seas, without so much as a paddle.