Melodie, before we wrap up today, I’d like to hear from you on the publishing end of the industry. Increasingly writers are electing to publish their own books, even when they also work with an existing publisher. Any thoughts on this trend, or any of the dramatic changes in the publishing industry we’ve witnessed over the last few years?
To my own students, I advise them to try to get a traditional publisher for their first book. It makes you a professional. By that I mean, a professional gets paid for his/her work. Some will argue that Amazon pays you when you sell a book, but I think we all know what I mean. Even an ebook publisher is good. But someone other than yourself, so that your work will be edited by someone who has a stake in it.
To be clear, if you are with a traditional publisher (ebook or otherwise) you, as the author, don't pay for anything. They pay you.
The problem with self-publishing is there is no peer-review process. I've been a college prof. Everything we publish is peer reviewed. If you go through a traditional publisher, you are peer-reviewed. So there is a certain quality assurance (you may think, not very good! but at least there is some).
On Amazon, a lot of people are so anxious to be published that they put up first drafts of work that is not very good. Some have not even taken a course, and don't know the rules of viewpoint or basic plot requirements. If you self-publish, you are lumped in with them.
ON the other hand, if my publisher had not taken my last manuscript, I might have self-published it! That is because I have several novels published traditionally and a rep of some sort, with possibly built in readers. Hopefully.
So you can see my ambivalence!