Warnings From a Traditionally Published Author: Don?t be Bamboozled Into Self-publishing a Book
I am a traditionally published author with Simon and Schuster. I’ve been in the business for almost twelve years and have taken most of that time to learn the ins and outs of the business. I’ve made mistakes and learned from them. During my quest to know as much about the industry as possible, I became published. Now that I am at a point in my career where things are taking off, I have become more aware of the prejudices in the industry. You may think I am speaking of the prejudices against self-published authors vs. mainstream authors but I am not. I am speaking of the prejudices that self-published authors have against the mainstream industry in general.
I often wonder what makes someone self-publish a novel. I can understand a technical book, poetry book or a diary but why self-publish a novel? Self-publishing can be the death and is the death of many wannabe novelists. While studying self-publishing, I came to the conclusion that many new writers were bamboozled into thinking that this was the way to go for their books. Yep, they are being tricked. You can’t even blame this type of trickery on sharks such as shady POD presses, vanity or subsidy presses. No I blame this on one group of people…bitter self-published authors. They spread bad advice and untruths like a disease and it’s damaging the careers of new writers.
