Advice

 

I decided to contest the listings for Live to Tell on Amazon and Kobo, and issued an infringement notice to Amazon, which was adhered to, so this is not available for sale on either websites now, despite me thinking Amazon wouldn't agree to this. Since then, I've listed Live to Tell and Into the Other on Lulu.com, with a view to perhaps use this to release my other self published titles.

I wanted to write this to offer certain pieces of advice based on what I've learnt in the last five or six years. More so if any other authors stumble across this, they might get some value from it and avoid certain mistakes.

1. Avoid any publisher who wants money from you, especially hybrids and vanities who claim they do issue traditional contracts. In some cases they will have a self-publishing arm where there is a cost to publish and they're upfront about it, but if they claim a vanity contract might lead to a traditional one if your sales are reasonable, it's best to still avoid them as it's not a claim that's usually substantiated. And this can be claimed by reputable publishers like Penguin, they do have a vanity option. If you're signing a contributor contract, it's a vanity contract. There's no law against you doing this, or against them charging money, but it is a scam. You don't pay to be published. Nor do you pay an agent.
2. Self-publishing isn't considered to be a mark of failure and it has led to some success stories, however terrible those books might be. I've had to change my attitude to this in the past year. I would have genuinely loved to have been picked up by a bigger name publisher and had something more substantial to celebrate, but the average person doesn't tend to know the difference. It's only your attitude that can sour these achievements.
3. Contest any case where your copyright is genuinely being infringed and don't be afraid to send emails or takedown notices if your work has been stolen. You may end up being your own representative without an agent or lawyer, so at least arm yourself with some knowledge going in and read terms and conditions of any site that allows you to self publish, including Wattpad. Some sites can take shorts and retain them or make it difficult for you to remove them, and claim rights to do whatever they wish with this. Again, bigger companies are doing this now.
4. If asked for money to enter a contest, make sure you look into the contest itself and avoid any promotional websites that ask for hundreds or even thousands to enter your book into the draw. Some journals may require a small entry fee and this is usually legitimate, however there are scams like the NABE promo awards, who I foolishly gave money to through my previous publisher, and now I can't confirm if this entry was ever made. They're taking money and all you may get is a small "sticker" for your book which doesn't mean much other than making it look like it's award-winning.
5. Look up Writer Beware, and ask forums if you're not sure of a publisher. And be aware yourself even if sites aren't mentioned, it doesn't mean they're legitimate.
6. Read any contract you receive, no matter how boring it is, and don't sign anything without clauses pertaining to bankruptcy of the company that will revert your rights back to you, or that states a firm "in perpetuity" clause. You will lose your work and any right to republish elsewhere if a company shuts down or ceases contact for whatever reason. Force majeure is also important to have in the event of unforeseeable circumstances, meaning fulfillment of any part of the contract on both sides isn't required in these events, usually catastrophic ones. You'll end up on Wikipedia and other legal advice sites more than once no matter which publishing road you choose to go down. I've had to educate myself in so many aspects of this process, so the phrase "steep learning curve" was an understatement. An agent is usually the one dealing with this but you may find yourself without one.
7. If you're wanting to save money on promo material or art for your covers, stick to royalty free websites where possible, but issue credits if requested. You'll be spending money on promo whether you like it or not but you can save on some aspects like free websites, or discount printers for promotional material. If you're going alone it's up to you how much you spend. My biggest investment was hiring an editor but I won't be doing this again as it's costly.
8. Don't rely on Grammarly or spell checkers alone to edit. They don't pick everything up. I chose to self-edit to save money but sometimes it's not worth it.

I can't think of anything else but I'll be signing off from this blog for a while. I'm not really working on anything else and I need to take a break from this to get back into what this was about originally: writing. I've said there is a distinction between authorship and writing. You write for pleasure but become an author only if you truly want the headaches and heartaches associated with putting yourself out there. You might find also some reputable authors with traditional deals have opted to self publish for whatever reason. Taking control of your work can actually be satisfying, especially if it pays off. I think a bigger achievement for me would be gaining attention for what I did on my own.