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my book. Uh-oh, the writers in those groups are very cranky. They tell you to take your spam and shove it up your...

Now that wasn't very nice! I'm only trying to sale a book here. Maybe I'll have better luck with a book signing. So, you order a couple of boxes of books and set up a book signing at your local bookstore. A few people come up and ask about your book. A couple of them seemed interested until you told them how much it was going to cost. Thirteen dollars for a paperback book that is only 150 pages long! Are you crazy? I can buy Harry Potter in paperback for less than ten dollars.

So the boxes of books go home with you where they collect dust and you sit there wondering what you have done wrong. You decide to ask one of the writing groups and this is what they tell you:

1. With self-publishing you don't get professional editing unless you pay for it. You need to have at least a basic knowledge of grammar and spelling to be a writer.
2. Most self-publishing companies only publish paperbacks and they charge an outrageous price for the book.
3. You cannot get your book onto bookstore shelves unless you are willing to pay for the returns. Oh, and by the way, bookstores don't send back the entire book when they return them. They only send the covers.
4. You cannot sell books through spam. If I want a book I'll go to Barnes and Noble thank you very much.
5. Unless you have money and time to burn on marketing(without spamming) you won't be able to sell your book.
6. You are competing with thousands, that's right, thousands of other authors, both self and traditionally published. What makes your book so special? Why should I buy it instead of the Stephen King novel I was going to pick up?
7. Traditional publisher don't aknowledge self-publishing as true publishing. Unless you happen to be one of the very few fortunate ones that manage to sell at least a thousand books, preferably more, a traditional publisher will laugh in your face.

Suppose you have a collection of short stories or poetry you want to publish. Is self-publishing right for that? It is more acceptable to self-publish short stories and poetry than it is fiction. The reason for this is that there is a very limited market for short stories and poetry. Even then you would probably have more success by sending poems and short stories to magazines. At least that way if you decide to write a fiction novel and you have managed to get some short stories published in reputable magazines you will have something to show an editor that will make them take you more seriously.

No matter which road you choose to take you should always, ALWAYS, do your homework first. Check out any agent or publisher you want to submit your work to on sites like preditors and editors and writer beware. Use your internet search engine to see if there is anything that raises a red flag about an agent or publisher. Don't wait until your book is finished to start researching agents and publishers either. The more time you have to research the better prepared you will be when your book is completed.

Learn more about this author, Michelle Ross.
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