This is a tough one to address because I'm sure we've all felt like this. I didn't get into self-publishing because I wanted to be a publisher. I am an author. If I had my druthers all I'd do is write books, and leave the messy stuff up to someone else. In fact, that's what I did for much of my career. I did the writing, and left the messy stuff up to others. Problem was, the messy stuff kept falling into my lap.
In an ideal world we should be able to do the one thing we want to do and that's all. But we don't live in that world. Take an actor, someone like Jennifer Lawrence. She starts acting as a child and discovers she LOVES it. It's all she wants to do. She begins a career. She gets head shots, she goes out on auditions, she takes crappy parts because she knows this is the work she must do to get what she wants. To be able to act. Then, one day someone casts her as an emotional character in a film, and the industry notices her. She gets the opportunity to star in a big, big movie. Her career is set... and then she finds out, she has to tour for three months to support the movie. She has to learn how to manage her money. She is constantly being bombarded with requests for interviews. It seems there isn't enough time in the day to deal with all her demands. All she wanted to do was act, but to keep on acting she has to do a whole lot more.
There's a young fellow who loves to sing. All he wants to do is sing. If he could do that, his life would be made. He catches a break and goes on a popular TV show that gives singers like him careers. He wins. All he wants to do is sing, but now he is being bombarded by song writers and producers. He has to choose the right songs for his album. Speaking of the album, if he wants it to be successful, he has to promote it. And then he has to go on tour where he discovers it's no picnic travelling 300 days a year, signing the same songs over and over, answering the same questions over and over. All he wanted to do was sing. He could do without all this other stuff.
We can all do without the other stuff. But that's not the world we live in. No singer gets to just sing if they want to have a career. No artist gets to just paint if he wants to have a career. No writer gets to just write if he wants to sell some books. The ideal life we seek just isn't reality.
But here's the beauty part. While self-publishing is no walk in the park, man is it rewarding. I had a fan write me the other day from the Philippines. Yes, the Philippines!!!
Being self-published on Amazon I now have readers all over the world enjoying my books. I got that tweet on one of those days I was doubting myself, and MAN, did it lift my spirits. I said to myself "this is why I'm doing this. So others can enjoy my writing." Don't you want to say that, too?
There are just five steps to becoming a self-published author. It's not a walk in the park, but with self-publishing you make a 70% royalty, you get to publish as few or as many books as you want, whenever you want, and best of all, you're never waiting around for some gate keeper to give you the opportunity to chase your dream. the rewards are more than worth the risk.
-E
Writers, whether you're traditionally published, self-published, or not yet published, you need to get my free cheat sheet: 7 Proven Steps To Self-Publishing Success. Learn self-publishing tips from successful pros such as Hugh Howey, Barbara Freethy and others.
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