I recently read the following book by a favorite musician of mine: Drinking WIth Strangers by Butch Walker. I'm not someone with an interest or even an iota of talent in music -- at all. I think I'm tone deaf, I sing off key, etc. My maternal grandmother was a professional singer in the 1930 and 40's, did big bands, vaudeville, had demo records, the whole bit. (She was pushed into performing, though, so the second she married my grandfather she left that business and never ever looked back.) But that gene, that talent, neatly skipped over both my mom and myself.

But I really enjoyed Butch Walker's music, including songs he wrote or produced for others, and he seemed like an interesting and intellectual individual based on his Twitter feed and blog. So I checked the book out from the library and devoured it in a few days. The stories were great, and I could strongly relate to Walker's attitude with the music industry. For I feel that the publishing industry is the same way.

For years, I've felt that self-publishing -- which people also call "vanity publishing" -- has had a shitty rap.

True confession: PIT is self-published (SP). It always has been. I tell people that I write "print on demand" or use a "small independent publisher." These facts are technically true. But because SP has such a bad mainstream rap, I hesitate to use the term and call it like it is. I can almost see the thought process of people.

Before Knowing I'm SP: OMG, you're published! That's so awesome!

After Knowing I'm SP: Oh…you are a talentless hack who can only publish by paying a lot of money.

I'm generalizing, but I know that I had these same thoughts when I'd meet Real Authors…and then my opinion of them and their work would change 100% once I found out that they got their stories out in this way. It made them seem kind of…sad and talentless.

Why did I do it, then? After college, I did the whole "query letter" thing, only to get form letter after form letter. This went on for a year. Networking has never ever been my strong point; in fact, I pretty much suck at it. One day, while at a Barnes & Noble, I saw a flyer about the publisher (iUniverse) and checked it out. I had a little bit of money I could use to invest in publishing. I discussed it with friends and family. I decided to do it because I felt the one thing holding me back wasn't that I was a talentless hack. (I've written stories for fun since I was 9, and pretty much been told since then by scores of people -- including other writers -- that I have what it takes. Either everyone has lied to me or I do have genuine talent.) No, I felt that I would put my money where my mouth is; I thought it was good, I thought it would speak to others and entertain them, so I would invest my own money as a demonstration of my confidence.

To me, SP was no different than an artist funding his own gallery show. No different than a filmmaker charging up credit cards to make her independent movie. No different than a musician paying for studio time to cut his own CD. Those are all incredibly respected ways to spread and share talent and art; why is SP looked down upon?

How is publishing your own book so different from that?

The pros of SP are 100% creative control over your product. For me, a writer who is very hands-on, this was the ideal. I could choose what went in the book and was out. I helped determine the back text, the appearance. I paid -- out of my own pocket -- for the cover art, which I had commissioned by professional artists (who were also old friends…yay for networking!). Few people know that I didn't have to do that with my cover art; the publisher covers that part from artists in their company without my needing to spend a dime. But I didn't want my "vision" and my baby to be anything less than what I wanted. Not if I was investing my own money.