Self-publishing isn’t real publishing!

The prejudice is real, and it's a curse I'm under.

*image taken from Canva

Ha! Guess who’s back?! Back again… Remember how I wrote I’ll keep quiet this week?! I lied.

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It’s no secret I tried to avoid self-publishing as long as I could. Not only because I’m genuinely tech-stupid, but also because of the rusty old prejudice still dwelling within the minds of many (including me) that self-publishing isn’t real publishing; it’s not equal to traditionally published books by real publishing houses.

Although I’m only halfway through my first self-publishing experience (because the book is yet to be launched on October 24), and I have the whole launching/promoting/not-making any-sales/receiving-poor-ratings-if-any ahead of me, I can testify - self-publishing is tedious. Even though I hired a professional editor, it still feels like I’m a one-woman-publishing-house… revisions, formatting, cover design fitting the Amazon’s requirements (and they still messed it up a bit!), reviewing the test copy, disappointment of it not being perfect… but the worst part was facing my own prejudice - it didn’t feel like a real book!

 If a book has undergone the process of tradition publishing, it seems like a guarantee of its quality, an initiation of sorts. Although I’ve seen trad published books of poor quality, regarding both content and editing, the prejudice runs so deeply within me, it’s hard to overcome.

Only some days after I received the test copy of my book and began to revise it (oh the never-ending revisions of revisions!) did it begin to feel like a real book. A book maybe even equal to a traditionally published one (after I fix the issues I found, of course!).

It suddenly hit me - I’m reading a book. A real book I wrote. It will be published. Maybe people will buy it. Maybe they’ll even like it. Or not. But it’s real. As real as any traditionally published book. And maybe just as good.

Seeing the state of traditional publishing now, they cannot keep up with self-publishing. They might try to grift some of its goods, like fishing for the best self-pub authors, but there’s no saying the authors will want to be working under someone else’s command. Independence is addictive. And it feels oh so good being in control of your own book! Of course, it’s easier with someone else in charge, on the other hand - the result might be the same when taking both routes. Both indie and trad published books can flop, making a small profit.

I think self-publishing is definitely the future of publishing, if the trad publishing doesn’t wake up and become more flexible. Heck, not just the future! It’s already here! It’s the present.

Self-pub might lower the technical standards a bit, but it’s a small price to pay for good literature to see daylight. If trad publishing demands me to write crap (oh sorry, stories with diverse, queer or whatever-the-flavour-of-the-month-is characters!) I refuse to do it! Art isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s about freedom of expression. If trad publishing wants to eliminate this freedom to fit certain ideological agendas, fuck them! Indie or self-publishing is a thriving industry, and it’s beating the crap out of all the prejudice!

Self-publishing is real publishing, it’s time for me, and all of us to accept it, and enjoy it. Nothing compares to the warm feeling of holding your book-baby in your hands. If traditional publishing aborted my book-babes without giving them a chance, then self-publishing was the equivalent of cosy home-birth experience; yes, still painful, but at my own pace, my own rules, and my wishes. I’m only halfway there, but it feels damn good!

P.s. I can’t wait when the Substack bosses finally get their shit together and create Substack Publishing. I’m all for it! It would be just…perfect.

P.p.s. As I said, I’m only halfway there; I still have to apply the corrections (I found one typo, a couple of dots instead of commas, missing italics,  and some inconsistency with capital letters, but nothing too tragic), launch the book on October 24, make a pretty promotional video and posters, do a promotional contest with cool prizes, and promote, promote, promote ad nauseum…afterward I’ll probably do another whiny rant on how I hate self-publishing, because - no sales, bad reviews, blah blah blah….😂