Just a few things to say. Repetition, I know. But as a self-published author, I really do take offense at some of the statements that roll off the fingers of those who know next to nothing about it.
Some of you know The Shack was a self-published phenomenon. The overselling of the little novel forced those involved in writing and producing that book to select a royalty publisher to handle sales which included a fairly lucrative contract for future books if I’m not mistaken under their own imprint. Most writers (including the primary author of that little novel) will agree The Shack was not particularly well written. Needless to say, although the theology in its pages elicited great controversy which furthered sales, the writing itself didn’t seem to bother its readers—except for other writers.
Once again I will state self-published books used to look the part and much of the writing was of poor quality. I’m quite sure there are still those kinds of books being produced. In the past self-published books deserved the negative stigma attached to them.
However, if you know anything about some of the small custom-publishing presses, you will have learned this: they don’t put forth junk. WinePress Publishing and their derivatives put out a first class quality book from cover design to formatting and template selections. First class that takes a backseat to none. Marcher Lord Press for the speculative fiction writers: same thing. Quality in production from start to finish.
The claims of “no editing” for self-published books and the enamored praise for editors making stories better, yada yada yada, simply doesn’t hold true with the two aforementioned publishing entities. Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press is an editor and was previously employed by CBA publishers in that position. WinePress uses specific freelance editors just like the mainstream CBA publishers use and requires editing in certain publishing packages such as the one used for the production of The Famous One.
The single thing that makes self-publishing fiction difficult is this: marketing. The two publishers I mentioned take care of listing your novels on Amazon.com, CBD, B&N.com, etcetera. I don’t know the specifics of marketing available through Marcher Lord Press, but WinePress offers several different packages for sale. And, no, they’re not cheap. But the same prospects for marketing your royalty published novel now sit in your lap as an author. The onus of marketing rests primarily with authors nowadays—particularly first time or little known authors.
What I’m saying is this: it’s okay to be suspicious of self-published books, but it’s not okay to blanket them with condemnation or to assume they’re all poorly written and unedited because some doofus decided they had to see their story in print. While that might apply to some self-published authors, it’s less and less the case today in the difficult arena of publishing.
Lord, help me to follow you. That’s all that really matters. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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