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My book club chose our latest novel because: (1) the author is an acquaintance of one of our members and (2) the Amazon rating is 4.5 stars, based on about 150 reviews.
While the book was fast-paced and the character development was wonderful, the plot had a few gaping holes, which really bothered us. Several unanswered questions and less-than-believable twists in the plot left me wondering, “Who published this?”
Aha... Self-published.
This is the author’s fourth novel, but the first that is self-published. Others were handled by the small imprint of a major house.
It may change, but self-publishing still carries an arguably justified stigma of questionable quality. On average, traditional publishing has set high standards through their editorial review and input. Selecting work that upholds those standards is a major part of publisher’s added value in the book industry. While still enjoyable, the novel my book club read could have been much better with the input of a truly critical and constructive reader, a start-to-finish professional editor. (How the Amazon rating reached 4.5/5, I’m not sure… a combination of loyal fans, friends, and less discerning readers?)
While I don’t know why this particular book went the self-publishing route, self-publishing is becoming more tempting and more common. The pay structure seems better (authors can collect 70% of sales vs. 25% of digital sales or 7 to 12% of list price) and authors have more control.
Well-known authors and even literary agencies are turning to it. The
NY Times recently ran a front-page article:
Authors Turn to A New Publisher They Trust: Themselves (April 17, 2013). As a service to its authors, ICM Partners has announced that it will ‘self-publish’ some of its clients, including best-selling author David Mamet (
Glengarry Glen Ross), who says it’s because “nobody ever does the marketing they promise.”
Is self-publishing heading towards 'agent-publishing'? Many agents are former editors. They may attempt to fill the mid-market space with a higher average. Whether they can successfully distribute and sell books, or make authors ‘discoverable’ remains to be seen. (Using Pulitzer-prize winning authors helps.)
Not one member of my group realized our selection was self-published. This points to a challenge for publishing houses: how to use their brand name to appeal to readers. Like Ferragamo shoes, or Ruth’s Chris steakhouse, in an increasingly crowded marketplace, buyers yearn for a mark of quality. Think Community College vs. Harvard; Uncle Vinny's Deli vs. Nobu. Coming soon: big cover logos on books from big publishers.
If publishing companies rise to the challenge, maybe next time my book club will ask "Who published it?" before selecting the next book to read.
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Photo Credit: Magnus Manske
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We dined at one of the most respected French restaurants in New York City last week. After the main course, a woman pushing a two-tiered cart laden with cheeses arrived. “I am the commis de trancheur. Which cheeses would you care for?”
The ‘commis de what?’ We decided not to ask.
“A Brie, a Cheddar and a Blue, thank you.” My mother-in-law pointed as she spoke.
“We do not have a Brie. That is a Boursault, produced by Grathdale Valley Farm in Vermont. It is made from cows milk. The Guernsey cows are milked only once per day, and fed organic Bahiagrass laced with millet, sorghum, and clover. They add a touch of oat grain and rye. It is produced in small batches and procured only by the finest establishments. The farm is renowned for...” And on it went, for each new cheese we tried to select.
She lost me at Bahiagrass. And she never described the taste.
This pronouncement of facts by a waitress with a fancy French label supplanted our status as ‘welcome guests’ or even ‘diners who want cheese.’ We became ‘ignorant peasants in need of education.’
Is this what research-happy authors do to readers sometimes? Condescend, prove ourselves, or slip in one more fact, while ignoring the central plot point?
Just because you’re enjoying a meal, does not mean you want a lecture on the entire recipe. Research details, like herbs, should be carefully plucked, washed and chopped to support the plot.
Our cheese waitress left a bad taste in my mouth, like a spoiled sauce. With a similar feel from other servers, my emotional connection was fractured. I wouldn’t return, or recommend it. It was a reminder to me not to treat readers this way. Like restaurants, authors can depend on ‘word of mouth’ marketing as a key to success.
How to do it is another question. How do you keep the details in check? Have you ever found an author who put you off so much that you wouldn’t read them again, or you actively recommend against them? If so, why?
