{"id":427,"date":"2017-12-18T15:08:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/?p=427"},"modified":"2017-12-18T15:08:55","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:08:55","slug":"double-act-hybrid-authors-on-publishing-both-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booksandpublishing.com.au\/independentpublishing\/articles\/2017\/12\/18\/427\/double-act-hybrid-authors-on-publishing-both-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"Double act: Hybrid authors on publishing both ways"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A new breed of hybrid authors are experimenting with self-publishing alongside traditional publishing. Jackie Tang and Andrea Hanke, editors of book industry newsletter <\/em>Books+Publishing<\/a>, spoke to John Birmingham, Judy Horacek and Kylie Scott about their self-publishing ventures.<\/em><\/div>\n

John Birmingham\u2019s self-published novel\u00a0A Girl in Time<\/i>\u2014the first in a near-future, dystopian series that imagines the US under a Trump presidency\u2014was released in December last year.<\/p>\n

The author of bestsellers such as\u00a0He Died with a Felafel in His Hand<\/i>\u00a0and the \u2018Axis of Time\u2019 trilogy said he came to self-publishing after a previous series \u2018tanked for a bunch of reasons I won\u2019t get into\u2019, and suddenly his options for publishing narrowed.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019d been thinking about it for a couple of years, but my agent had always advised me against it,\u2019 he says. \u2018For a few years there, trade publishers were so hostile to the whole thing that there was a good chance of being cut from their list if you ventured out on your own.\u2019 Now, his only regret is not jumping years earlier. \u2018Seriously. I wish I\u2019d done this about five years ago.\u2019<\/p>\n

Birmingham spent six months studying the self-publishing field and learning from the community of indie writers, some of whom had published self-help guides. There were also dozens of podcasts and hundreds of blogs and websites on the subject. \u2018After six months I felt like I\u2019d done a post-grad degree in self-publishing. It was hugely helpful.\u2019<\/p>\n

Birmingham\u2019s next step was to take a couple of novellas he\u2019d written for his trade publishers and put them out himself, applying the lessons he\u2019d learned. \u2018The whole process worked exactly as advertised,\u2019 he says. \u2018Best of all, it was entirely transparent. I knew when I\u2019d sold a book within an hour, at most a day, and sixty days later that money dropped into my bank account. It was a thousand miles removed from the opaque mystery of publisher accounting. All of a sudden I had an actual business that I could run as a business because I controlled and understood every step of the process.\u2019<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge, says Birmingham, was being responsible for everything. \u2018So when my cover artist has a problem that needs fixing right away, I\u2019m on email at four in the morning because he lives in Dublin.\u2019<\/p>\n

Birmingham says his experience as a traditionally published author helped him to understand the importance of editing and pre-production. \u2018There can be no skimping there. If you don\u2019t invest in editing, proofing, art, layout and so on, it will show and you\u2019ll lose sales.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Having said that, I also understood my own writing well enough after being edited for so long that I could choose where to concentrate my resources. In my case that meant more on copyediting than structural.\u2019<\/p>\n

Birmingham originally released\u00a0A Girl in Time\u00a0<\/i>as ebook-only but has since engaged NewSouth Books to do some small print runs and distribution. \u2018I work with them as my conventional nonfiction publisher [NewSouth published\u00a0How to Be a Writer<\/i>] and they\u2019re great. If I can make the sums work on a print run, I\u2019d be happy to give them that business too. For now, however, I just do print on demand for my longer indie titles\u00a0Girl\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Stalin\u2019s Hammer<\/i>.\u2019<\/p>\n

When asked whether he thinks trade publishers still bear \u2018ill feelings\u2019 towards indie publishers, Birmingham says: \u2018Honestly, yes. Although a couple of indie authors have been gathered up by trade publishers with great success on both sides, mostly the trade sees the indie writer as a vanity published loser. They look at the vast numbers of genuinely awful books being published by indies and dismiss the entire sector as hapless jokes. But of course, trade puts out its own share of terrible shit, and the best of the indie writers are getting better with every release.\u2019<\/p>\n

Self-portrait<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was no particular trigger that led cartoonist and children\u2019s book creator Judy Horacek to self-publishing. \u2018I\u2019ve always worked freelance, and that involves a fair bit of DIY in terms of getting work out there\u2014finding new places to put cartoons. So self-publishing fits well with the way I\u2019ve always gone about things,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

