I am now a publisher: Northern Skies Publishing, LLC. It’s official. I’m registered, tax ID number, bank account, the works.
Blind sided? I understand that. Let me explain a little.
I want to publish a couple of my books, including ABC’s of Aeronautical Engineering, Memphis Belle, and the Nome book (no title yet). I’ve pitched Memphis Belle and the ABC’s book to agents for <years>. I’ve gotten a few that responded with, “I like the story! But it’s not what we’re looking for right now,” and a couple that offered a hybrid publishing model (i.e the authors seems to pay for everything), but no traditional offers. So I got to thinking: why not publish them myself?
There are definitely bad vibes about self-published books: they couldn’t hack it with a real publishing house, they aren’t professional or high quality enough, etc. And it’s true, some self published books are absolute shit. But straight talk, a lot of traditionally published books are shit too. Working in a library, a shift doesn’t go by when I look through a book and wonder how *this* made it through the arduous publication process.
And it is arduous. Writing turns out to be the easy part. After research, writing, editing, editing again, and again, the author then needs to find an agent. They look through hundreds of online profiles, filling out repetitive forms, uploading cover letters… pretty much like job searching (and we all LOVE that process). And that is just to get an agent, who will contact publishing houses on your behalf, to see if they are interested in your book. After the publisher contracts your for your manuscript, it will still be another 18-24 months until publication.
If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I do my research (how many herring fit in a barrel anyone?). I’ve heard the arguments for and against self-publishing. What it comes down to for me, is self-publishing will allow me to keep full rights and royalties. It will cost me more out of pocket, but it should balance out. Anything I produce will *not* be low quality, because I’ll hire professional editors, and because my pride/anxiety will not allow subpar quality. Marketing is the worst part of self-publishing because it is so very time consuming, but through use of my blog/website and Facebook, being available on Ingram and Amazon, organizing a Kickstarter, and attending niche airplane events to sell in person, I hope to do OK.
If I ever make it big-time, marketing will be the FIRST thing that I out-source…
“But Sarah, why start a publishing company?” I’ve genuinely been having fun seeing Memphis Belle come to life. Each page I lay out with illustrations and text is a challenge, and the results are magical. I would one day like to help others publish their quirky children’s book ideas too.
Northern Skies Publishing 