Editorial rejection has infected me like a demotivating virus. I have let it drive me from my office, until I rummaged in cupboards for Tylenol, tea bags and re-organization projects.
My ‘
giraffe’ manuscript has languished for a few months. I know I should send out the manuscript to several new and different editors. Yet, I have had trouble pulling it out of the file drawer. It’s like my giraffe has entwined itself among the hanging files and is holding the drawer shut. I know if I coax him out, we may be able to find him a home. If he stays in the drawer, well...
that’s a sad way for a giraffe to go.
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Optimism Search and Recovery??
(Photo by EPO: Wikimedia) |
This is a notoriously subjective business. I have not tried hard enough and I will keep at it. Options include: smaller, independent publishers, agents, conference opportunities. I'm simply looking for ways to recover my optimism. I take heart in the success of other writers, especially my fellow Paper Waiters -- well done Robin and Brianna!
Anybody have ‘resurrection after rejection’ stories they want to share? How do you manage rejection? How quickly do you come back at it?
Keep your plot unpredictable. Easy for you to say… I picked up a great tip on this recently. Use your critique partners – not just for review, but for breaking through plot bottlenecks.
Try this exercise: set the stage (your MC had a huge fight with her best friend), and ask your critique partners what might happen.
Wait for the first answer (she storms off and refuses totalk?) and avoid this at all costs: the predictable plot.
Delve deeper, seek alternatives. Brainstorm more answers with your partner. Does your MC tell other friends her side of the story, so that the basketball team shows its divided loyalties? Maybe. Does she cry on a badboy’s shoulder – the badboy her friend has crush on? Or maybe she’s so upset, she steals her father’s car to get as far away from the fight as possible… What happens then? Where does she go? That’s what everyone wants to know and where you should drive your plot.
You’re the writer, the creator, the omniscient presence, the grown-up. You drive. Drive your main character crazy. Test her, push her, force her to learn through doing, just like real life.
Remember: “Your main character is not your best friend.” You are not only allowed to put this ‘person’ into uncomfortable situations, you are supposed to. That’s your job.
Keep at it: tease, challenge and frustrate your characters. That’s when you’ll see what they’re really about. At some point you’ll be able to take your hands off the wheel and let them lead you on their journey of self-discovery and change.
Then you’ll have arrived at an interesting story.
I tossed my ‘giraffe’ in the air…the rhyming manuscript about which I was so excited went off, exclusively, to two carefully chosen editors.
A month or two later, I had heard nothing; I assumed nothing.
As happens in this industry, it turns out that editor number one, for whom I had high hopes, left the publisher two weeks after I emailed her. Editor number two has sent no reply. Nearly three months have passed since I submitted.
I need to follow up so that I can forward the manuscript to other editors. How should this be handled? While I am out of luck with editor number one, is it as if the manuscript dissolved in cyberspace? Or do I have a responsibility to follow up with that publisher? Editors move frequently. What is the standard practice with manuscripts left unresolved upon that editor's departure?
With editor number two, I have a picayune protocol question: since I submitted by snail mail (as required) must I also follow-up by snail mail? Or can I shoot an email?
Rejection protocol. I know many of you have been through this before. Thanks in advance for your advice.
In our village in Ireland this summer, a 58 foot fin whale swam into our harbor, settled in to a corner where shore meets pier and rested in shallow water. The chest-high cement wall along the pier overflowed with villagers craning their necks to see over and down towards the water below.
With her nose into the apex of cement walls, able to submerge just inches beneath the surface, she rose and blew, spraying seawater from her blowhole and puffing every few minutes. It was a fascinating spectacle. How often can you watch a whale, and see its face, with protruding gray balls for eyes, and a white horseshoe mouth bigger than my kitchen, up close, for hours on end?
Sadly, it was soon apparent that our whale friend was not well.
