In defense of self-publishing books

So, I’m a self-published author, and sometimes just saying that makes me feel ashamed. After all, anyone can self-publish. The market is saturated with mediocre books that people have self-published without having gone through any level of editing. I’m not going to name names, but if you go on YouTube, you can find a plethora of videos critiquing self-published books put out by YouTubers, as well as other authors. Some of them are pretty bad.

However, I would argue that the very nature of self-publishing is what I’m here to defend. The fact that literally anyone can write something and publish it, on Amazon for example, is good, actually.

I’ve been writing since I was physically able to hold a pen. Some of my first written works were hand-scrawled on the free notepads realtors used to advertise their services on. Throughout elementary school, I would often get in trouble for not paying attention because I would read ahead in my schoolbooks before going back to writing my own stories in a notebook I was hiding under my desk. (I would always know what was going on in class, I just wasn’t actually concentrating on the lesson.)

In high school, I filled notebooks with stories that I now realize were kind of prototypes for the stuff I write today: alternative kids trying to find their identities. Of course, back then, I also had the “preps bad” mentality that so many goth kids did, so that adds an unintentional comedic factor.

The point is, I’ve been writing forever. However, I never imagined I would get published because the whole process seemed daunting. The idea of submitting my books to an editor, then to a publisher, only to get rejected over and over, seemed like my own personal hell. Rejection is hard for everyone, but to me, it seemed like a death sentence. I just knew that if I received one single rejection letter, I would throw my computer away and never write again. So I never did.

For the longest time, my plan was to leave all my intellectual property to someone I could trust to publish it. Then, when I died, they could publish my works posthumously and I’d never have to deal with rejection. (Unless I became a ghost, I guess.)

But then I realized a sobering truth: I didn’t know anyone who I could really trust to do that for me.

Around that same time, I became really invested in the Tingleverse. It started as a meme – I’d see these ridiculous book covers with dinosaurs, half-naked people, and cryptids, and I’d laugh about it. But then I followed Dr. Chuck Tingle on Facebook and realized this his works are sincere, as funny as they are. Not only that, but they’re beloved by a web of buckaroos all across the world.

But, most importantly, I realized that Dr. Tingle is a self-published author.

The idea that you can be self-published had never even occurred to me before then. I hadn’t even considered that there was an alternate route to traditional publishing. This revelation hit me like a ton of bricks and made me realize that there was hope for me, too.

Self-publishing offers authors the freedom to write and publish whatever we want to and I think that’s beautiful. Sure, it’s hard to make a living off of it when the self-publishing world is so saturated, but I never dreamed of becoming a full-time author of books. What I dreamed of was simply to put my work out there. I write the kind of books I want to read, and I’m a weirdo, so I know what I write won’t appeal to everyone. But self-publishing makes that okay.

I feel liberated knowing that I don’t have to clearly define my target audience, that I don’t have to worry about making a certain amount of profit (my goal is usually simply to break even), and that I don’t have to change what I’m writing simply because a publishing house thinks it’s not marketable or profitable. I love writing for the sake of writing, publishing for the sake of putting it out there, and marketing just as much as I have to in order to break even.

Taking the traditional publishing route would’ve inevitably ripped the joy of writing right out of my hands. I’m not consistently productive and I don’t want to have deadlines imposed on me, besides the ones I impose on myself. Writing is my passion project, it’s a labor of love, and I want it to stay that way. So it’s with this mentality in mind that I became a self-published indie author, and I feel grateful to live in times when that’s, not only possible, but incredibly accessible.

If you made it this far, you’re a real one. Thank you for reading and I hope you have an awesome day!

P.S. I’ll be self-publishing a new book soon. Look out for Storm Season! It’s going to be a story of rekindled romance, fear of severe weather, helping out an old friend, and – of course – death metal.

Your friend,

Janvier Olszon