Will an Agent Recommend Self-Pub?

As a reader I appreciate this route when a series gets cancelled and loose ends are still dangling. The author can self-publish a wrap-up book that will give their fans some satisfaction. (And oh, if only they could do this for TV shows!)

I self-published my books because I can’t convince an agent to read them. Therefore, I put them on the market for those who enjoy them fully knowing that I was not going to make any real money. So, in my circumstance, it was a lack of desire for financial gain that prompted the self-pub. Otherwise, I would have kept trying to rewrite my proposals until I got a nibble.
On a funny side note, the book Angel Blood: Family Secrets is getting passed all over my daughter’s campus in Boston. Some of the students want to make it into a screen play for their Screen Writing class. Who’d have thought a pastor would write a cult classic.

Thanks for this post. About 5-6 years ago someone said I would self-pub my memoir and I was adamant, no… As this story has evolved and I have pitched it to agents and editors, and hired editors, they have been very supportive in encouraging me to self-pub it. Your three points are why, but more importantly, to do so would provide me the freedom to present the story as I see fit.

I will continue to pursue more “traditional” (ha! what’s traditional for trade fiction these days? LOL!) routes for my fiction. But I do have the resources and skills to do it all on my own with this memoir. So I guess it’s time to get it spit-shined and published, according to my vision. Memoirs are such a one-shot deal anyhow.

Thanks for this post. It was an answer to a question.

So, how’s it feel to be the answer? No need to answer. Have an awesome week!

I think any author with the resilience it takes these days merely to find an agent should consider self-publishing. The two require much the same skill set, yet the potential reward for the latter is higher.

It’s funny I asked about this just last week, got little or no answer, so i am extremely grateful to see this post today. I am presently trying to decide whether to self-publish or land an agent.

I started reading one of the books you suggested “book proposals that $ell” by W.T. Whalin (and let me say here that for those of you who live in first world countries you should really be grateful for the library/book store/ online shopping opportunites you have, as to get this book I had to order it online and send it to a friend in the US, who was visiting my country, as books about memoirs and memoir writing are almost non existent in my land) and it is proving to be quite insightful.

So, at this point, I will try my hand at the book proposal and based on what happens there, then i will self publish.

I don’t think I would consider self-publishing. It’s not the fear that it will be dismissed as junk simply because it’s self-pubbed (that stigma is, fortunately being disproved on a semi-regular basis), it’s that I don’t think I could fulfill the second part of your statement. I don’t know that I have the means to sell it all on my own, at least not at this point in my writing ‘career’.

When I wrote the first book in a 4-book series based in mythology, I was lucky enough to have several agents respond back that the writing was good, but that they wouldn’t be able to get a publisher to pick it up because mythology was on its way out.

I was crushed because I really believed in my book. A friend talked me into “going indie” and honestly, it was the best decision that I ever made.

I have a business degree, so I put it to use. I’m ambitious, which is key to doing it yourself. I’ve sold thousands of e-books since April 2011- enough that I could quit my full-time day job and write for a living if I chose.

I don’t think that everyone should do it themselves. I think you should only do it if you are going to approach it as a real job. You need to have someone edit it (you should never let it go without other pairs of eyes going through it for you) and hiring a professional cover artist. But if you approach it like the professional endeavor that it is, then by all means, go for it.

The big publishers might have said that mythology was on its way out, but I’ve built a huge fanbase now that would disagree with them. So I’m glad I took the chance. It’s a lot of work, but anything worthwhile is.

Helpful post and responses. Like other authors, I finally decided to put “Jane” out there as an e-book. Why? Although I had major interest from two prominent NYC agents, it was a no-go and I decided to test the waters.

I’ve been using social media and other means to market the book, but it’s a tough road. Promotion is a full-time job that takes away from writing/editing.

Ironically, I now have major interest from an editor (I pitched to him months ago at a conference) at a reputable publishing house, but he wants revisions. He spent considerable time with me about what’s working and what isn’t.

I’m in a dilemma. I’d like to keep my e-book up and live because there are no guarantees he’ll buy the book. Or, after making requested revisions, do I just pull the book once he’s said “yes” … and should I still try to get an agent even though I have the interest of a publishing house?

Like I said. A learning process.

Since I started getting published, I’ve written two books that haven’t sold. One of them was okay. The other was, IMHO, pretty good.

It’s sitting right here on my hard drive, and I’m working on something else.

The okay book will probably never see the light of day. It’s only okay. All the publishers who rejected it said it was okay. I learned stuff from writing it, though.

The pretty good one would probably have sold in a better economy. It will get trotted out when I’m done fulfilling my current three-book contract. There may be hope for it yet. I don’t want to self-publish it, and see it sink like a stone. In publishing as in marriage, you’re better off not settling for what you don’t really want.

I’m considering self-publishing because I’m not sure an agent would be willing to take me on. I haven’t had good luck with those sorts of things in the past. However, self-publishing also seems really overwhelming, especially since I don’t have the resources to commit to writing full time right now.

