Okay. You have no objections to self-publishing. I did not get this from your original post. Let me rephrase what I think you've been saying:
You're trying to warn people away from self (or vanity, which I know we both agree isn't the same thing) publishing for most types of books (including fiction), because just because you have a book in hand doesn't mean you have the distribution for it. Is this correct? I understand and agree with that on a practical level.
However, there comes a point where there's not much practical difference between being against self-publishing full stop and warning people away from it for practical reasons, especially when the non-practical reasons for wanting to go that route are strong enough to overpower any practical reason someone would avoid self-publishing.
Either way, it leaves the writer who hasn't been able to break into traditional publishing in the same spot. This person will hear you, but without a viable practical alternative between self-publishing, which at least offers the illusion that you might get read, and leaving the book on the hard drive where it's absolutely guaranteed the book will never be read, well, the lack of distribution (I am a former librarian, I understood the distribution issue long before I sent out my first query) is pretty much secondary from the desperate writer's point of view. A slim chance is better than none and all that.
Now, I'm not saying I don't know better. What I am saying is that until there's a better alternative than the three listed above (spending years or decades trying to get traditionally published, self-publishing with no hope of distribution, not trying at all), then it's going to be very hard to talk people out of self-publishing. Vanity publishing, not so much. Most writers I'm acquainted with know better than that.
But without giving them another place to stand, telling someone to stay out of the quicksand isn't much use. That's all I'm trying to say.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 10:43 pm (UTC)You're trying to warn people away from self (or vanity, which I know we both agree isn't the same thing) publishing for most types of books (including fiction), because just because you have a book in hand doesn't mean you have the distribution for it. Is this correct? I understand and agree with that on a practical level.
However, there comes a point where there's not much practical difference between being against self-publishing full stop and warning people away from it for practical reasons, especially when the non-practical reasons for wanting to go that route are strong enough to overpower any practical reason someone would avoid self-publishing.
Either way, it leaves the writer who hasn't been able to break into traditional publishing in the same spot. This person will hear you, but without a viable practical alternative between self-publishing, which at least offers the illusion that you might get read, and leaving the book on the hard drive where it's absolutely guaranteed the book will never be read, well, the lack of distribution (I am a former librarian, I understood the distribution issue long before I sent out my first query) is pretty much secondary from the desperate writer's point of view. A slim chance is better than none and all that.
Now, I'm not saying I don't know better. What I am saying is that until there's a better alternative than the three listed above (spending years or decades trying to get traditionally published, self-publishing with no hope of distribution, not trying at all), then it's going to be very hard to talk people out of self-publishing. Vanity publishing, not so much. Most writers I'm acquainted with know better than that.
But without giving them another place to stand, telling someone to stay out of the quicksand isn't much use. That's all I'm trying to say.