Muddy red water let everyone know that Fineena, (Irish for ‘beautiful child’, the name dubbed her by locals) was bleeding internally. No one, not the veterinarian, the whale specialist, nor the fishermen could help. This was real life, not a children’s story. Fineena lay ill for three days before dying, enduring tidal shifts which left her slick black skin half exposed above the water, scratched ragged from a gale-force storm which tossed her helplessly against the cement pier and rocky bottom. Simultaneously macabre and inspirational, from a writer’s point of view, I wonder where I should take this story. Children’s reactions were as varied as their accents. One teenage boy broke into tears. Others watched wide-eyed with obvious questions. Some just accepted it, with “That’s nature.” Can I use this emotive experience to write a happy picture book ending for Fineena? Can I use the powerful death scene I witnessed in a middle grade novel and how? Her behavior brings up so many questions and infinite story possibilities. Why did she choose our village as her final resting place? Why not the shallow creek where the seal colony lives, or another of the limitless, uninhabited coves nearby? Fineena swam past hundreds of boats with low keels, their thick-roped moorings stretching from the water’s surface to the bay floor, creating an underwater maze. How did she manage to cause no damage? Why was she so determined – was it something about the echo of human voices across the water? I wrote my initial impressions as the story unfolded. When I look back at that draft, I am struck by the richness of detail and emotion, and authenticity. The voice, using the point of view of the whale, is much more powerful than my remote efforts. So writers, you’ve heard it before: write it down, right away! Take copious notes. It matters. Readers will feel it. I don’t yet know what my final choice will be for the story, but it feels like a story worth sharing.
To follow up Judy’s previous post, Fiction Matters, some experts argue that stories shape our cultural and moral conscience. In a Wall Street Journal blog, Jonathan Gottschall asserted that fiction can help ‘bring on war (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”) or rapid social change’ (“Will and Grace” and the liberalization of attitudes towards homosexuality).
Stories help the brain learn and identify emotional truths that can be elusive in our own lives. Repeated fictional images render sights and situations more familiar, less frightening, even routine. Fiction is powerful.
Images of the Aurora shooter, mimicking the famous Batman character the Joker are disturbing. While his incomprehensible actions probably have more to do with seeking glory through publicity than fictional ‘inspiration’ (see this thought provoking segment with noted forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz) the link to a fictional story is tragically, orange-ly obvious.
As a society we are increasingly inured to violence in fiction and reality, even weary on occasion. Are writers (fiction, non-fiction, journalist, content provider, etc.) responsible in part for this societal degeneration?
Stories, even horrific stories, often NEED to be told. There is a great benefit to others who have been victimized, in cases such as bullying or abuse. Children especially can benefit from stories such as The Ugly Duckling and Go Ask Alice. But the subject, content and nuance are choices of the writer. How should a writer handle issues of extreme and inhuman behavior? How can we write interesting bad guys without glorifying them?
Children should not become ‘weary’ of violence. It should not be routine, familiar and less frightening through fiction (of course, age appropriate still applies). The bad guy should not be the ‘coolest’ character in the story. How can we lift our writing, especially for children, so that they lift us as a society? I do not seek a return to saccharine, preachy tales that bore us even as we write. It is a challenge to keep the focus on good characters who are strong enough, complex enough, and cool enough to dominate the story.
If fiction can shape our group consciousness, can we as fiction writers encourage its betterment? We can help people to understand themselves and their relationships more deeply. In her blog, Author Libba Bray argues for more compassion, more random acts of kindness, on a personal and a professional level. Maybe if we writers can, as Libba Bray reflects, ‘respond to the world with as much love and understanding as we can personally muster’ we can prevent one kid from being ‘inspired’ to a senseless and inhumane act.
When I came across this article about writing rooms of famous men in the
Art of Manliness, I couldn’t resist a peek.
The article includes movie-worthy libraries and studies of authors as famous as Rudyard Kipling, William F. Buckley, Norman Mailer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a few other notable names. Roald Dahl’s space is such a welcome surprise, I have to share it with you. You can even explore his hut
here, through the Roald Dahl museum.
