And now for the news!
Some highlights from this week in the world of self-publishing:
This week’s Publisher’s Weekly features a piece by Calvin Reid which highlights Jason Pinter, the man who founded the indie publishing house, Polis Books. Pinter found himself inspired by the 2016 election and has decided to return to his passion–writing books. The Castle, Pinter’s political thriller, will be a self-published title and be kept separate from the Polis Books list.
Pinter’s reason for self-publishing? The feeling of the books immanent importance in the wake of our current political situation. Publishing a book by traditional means can take over a year, and this was a book he felt should be published now, and right now. According to Pinter, “several editors liked the book, but said it needed to be out now. I agreed with them.” Another reason for self-publishing was that Pinter didn’t want to cut in front of other authors trying to publish through Polis Books, nor did he want to overshadow the other titles currently being publishing by his press.
Once Polis books got up and running–it will be publishing 27 books in 2017!–Pinter decided that he would make time to return to his passion for writing, which is why he’s devoted himself to publishing The Castle. Don’t expect Pinter to quit working on his publishing company though, he is instead hoping to have the best of both worlds working as an author and a publisher.
In this touching piece by Fiona Ashe, we see the story of a daughter helping her father’s dream come true. When Fiona’s father wrote 31 Years of Hell, documenting the history of the two world wars, she decided that she would edit, produce and self-publish the book herself. While an extremely rewarding process, Fiona wanted to share how it was that she also was able to make this an extremely successful process.
First Fiona reminds us of the importance of having a good editor whom you can trust and whose opinion your trust. Calling the editor “your book’s bouncer,” Fiona says, “It’s completely reasonable to be emotionally attached to your favourite paragraph in which you injected clever humour, shared a personal anecdote and created a slick metaphor. But if it doesn’t serve the story, it has to be consigned to the literary cutting room floor.”
After explaining the im portance of editing, she goes on to elaborate on the stylistic and interior formatting components of self-publishing. She says,“One thing to consider when designing the interior pages of your book is whether you understand your target market’s reading habits. Do they binge-read the way people binge-watch TV drama on Netflix? Or do they dip in and out of books periodically?” It was decided that the audience of a WWI/II book would most likely dip in and out of it, “In order to facilitate this episodic reading behaviour, we chose to break up the text with subheadings and add timelines at the end of each chapter.” Further, Fiona says she “also illustrated the book with maps and emotionally evocative photographs to enhance the storytelling.”
Read more from the article above for some more stellar advice from Fiona, the daughter of the year!
As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.
ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
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