by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’ve discovered that there are many
things that I like about being a hybrid writer (one who self-publishes as well
as publishes traditionally.)
I like the visibility that traditional
publishing still affords me. There are
still some folks out there who shop in bookstores and have discovered me that
way. Penguin’s mysteries do tend to get
decent visibility on Amazon, too, and they’re doing a good job with Facebook
mentions and tweets on their end.
I like that my output tends to be higher
when I’m working with my publishers’ deadlines.
I like the editing and story development
assistance that I receive from my editors.
I like that I’ve continued a discontinued
series by self-publishing it, and that it became popular among readers who
hadn’t discovered it when it was traditionally published.
That all being said, there are definitely
problems hybrid writers face. I’m
working through them. Here are two big ones:
Production
delays—for both traditional publishing
and self-pub.
Production
delays with traditional publishing: Unfortunately, it’s one of those
scenarios where “failure to plan on your part constitutes an emergency on
mine.” It usually means I need to go
through my edits quickly or my copyedits quickly or my pass pages quickly.
Other than that, I usually don’t have any part to play in the process…and
usually, I don’t even know where the production failure occurred. We always end up releasing on time. There’s
not a whole lot you can do to prepare for this with trad. publishing…my advice
would just be to expect a tight deadline and be aware you might have to put a
current project down for a while to address edits in a previous project.
Production
delays with self-publishing: You’re a lot more involved, here. Have you put up an expected launch date on
your website or blog? You’ll need to adjust that. I’ve gotten emails and
Facebook comments for the past 1 ½ months from readers asking where the book
is…because I publicized the release date.
Unfortunately, a series of events that really wasn’t anyone’s fault in
my production team has caused a delay of nearly 2 months in the expected
release of the latest book in the Myrtle series. A potential solution would be to be a bit
vaguer with your launch date, or else adjust it on your website, accordingly.
Traditionally-published
projects interrupt self-pub projects. If we really want to be a hybrid
writer, unfortunately this means that paid-in-advance projects come first. You’ll have a contract binding you to a
particular date to deliver the manuscript to the publisher. If you don’t
deliver you might have to forfeit your advance. I was recently working on
another Myrtle Clover for an October release (which, yes, I’d stupidly
announced on my website) and then was asked to write two more books in one of
my series. This is good news, but it meant that I either needed to work on both
books at once (I’ve drafted two books at once before, and it’s very, very
confusing), or else stop one to work on the other.
I’ve been able to keep working on the
first draft for the Myrtle book, and outline
the other book at the same time…but now I’m at the point where I need to write
the first chapter for the new book (so that it can be included as a teaser in
the book coming out in December). And I’ve got to temporarily stop work on the
Myrtle.
Other than juggling work (and postponing
work) it’s not especially challenging to have a hybrid writing career.
Do you write more than one series? Do you have a foot in both publishing worlds?