Horacek\u2019s previous cartoon book\u00a0If You Can\u2019t Stand the Heat <\/i>was published by Scribe in 2010. \u2018I\u2019d accrued a lot of new work since then, and it seemed to be high time for a new book. I thought now might be a good time to see what it was like to have total control.\u2019<\/p>\n

Horacek describes her experience of self-publishing\u00a0Random Life<\/i>, which is due out in July, in one word: busy. \u2018It is quite overwhelming to be responsible for absolutely everything yourself, from the tiniest speck on the manuscript to the raison d\u2019\u00eatre of the entire book.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The designer of\u00a0Random Life<\/i>, Fiona Edge, who is also a friend, was an amazing help with managing the whole project, but there was no getting away from the fact that Judy was having to tell Judy she had to meet some deadline or other so that Judy could get on with the next bit to allow Judy to do something else.\u2019<\/p>\n

Horacek says she loved being able to change her mind about things along the way. \u2018The craziest example of this is that about a fortnight before it was due at the printers, the final choice of cartoons was all seeming a bit squeezed and I decided the book should have an extra 32 pages. I had more cartoons, why not use them? Now the book is a lovely chunky 256 pages, with over 230 cartoons.\u2019<\/p>\n

The project began as a crowdfunding campaign, which meant that Horacek had already pre-sold a lot of copies before the book went to print. She says it gave her not only the funds to create the book but also the confidence to continue\u2014\u2018because people were excited by the idea of a new Horacek cartoon book\u2019.<\/p>\n

Her plans for distribution, she admits, were initially vague\u2014\u2018along the lines of doing a smallish print run and distributing the books myself to the bookshops I knew\u2019. \u2018But as things progressed, it became obvious my distribution plan wasn\u2019t ideal, and someone suggested that I talk to Black Inc. I hadn\u2019t known that they distribute books published by other people, as well as their own wonderful publications, and it seemed like a brilliant fit. I was delighted when they took\u00a0Random Life <\/i>under their wing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Horacek\u2014who has 16 traditionally published cartoon and picture books under her belt\u2014says she could not have produced\u00a0Random Life<\/i>\u00a0without all her industry experience, but still found herself on a \u2018steep learning curve\u2019. \u2018There are so many details to be on top of, and so many different deadlines to meet,\u2019 she says. \u2018I\u2019ve always loved working with editors\u2014it\u2019s such a treat to have someone working alongside you to make the book the best it can be\u2014I missed having that. That said, I think I did quite a good job of it myself.\u2019<\/p>\n

Whether Horacek continues on the hybrid path is still up in the air. \u2018I definitely don\u2019t want to stop publishing with proper publishers,\u2019 she says. \u2018I think my picture books will always be done through mainstream publishers. At this stage, my next cartoon book could go either way.\u2019<\/p>\n

Playing the field<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bestselling romance author Kylie Scott is one of several traditionally published Australian authors making the leap into self-publishing YA, with new titles from Ellie Marney and Alison Croggon also in the works.<\/p>\n

Scott, whose previous books including the \u2018Stage Dive\u2019 and \u2018Dive Bar\u2019 adult romance series (Macmillan), will be releasing her first YA\/new-adult novel\u00a0Trust<\/i>\u00a0in print and digital formats in mid-July after her publisher turned it down.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was always interested in self-publishing and since this isn\u2019t part of an existing series, this was a good opportunity to try it out,\u2019 says Scott. \u2018I wanted to write the story that was speaking to me and it just happened to be YA. But it involves more somewhat descriptive sex than the average YA and explores universal themes that adults can relate to, so I\u2019m confident adult readers will enjoy the read too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Scott says the most rewarding part of self-publishing is having complete control over everything. But it can also be the most challenging. \u2018Any mistakes rest solely with me,\u2019 she observes. Before embarking on the experience, Scott sought advice from fellow authors, her agent Amy Tannenbaum from Jane Rotrosen Agency and former Momentum publisher Joel Naoum, who now runs Critical Mass, a consultancy for authors, publishers and content producers.<\/p>\n

Scott says she envisions a hybrid career. \u2018I enjoy traditional publishing and plan to continue that partnership but self-publishing offers an element of freedom that I also enjoy\u2019, including \u2018the ability to release [a book] quickly and pick my own price\u2019.<\/p>\n

Advice to authors considering a hybrid model<\/strong><\/p>\n