Maybe you saw this yesterday, Reader, while scrolling Threads? I mean it had already gained nearly 40K views by the time I clipped this pic.

My dude, you just went viral on Threads in the worst possible way. And now all of writer and author Threads is coming for you…and Instagram too. 😬

He’s wrong BTW. And just to be very clear, you’re still a REAL published author no matter how it happens.

If your story is trad pubbed…

…you’re a real published author.

If your story is indie or small press pubbed…

…you’re a real published author.

Or if you do it yourself…

…you’re STILL a real published author.

What I’m saying is, this guy so very wrong in thinking that indie and self-published books are lower quality or that their authors are somehow “less than.”

Unfortunately, he’s not the only one out there spreading lies like he’s handing out tricks instead of treats on Halloween.

So let’s talk about the 3 biggest lies in publishing and why they’re utter BS:

1) If I self-publish my story it can NEVER be traditionally published or optioned for TV/film

WRONG!

The querying process is about pitching a viable story product to a publisher. Sure, some publishers require that new car smell, but not all of them. Because at the end of the day, they’re a business and the job of a business is to make money.

So if you self-publish and that story goes on to become a best seller, you’ve already done the work of proving your story product is viable. Now your negotiations with publishers becomes about THEM getting YOU better distribution, access to bookstore markets, or translation deals.

And going the self-pub route doesn’t automatically mean your story won’t be destined for bigger things (if that’s what you dream of).

Want an example?

Wool (the first part of the Silo series) by Hugh Howey was NOT a traditionally published story. Howey started publishing them himself on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in 2011. But in the past decade, he signed a first-of-its-kind print-only deal with Simon & Schuster for $500K, and saw his series turned into an Apple+ show.

There’s also Andy Weir’s The Martian which was originally serialized on his blog before Crown Publishing Group purchased the publishing rights in 2014. And then Ridley Scott adapted it into a movie which released a year later.

Looking for an example that’s not SciFi? The first 2 books of Australian author C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince Trilogy, Captive Prince and Prince’s Gambit were originally serialized on her/his LiveJournal 2013. Then they were picked up by Penguin Random House when book 3 was released.

2) Self-published books are low quality and full of typos

WRONG! I can find you just as many poorly written traditionally published books riddled with typos. But why is that?

If you’ve read a trad book lately, you might have noticed the drastic increase of typos and errors. This is due mainly to mergers and layoffs in the publishing world over the last 20 years. Also, traditionally published books are produced in a process called “offset printing” which means they’re printed in large batches of thousands making it costly to fix anything once it goes to print.

Now let’s address the quality of trad vs self. Sure, most traditional hardcovers are gorgeous. But the paperbacks can vary wildly. And I’m not talking mass-market grocery store Romances, either.

For example, the original first run paperbacks of the Captive Prince Trilogy released by Penguin Random House had these covers I could have made in 15 mins on Canva.

And the paper quality is only slightly better than those ads for that off-brand grocery you’ve never heard of in town.

Compare that to what I can get right now today when I publish my own book on KDP.

The cover is matte with a velvety feel to the touch and the paper is a tad thicker than printer paper.

3) Self-published authors are just those who failed to become “real” authors

Wrong again. 🤦🏻‍♀️ There are so many reasons to strike out on your own.

Maybe you want creative control of your story.

Maybe you’re afraid your characters might be misrepresented on the cover (trad pub has a bad history of whitewashing, sizing down curves, or chopping off the hair of lead characters to reinforce Hollywood ideals on covers).

Or maybe your story is queer (until very recently trad publishing considered these stories unpublishable).

There’s also the concept of a “hybrid author.” Those of us who’ve had books published by publishers, but also want the creative control of doing our own thing. You know, like me.

I’ve done work for Writers Digest.

I wrote for an Amazon Imprint…before the department closed and our books went out of print (another reason why trad publishing isn’t always so awesome).

I’ve written for small publishers and illustrated for them too. (10+ years ago I illustrated children’s books and covers for teen novels.)

Basically, remember this, Reader: whatever route you choose to get your story into the hands of readers, you are STILL a real published author.

Well, unless AI writes the book for you.

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Until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat wishing you a wonderfully creative week.

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

🐱

PS 👉 Curious about the aforementioned book that went out of print when Amazon closed down their imprint in 2018? I rewrote it into my Norse Romantasy Predestined!

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Steven J Morris SJMorris Writes Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing. Subscribe​

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