Dec 13 2008
Famous Self-Publishers - the truth
I just came across a site listing 400 authors who became successful after self-publishing. The site uses the list as evidence that self-publishing can be successful. However as one romance writer put it:
“When these names get brought up over and over, it gives the impression it happens all the time. But when you have to dredge through millions of authors who have produced work over TWO HUNDRED years….then it’s the equivalent of saying a person can strike oil while digging a swimming pool.”
She has a point - but there’s more. The world of publishing has changed a lot in that time. Two hundred years ago, there were far fewer books on the market and far less people who could afford to buy them. It was quite possible for an author to get a book printed and circulate it around the litterati in (say) New York or London, and that meant they had reached a big part of the world’s influential readership - which would be enough to make the book a sensation. These days, there’s a lot more competition, and it’s much harder for your book to get noticed. So you can’t really compare the successful self-publishers of yesteryear with today.
Worth bearing in mind if you’re tempted to get sucked in by the “instant fame” syndrome!
