My ask is actually pretty chill! So thank you for filling it because your words are so sweet and such a great way for me to start my day. But y’know what the secret is?
Traditional publishing with big name publishers is hard to break into – I ain’t done that and I probably never will as my work is kinda niche and isn’t just writing and I’m also a control freak and I hate rejection and just don’t have the patience to apply and send shit out a billion times – but now? I don’t have to sacrifice control of my vision or deal with rejection and zero call-backs or waiting around and neither does anyone else! Self publish! Assisted-self-publish/hybrid publish! Do it yourself! Now anyone can publish their work in book or digital book format. All you really need is Microsoft Word or similar and an account with one of the many on-demand printer-distributor services (CreateSpace, Lulu, Blurb, Magcloud, and Peecho to name a few.)
Hell, do the distribution yourself and you’ve got even more options for printing (Lightening Source, Fireball, Keness, Doujinpress, or even your local Fedex, Kinkos, or print shop come to mind for short runs, and many more printers exist for massive-bulk offset printing.) Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords, Gumroad, sellfy, and itch.io (for all types of content) come to mind for selling digitally, depending on if you’re doing epub or pdf – and some will convert for free. Hell, if you host your own site you can usually make your own digital-download storefront via paypal or stripe! There are SO many possibilities out there!
The only drawback is when I say anyone can publish I mean anyone can publish so you’re competing with millions and millions available at the click of a button but hey, as soon as the internet became a thing really anyone could publish whatever they wanted. Look at webcomics – people have published those for years. This is just the evolution (and monetization-sans-ads) of that. In fact, most of the content-creators I look up to are the one’s who’ve started online posting content for free (and still for free) while monetizing their work via print and digital copies. The publishing world is much different than it was when say J. K. Rowling was shopping Harry Potter around. I wanted a book published? I did it. I wanted an imprint? I made one. I wanted to collaborate with other artists and help others publish their works? Bam, @nonsense-press happened, whether it stays simply as an imprint that outsources printing and distribution to on-demand printer-distros like Lulu or CS or it evolves into a more traditional small press that does in-house distribution. There is so very much you can do now, even if you’re limited for money or space or know-how.
So I guess what I’m trying to say with all this is do not ever EVER give up because now? With all the technology we have? You will never need to give up because you can just do it. Think you’re so niche you’re unpublishable? Publish it yourself (or hit up nonSENSE Press ;) ). A total control freak who needs a book at an EXACT size done JUST so? Createspace has your back whatever your print size and will put that shit on Amazon. Fuck it, go to Kinkos and make copies with staples! I have friends who do just that. Want to sell digital books without any rules and zero web-developer work because you don’t want to learn something like Ruby on Rails from the ground up all just to make a for-pay digital download with or without analytics? Me neither – good thing itch.io exists! And I’ve found that any time one service goes under or falls through or doesn’t meet your needs, something else as good or better than always appears to fill the gaps. So never give up and feel like you HAVE to have some person or organization to make your name and sell your product because you can MAKE your own damn name and sell your own damn product on YOUR own terms.
Sorry, er, that got a little long winded and off-topic but I just am constantly AMAZED at all the technology and opportunities out there that are available and I barely know of them all! Hell, I found out about itch.io because of Hotblood! since gumroad is very Puritan and selz recently joined the Puritan camp. A lot of these technologies and avenues to publishing, whether we’re talking just getting a portfolio out there or showing off a CV or actually publishing books, you just kinda happen on by chance! And with all the website builders out there that have their own monthly plans, you have a LOT of options! Shit man, right now, you can go learn to code and program FOR FREE, set up a site on like github pages with bootstrap, and start accepting payments; throw your digital book up on MEGA or dropbox and email the special download link once you get payments. Like how COOL IS THAT?!
Like…it’s only gonna go up from here, I imagine, in innovation and opportunities, and whether you want to use one of the many websites out there or DIY in both digital and print terms, the possibilities for publishing right now are endless. So never ever EVER give up because hey, you can do it yourself without paying a dime!