Art Business Logic Sold Me on Self-Publishing :: Intro and Chapters

or

Book and Art Business 101:

How the Good Business Sense
of Self-Publishing
Finally Won Me Over

 

I am not one to easily say I was wrong, but, my friends, I was terribly, horribly wrong. Wrong for the past ten years or more concerning a very important part of the publishing industry and art business. And I’ve died on this hill of wrongness over and again in multiple mediums and venues for the past ten years. Particularly early on in arguments with a writer friend named Ellie Ann.

Can I tell you a story?

The story I want to tell you will show how:

Reflecting on the tenants of art business…

&

…evaluating self-publishing based on those tenants…

 

couldn’t happen easily for me because of the times and circumstances of my formation as a writer. That’s right. The circumstances of my formation as a writer biased me against self-publishing, even in the teeth of the sound logic of art business.

It’s also a story about the basics of making money as a writer or an artist. In years ahead, I may choose to return to my friends in the traditional publishing world, but this is the story about how I:

(1) grew into a novelist,

(2) associated that career path with the narrative built into the traditional publishing world,

(3) ignored a hidden opportunity to enter a buyer’s market through a route that seemed unorthodox to me, and therefore

(4) lost a chance to perfect and then release my first novel sooner than now

(5) when the business sense of self-publishing has finally won me over.

It’s the story of how the traditional publishing successes narrative seduced me into remaining loyal to the old model for far too long right as the publishing industry shifted.

To be clear, this series of articles will NOT bash my friends who are agents and editors and publicists and cover designers here in New York. Those that I know personally (and I know several) are hard working, good people who have made the very sound business decision of setting up shop at a bottleneck in a buyer’s market. It’s a move Buffett himself applauds both in Berkshire’s quarterly earnings reports and in his authorized bio The Snowball. Heck, some of the millionaires featured in The Millionaire Next Door that set up shop at bottlenecks are literary agents. I have massive respect for them and have no need to pretend to make myself feel better by disparaging my allies, as some of my peers have done. Agents are, after all, voracious readers who often recommend books as fans that they’ve rejected as businessmen. It would be foolhardy to insult a friend, a mentor, or an ally — let alone someone who fits into all three categories.

I plan to do quite the opposite: I want to complement the sound business practice of the agents and editors I know by taking that play out of their book. I’m setting up my own shop at a bottleneck in a buyer’s market.

It’s a bottleneck most beginning authors don’t know about. A land grab, if you will.

A longer story than I normally share, this series of fourteen articles will illuminate both my personal transformation and some key maxims for succeeding in this business. You will can either come back over and again the next two weeks to finish reading this whole series or you can read the cheat sheet.

READ NEXT:  Paul Pelkonen is Star Wars Canon

When you’ve finished, you too might find yourself wanting to self-publish your own work. Bookmark this page and come on a journey with me.

As I hinted above, it’s a journey that will culminate in very basic, very superlative, very audacious:


CHEAT SHEET TO BOOK BUSINESS

 

…which I’ll sprinkle throughout the telling. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, you can simply click to download the Cheat Sheet for Book and Art Business 101. 

Here’s what the outline looks like:

 

  1. Intro
  2. The Gateway Drug: Poetry
  3. Does Fiction Lie? — The Liar’s Club
  4. Where and How to Sell What You Write
  5. From Daydreams to Written Dreams
  6. Rejection Slips
  7. Any Money Makes a Pro
  8. Quarterly Assignments
  9. Making Good Money… in a shadow career
  10. Kinfolk and Advocates or “How to Build a Platform”
  11. Draconian Contracts
  12. Author Earnings
  13. Succeeding for Others
  14. Blaze a Trail All Your Own

lancelot tobias mearcstapa schaubert monogram

cover image by thelittleone417


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Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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