Authors Give Advice Not to Self-Publish
Sparked by a terse online comment from science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, writer Michael Martinez has written a lengthy article about the problems entailed by self publishing a science fiction novel. “It’s easier to write a short story than it is to write a novel,” Martinez notes. “If you learn to write good short stories you’ll find there are more markets for them than there are for your novels. Rack up a few sales in short stories and you’ll have a writing resume that just may get you past the slush pile at every agent and editor’s office.
Science fiction novels have earned a bad reputation through the years. Many critics lament the low quality writing that goes into a lot of the books. Nonetheless some writers like Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Isaac Asimov have broken from the pack to make it into the top best seller lists. In fact, recognizing the popularity of the fantasy and graphic novel genres, the New York Times acknowledges some SF literature but you rarely find the so-called “hard science fiction” books on those or similar lists.
People who aspire to be published, Sawyer and Martinez say, won’t find any shortcuts to the top. It takes hard work, dedication, and a will to succeed. But Martinez also notes that you have to know how to write and write well. Simply putting your words down onto paper isn’t good enough. You have to have good grammar and you should be able to tell a rollicking good tale.
Most importantly of all, he points out, you need to say something new. Merely emulating your favorite books won’t so much as raise an eyebrow in the highly competitive publishing industry. Jaded editors and agents have seen it all before. Rewriting Tolkien or Heinlein may seem like your life’s passion but it won’t come across as very passionate to someone else. If you’re determined to follow your own publishing path, then you’ll have to put together a sound marketing plan. You need to create an audience for your work, Martinez says. Otherwise the best you can hope for is to sell a few dozen copies, and maybe you won’t even sell that many. Self-published authors can get a little help from resources like the Internet Book List, which Martinez started in the Fall of 2000.
