Self-publishing is becoming more and more common. Self-publishing is becoming easier. Self-publishing is losing the taint of "lesser than" in many cases.
What bothers me is when people who have never been traditionally published start making blanket statements -- usually negative -- about traditional publishing, blanket statements that indicate that simply by hiring an editor and a nice cover-designer a self-published author can duplicate the traditional publishing process.
This post from Kate Elliott in which she apologizes for how long her readers have waited for book three in The Spiritwalker Trilogy
relates only part of what goes into the publication of a traditionally published book.
The book gets copy edited for grammatical, punctuation, and consistency errors, and then I have to go over the copy edits as well, at which time I can make any last line editing changes. For instance, I think I am going to have to cut the word “cocky” from one sentence. [Copy editing is good news, though, since a good copy-editing job makes the book better.]
More good news: After copy editing, the book gets “typeset”–that is, converted from double spaced manuscript format into the format seen in books. The interior of a book is designed, just as the exterior cover design is. Font, kerning, spacing and other graphic design elements are just as important for ease of reading and a positive aesthetic look even when it is just text. A beautifully designed text is a pleasure to read.
Several proofeading passes are made through the typeset pages to eradicate as many typos and errors as possible (although some will always slip through). The text must be converted into various ebook formats. A cover is designed, tweaked, printed. Marketing, orders, and distribution also have to be dealt with in the lead up to printing and the actual arrival on the shelves. And this accounting is just the quick, simplistic version of all the things the publisher does. (I haven’t even touched on how my editor helps me make this the best book possible, because that part of the process has already happened.)
Hiring an editor and a cover-designer does not suddenly equal professional quality publication.
Can it? Sometimes. Often, though, it comes nowhere near. More to the point, sometimes it is the only way an author can get their book available to readers. If so, if that decision is made, then go forth and do it to the best of your ability, and let's all hope it finds a wide readership. Stranger things have happened.
But trash-talking traditional publishing doesn't have to be part of that process, especially when you've never been through the process and had the benefits of it.
The business is changing and it's changing fast. But when the care and detail that go into the traditional publication process get left behind, we will all miss it. Already I'm having friends bemoan that they can't do some of the cool font things in ebooks that have to be read over many platforms that they could have done in print.
Anyway, that's my Monday rant, such as it is. In the meantime, Kate's Spiritwalker series is one of the coolest I've been reading in recent years. I can't wait until June!
What bothers me is when people who have never been traditionally published start making blanket statements -- usually negative -- about traditional publishing, blanket statements that indicate that simply by hiring an editor and a nice cover-designer a self-published author can duplicate the traditional publishing process.
This post from Kate Elliott in which she apologizes for how long her readers have waited for book three in The Spiritwalker Trilogy
relates only part of what goes into the publication of a traditionally published book.The book gets copy edited for grammatical, punctuation, and consistency errors, and then I have to go over the copy edits as well, at which time I can make any last line editing changes. For instance, I think I am going to have to cut the word “cocky” from one sentence. [Copy editing is good news, though, since a good copy-editing job makes the book better.]
More good news: After copy editing, the book gets “typeset”–that is, converted from double spaced manuscript format into the format seen in books. The interior of a book is designed, just as the exterior cover design is. Font, kerning, spacing and other graphic design elements are just as important for ease of reading and a positive aesthetic look even when it is just text. A beautifully designed text is a pleasure to read.
Several proofeading passes are made through the typeset pages to eradicate as many typos and errors as possible (although some will always slip through). The text must be converted into various ebook formats. A cover is designed, tweaked, printed. Marketing, orders, and distribution also have to be dealt with in the lead up to printing and the actual arrival on the shelves. And this accounting is just the quick, simplistic version of all the things the publisher does. (I haven’t even touched on how my editor helps me make this the best book possible, because that part of the process has already happened.)
Hiring an editor and a cover-designer does not suddenly equal professional quality publication.
Can it? Sometimes. Often, though, it comes nowhere near. More to the point, sometimes it is the only way an author can get their book available to readers. If so, if that decision is made, then go forth and do it to the best of your ability, and let's all hope it finds a wide readership. Stranger things have happened.
But trash-talking traditional publishing doesn't have to be part of that process, especially when you've never been through the process and had the benefits of it.
The business is changing and it's changing fast. But when the care and detail that go into the traditional publication process get left behind, we will all miss it. Already I'm having friends bemoan that they can't do some of the cool font things in ebooks that have to be read over many platforms that they could have done in print.
Anyway, that's my Monday rant, such as it is. In the meantime, Kate's Spiritwalker series is one of the coolest I've been reading in recent years. I can't wait until June!
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