I’ve had 3 agents suggest self-publishing for “Normal Is So Overrated” and that’s likely the route I’ll take. Since the book’s target audience is cerebral brain aneurysm patients and their caregivers, traditional publishers are not likely to bite on it, figuring that the target is to small. Since roughly 30,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with the condition annually, there are plenty of potential readers. I am probably better positioned to market the book myself than going the traditional route because I have neurologists and other medical professionals, brain aneurysm survivors, and people who have had near-death experiences among my contacts and have established a fair-sized network in the St. Louis metro area of people who believe in my work and especially in the “Normal” book. I also have a friend who’s an author and motivational speaker who has an extensive international following and he is very supportive of the effort.

The agents who advised me to consider self-publishing all complimented my writing style, but were concerned that the book would be a tough sell in the competitive memoir market. I understand that completely. If I were a celebrity who had survived and recovered, the book would be far more marketable.

As far as my fiction work goes, I would prefer to go traditional with that, but I think I would set a time limit for generating interest by agents and publishers. During that time, I would make the first novel the absolute best work I think it can be and if there still no interest, then I would consider self-publishing that as well.

A wise woman once told me that there is no reason I should write for free. She acknowledged that I’m not writiing to get rich, but insisted that I should be able to earn enough from my efforts that I can pay my bills. Her encouragement and support mean the world to me.

If I were writing for a niche market, I’d probably self-publish. Also, some genres are particularly difficult to sell to agents or traditional publishers. I’m not famous, for example, so if I were to write a memoir, I think I’d be better off self-publishing. The years it would take to find a publisher or an agent (if I ever did) would be better put to use earning pennies and reader loyalty in the e-market, getting my name out at a low price point. I plan on writing as a career; the ‘advertising’ of having a self-published book out could help me earn more off a second book in the same niche. If I only planned on writing a single book, even if it were in a niche or hard-to-sell market, I’d probably be more inclined to wait and hope for the market to change enough for me to ‘get lucky.’

Since my genres of choice are science fiction, fantasy, and romance, I’m going the traditional publishing route. I’ll use the time until I actually get published to further hone my craft and work on generating a backlog of saleable manuscripts.

Self-publishing reminds me of running out of ideas for Christmas presents, and wanting to give your friends your book as a stocking stuffer!

One of the previous postings said, “Validation must come from within.” To me, this sounds like advice my mother would offer after a quick review of her “Motherly Obligation” contract.

In my dime-store opinion, any project worth its salt is validated by being sold traditionally. Until you receive a no-contact order from any given agent, or find yourself forcibly removed by the underpaid security guards at a publishing house… keep trying!

Remember the adage: Busy hands, are happy hands!

So, Rachelle, this post is helpful and leads me to another question. Should a client let his agent know that he’s considering self-publishing a book?

After investing time and money in writing the story for a year or two and professional editing, I think it would be hard not to go the self-publishing route if the story is not sold traditionally. The only other option would be to shelf the project, indefinitely perhaps. But wouldn’t that be a bigger loss than selling a limited number of copies by self-publishing?

I’m ‘self-publishing’ an eBook at the moment, but it’s a nonfiction guide which is tied to my blog. So, not really sure that it counts in terms of the discussion here, but it’s something a lot of bloggers do, and do well.

Also, I’ve considered self-publishing an anthology of my own short stories in the future, but ones which have already been published in literary magazines. I think the social proof of the stories already having been published elsewhere would provide more incentive for buyers, and I could market the anthology through my blog/website.

I don’t see myself ever self-publishing a novel that couldn’t find a traditional publisher, but with the ever-changing nature of the industry, I suppose one should never say never!

I paid to have my children’s book, The Pancake Cat, independently published because I wanted to see it through to the end; to complete what I had begun; do what I said I would do. Also, because I wanted to have professional looking copies of my work with which to gift family members.
I was not expecting huge success and could not afford to buy or store 500-1000 copies, so print on demand was an attractive option for me in 2009 and my book remains available today.
Another reason I decided to publish independently with this book, was to try out the emerging self-publishing and print on demand practices. My heart has always been to write women’s fiction or literary fiction, so using a children’s chapter book to test the self-publishing waters seemed a sensible experiment-a bit like writing for periodicals for experience and to get one’s name out there.

The conversation generated by this post has been enjoyable (for the most part) and helpful. I found myself reaching for the nonexistent “like” button after reading the comments. Thanks for providing this forum – almost as good as a panel discussion at a writer’s seminar.

Interesting thread. Obviously, everyone brings the unique specifics of their own circumstances to the table. Trad publishing might be the way to go for some, indie publishing might be the way for others. Still others might keep a foot in both camps.

I went with indie/self-publishing in November 2010 after a lengthy time spent analyzing the traditional industry in relation to my genre (epic fantasy). What pushed me over the edge was reading Joe Konrath’s blog, as well as spending some time on the Kindleboards. I ended up publishing through Amazon’s KDP, as well as B&N, and Apple/Kobo/Diesel/Sony via Smashwords. As of today, I’ve sold a little over 40,000 ebooks. I’m certainly pleased with the results, but you have to understand that there a great many indie writers who are consistently selling in much higher numbers (and I’m not talking about the Konrath/Hocking superstars).

Amazon has irrevocably altered the publishing landscape. I would urge any writer who has automatically dismissed the self-pub route to reconsider. It very well might not be for you, but it is worth your time to research the option.

Best wishes and luck (though, I’m not sure if I believe in luck) to everyone…

Awesome blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally confused .. Any ideas? Thank you!