Choosing the Right Self-Publisher For Me

It wasn’t a tough decision for me to self-publish. The odds of being picked up by a conventional publisher were astronomically stacked against me. (As most writers know.) Plus, I was told by an editor of one of those big publishing houses that I would need to dumb my manuscript down to even be remotely considered. And I quote, “Turn on your television and watch when the cameras scan across the audience of the Ricki Lake show. That’s who you need to write your book to…a sixth grade level individual.”

What an insult.

My apologies to the audience members of the Ricki Lake show. For what it’s worth, I’d take their advice over what that editor had to say any day.

Obviously, I didn’t want to dumb my manuscript down. I actually didn’t want to lose any editorial control at all. An artist wouldn’t allow a gallery owner to come in and fool around with their painting. Right? So, self-publishing was by choice my only option.

I took a long time searching out the just right self-publisher for me. I didn’t have a lot of money to invest up front, so cost was my number one consideration. I didn’t have a lot of time, either. I wanted my book out well before Christmas. A simple Google search of the most popular self-publishers helped me understand that it could possibly take up to eight months before I actually had books in my hands. (In other words, it wasn’t hard to find complaints from various authors about the prolonged production process with iUniverse, xLibris, and AuthorHouse.) No way could I wait that long. I kept looking for a publisher who would commit to a strict time schedule.

Cutting to the chase, I eventually landed on the website of Dog Ear Publishing. It was such a well-done site, and it said everything the writer in me wanted to hear. I couldn’t help getting my hopes up. I scrutinized every page of the site looking for the discouraging small print, but there simply wasn’t a catch. Dog Ear Publishing appeared to be ideal for me.

But just to be safe, I went out on Google and tried to find the dirt on these guys. Interesting, after a rather lengthy search, I came up empty-handed. Everything I found about Dog Ear was positive – so either they really were a great operation or they had figured out how to scrub anything negative about them from the Internet. I placed my hopes on the prior.

My next step was to speak directly with one of the three owners – which was simple considering he answered the phone when I called. His name was Ray Robinson, and talking to him was a pleasure. He patiently answered every single question and assured me his company could work within my timeframe. I gave the decision a couple more days, then sent Ray a check for the Professional Level package along with an extra $500 to add the expediting feature. With this feature, Dog Ear guarantees your book will be ready for press within 30 business days of receiving the initial contract obligations.

Perfect.

Well, it was a long 30 business days and certainly not without its ups and downs, but my book did go to print (on the 31st business day) and tomorrow I will be receiving my first shipment of books. Dog Ear Publishing really is a terrific self-publishing company – the best out there in my opinion. It’s been great working with them. But there are a couple of minor things to watch out for if you opt to go with them.

1. The website would have you believe you’ll be working closely with the design team during the production stages and your enthusiasm is encouraged.

Website: "All of us at Dog Ear Publishing are here to be your guides through the process of publishing your book. We can make recommendations, offer comments, suggest alternatives, even critique if you want - but first and foremost YOU are in control. We don't "own" anything you've produced - YOU retain all rights. And YOU make all the choices about your book (unless you want us to) - from start to finish. We won't pretend to know more about your book than you do, we won't think ANY of your ideas are silly or impossible, and we won't criticize you for being enthusiastic about your creative effort. We WILL be absolutely, positively, completely THRILLED to be working with you - we hope our enthusiasm for making great books will make the process FUN and REWARDING. After all, isn't that what it's about?”

In reality, you will never speak to a designer. You may not even speak to Ray or either of the other two owners. Most likely, a young gentleman by the name of Matt Murry will be your “Author Representative who provides support throughout the publishing process,” another enticing feature touted on the website. But that’s ok. Matt is sharp and extremely helpful. I really appreciated working with him.

2. If you have an urgent question or matter to discuss, don't take your chances on the toll free number and forget about emailing. It’s best to just call the direct number: 1-317-228-3656. Matt will probably answer. He does a good job of handling things. If it goes to the answer machine, don't bother leaving a message. Chances are no one will call you back. Best to just wait a bit and then try the call again.

And that’s it. That’s the entire downside of my experience with Dog Ear Publishing. And even at that, I believe it boiled down to them just being extremely busy. They’re probably busy because they’re good. And that’s not a bad thing for a publisher to be.

Self-publishing Author Counting Down the Days...

I do realize at this point that I am a complete nobody and am essentially blogging to myself.

But that’s ok.

It’s good practice for when my book catches on and a few more people begin to wander by.

As of today I have about one more week of waiting until my highly anticipated boxes of printed books arrive. I am a self-publishing author and in some ways I’m operating outside of the self-publishing box (which is operating outside of the traditional publishing box). For me, there’s really not a right way or a wrong way to go about self-publishing. I’ve relied heavily on my own inspiration throughout this process. If I tank, I tank under my own control.

One thing I did early on was secure my domain name and build myself a website. Because I’ve never done anything like that before (“html” might as well have stood for “how to make licorice” in my mind), and because I’m a tragically broke writer (as I should be), I searched around for an easy and economical way to create a web presence. I opted for Web.com because they met both criteria. By the time I finished building my website (patriciacurtis.com) I had learned a great deal about the process and became pretty darn good at it. (I went on to build websites for my sister and my ex-husband, charging them a small fee – which I immediately invested in copies of my own book to go out and market).

Having a website out there a month in advance of my book printing as been a terrific advantage. I’ve already managed to move to the top of some search engines, and to the first page of Google. This is quite an accomplishment considering I haven’t spent a dime beyond the hosting charges. There are a few tricks that push a site up the listings. It pays to study what other authors are doing.

Another thing I did was set up a MySpace page.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=57099399

Weird, I know, but I’ve discovered that it is an effective and FUN marketing tool. I'm having a ball making good contacts out there. And glory be…my MySpace page shot to the top of the Internet searches literally overnight! By adding a blog to a MySpace page and my official website I now have a pretty good jumpstart on decent web presence.

Tomorrow I’ll be blogging about my search for a self-publishing company, my choice, and my experience producing the book. It’s been a wild ride since the first manuscript word I typed into this very computer nearly a year ago. I can’t wait to see what’s in store once I get those book in my hands next week…