Jeanie Writes Genre

I'm starting to think about alternative routes to publication. That's... a lot to think about, actually. Naturally, my dreams have always centered around agent agreements, contracts with major publishing houses, respectable advances, best-seller lists, prominent display at Borders, et cetera and so forth. But also naturally, like many, many aspiring writers both before and after me, I'm frustrated with a process that means working your butt off for a year or more--often more-- to write, perfect and market a manuscript just to the gatekeepers, the people who decide whether it even gets shown to the people who actually have any say in whether it gets published... man, just typing that sentence was exhausting.

It brings me to the question: am I in it for the money and prestige, or am I in it for the enjoyment of making up stories for myself and others? The answer is, of course, BOTH, but seeing as how SFF is my chosen genre, I'm obviously not really THAT into it for money and/or prestige, two things which are pretty hard to come by in this genre. So do I want to bust my rear trying to get past the gatekeepers for a lotter winner's chance of getting someone to buy my work of three years for maybe a year's worth of minimum wage salary, if I'm lucky? Or do I just want to spend that time making my story the best it can be and then release it into the wild, wild web and see what happens?

The latter is increasingly becoming an attractive option, for a couple of reasons. For one, in this genre at least, self-publishing is becoming a more respectable means of getting both your story and your name out there. I'm thinking mainly of names such as Corey Doctorow, Mur Lafferty and Wil Wheaton (okay, not a SFF writer so much and already a name in his own write, but still, a geek/writer with some pretty respectable self-publishing cred), all of whom have had success with self-publishing. There's Scalzi, too, who got "discovered" by posting his first novel on the web, but of course he's quick to point out that he's an exception to the rule--except that he appears to be becoming less so, at least to my lame powers of casual observation.

The other is, obviously, the lure of having a direct line to your readers without any middlemen gumming up the works. Immediate feedback, baby. It's the crack that kept me writing fanfic for too many years, and its siren song is hard to ignore.

Of course, chances are very, very good that in an entire career of self-publishing I wouldn't make nearly as much money as I would if I won the traditional-publishing lottery and lucked into a best- or even moderate-seller. But as time wears on and rejections pile up*, the chances of having a career seem more likely if I self-publish than if I keep pursuing the traditional route.

Most likely, I'll start out somewhere in the middle by copying all the cool kids and podcasting my novel after it's done--provided I can either get over my fear and hatred of my own voice or afford someone with a better voice to narrate it for me--while still shopping the print rights via more traditional means, and see what happens**.

Of course, before I make any kind of decision about any of the above, I have to--say it with me now--Finish the Damn Novel, or else all is moot.

Back to work, then.

*"pile up" doesn't really apply yet in my case, since I haven't actually been all that prolific or active in submitting my writing; I have to actually, y'know, write and submit something before I can get a rejection letter for it, and considering I've only done that once for one novel and a very few times for a very few short stories, I realize I don't really get to whine about how hard it is and give up just yet. But that doesn't negate any of the arguments stated above.

**"See what happens" is my new mantra, apparently. I like it. It's kinda zen.

Labels: publishing, writing life