Self-publish, or perish!

Lots of new and self-published authors making the news recently. In the last two days, both E.L. James and Shadonna Richards on TV interviews describing their particular route to success. They are the authors of Fifty Shades of Grey and An Unexpected Bride, respectively: two books that are selling up a storm despite the absence of a major traditional publishing house. Of course, one must remember that for every such success we do hear about, there are so many thousands more that don't make it, but still, it is most encouraging to see new authors strike out on their own - usually after hundreds of agent and publisher rejections. 

Now of course, the key question is: are such books rejected because the agent or publisher does see the potential in the book, and the money it could make, but not the fit with their particular brand? Or, are they rejected because of a lack of insight or vision or being put off by the cover and/or genre or having read only the first 10-20 pages? At Evergreen Umbrella, we think it is the latter, not least because any agent or publisher who sees dollar signs is never going to walk away from them. Yes, we can hear the bleating that books are a very subjective affair and that one man's (or woman's!) meat is another's murder, but when we are talking about a piece of work that has seen 100 or more rejections suddenly selling millions of copies? J.K. Rowling. Kathryn Stockett. Amanda Hocking. Shadonna Richards. E.L. James. Women, one and all. A coincidence perhaps, and surely just a few well known examples, among many others. 

Another question is whether one should even bother with an agent, anymore? They appear to be a dying breed, or one only relevant to already established literary stars. Ditto the actual publishing houses, who are in more or less the same position, precariously sitting on the thin fence between the old and the new. While the new continues to encroach on their territory and eat away at their revenues, sending them running scared into the memories of the good old (i.e. bad old) days. 

Those are my thoughts this morning, and I would love to hear comments from anyone who would like to respond. We can be found at www.evergreenumbrella.com and on our FB page. In the meantime, I wish everyone a great afternoon! - Kevin Mc