#8. My stuff will never go out of print unless I want it to.
This is why even many traditionally published authors welcome self-publishing. Author Laura Resnick explains it beautifully here. For many traditionally published authors, there is only the certainty that somewhere someone on Amazon is selling their older books for a penny plus shipping.Self-publishing allows the author some continued control – and hopefully some continued income.
#7. I can offer a PG-13 version.
This appeals on two levels. One, it keeps me from blushing at the thought of certain readers coming upon my novel, especially church ladies and children. Two, I enjoy experimenting. Which version will work better? (So far, sex wins hands down.) A bookstore could never waste space on this sort of thing, but what’s space in the digital world?
Of course, the very act of testing will cannibalize my own sales, but since I don’t have to please anyone else, I can just do the math. It’s also information that might come in useful before I publish the next novel, which is called The Ribs and Thigh Bones of Desire.
#6. Look at this speed to market!
My first novel features a heroine coping with unemployment in a crummy economy, even though it’s set during the aftermath of the tech bubble bursting rather than the Great Recession. It also has a gay couple who’d marry if they could. I’d say those particular themes are pretty current right now, but by the time I am lucky enough to get someone in publishing to say yes and actually get it into bookstores, that might no longer be the case. (In fact, I sincerely hope it will no longer be the case.)
Of course, this hardly matters if my book gets out to about 20 friends and nobody else, but it’s up to me to try to spread the word further. Just as it would be in traditional publishing.
More reasons Wednesday.