I envy book-walled studies-cum-libraries, finding them soothing and intriguing. Such a collection of classic novels, well-bound references, historical essays and philosophical tomes must confer greatness to a writer in their midst. Right?
I can't help comparing my own space to these (or to the beautiful layouts in the Pottery Barn catalogue for that matter). My shelves are not picturesque. My desk is less so, with works-in-progress competing for desk space with bills, magazines, school forms, etc. Roald Dahl’s unique space is an inspiration, and a reminder that less can be more. Rows and rows of books – not necessary. Sparse solitude worked wonders for him. I wouldn't call it 'manly', but then again, his hut certainly isn’t feminine, not that it matters. Mostly, his space was well-defined, and well-used. He was so focused on his work that he often kept the curtain closed. No distractions. Oh that my space was so conducive to productivity. Of all those wonderful writing rooms, I aspire to his. Which room do you aspire to? What about your office -- how do you see your writing space?
This year I have made progress on several projects, although I haven’t written as much as I intended. As the summer looms, and the inevitability of children rushing through my house all day approaches, I realize I will get even less done each day than I do now. How can I write more, and write it faster?
Many authors measure their progress in words per day. This doesn’t seem to work for me. I need to be a more ‘effective writer.’
Here’s what I need to work towards:
1. Plan. Outline. Draw a mind map. Looking ahead can save a lot of looking back and rewriting.
2. Separate writing from editing. Effective writers WRITE, without looking back. Just get through the first draft, not the first chapter. Edit through the dross and the good stuff in a second stage. (This is a biggie for me.)
3. Write every day, even just a little. Just one more page keeps the story moving forward. Over a year, a page a day is a novel’s first draft. (Reportedly, Stephen King writes even on Christmas Day. Wow. What discipline.)
4. Finish what was started. Don’t let good ideas rest in peace in the file cabinet. Resurrect them! Complete what was once a passionate and inspirational project.
5. Set deadlines. Deadlines demand a finished piece. (This is one of the many things a critique group is good for.)
6. Write first. Volunteer last. Instead of structuring free time around, say, school library volunteer work, and squeezing in writing, structure time around writing. Give up other activities and give in to the dream of writing. Then a book I write might appear in the library.
Summer, with frequent interruptions (whether children, visitors, or vacations) can be a tough time to be productive. But if I try, maybe I will make more progress than I expect.
How do you keep productive? Any tips?
In my last post I suggested that it might be “easier to juggle giraffes than to sell a rhyming picture book manuscript” (see “
Giraffe Juggling”). That’s still true, but at the moment, I feel like I’ve caught a giraffe and am bracing myself for the toss.
The latest critique of my rhyming PB manuscript left me stymied by a new question: “Have you thought about where you might submit this?” Submit? Really?
Immersed in meter, plot and my thesaurus, I had resolved not to consider next steps. I consulted the wonderful resources you readers suggested (thank you!), and revised, revised, revised. And, surprise -- the manuscript earned a thumbs up from my critique partners.
I am thrilled to see light at the end of the revision tunnel. Admittedly, the manuscript is needs tweaks, but they feel manageable. Today, my efforts to hone this craft made a difference and lifted me to a new level of confidence. I’m not juggling yet, but at least the giraffe is within my grasp. I know this is just the beginning of a confidence-deflating process (ah, rejections) but still, I'm looking forward to launching that giraffe skyward. So this is my way of encouraging all you frustrated writers out there: Keep at it! You can catch a giraffe too.
As I revise my rhyming picture book manuscript, advice on writing echoes in my thoughts: “Don’t do it. The rhyme has to be perfect. You have a better chance of juggling giraffes than selling a rhyming manuscript.”
Yet it attracts me. I love to read rhymes aloud, from Dr. Seuss to Mother Goose. Rhymes are texts I remember, from
Good Night Moon to
The Gruffalo. My feet tap and my head bops when I read
Barnyard Dance or
Jazz Baby. My kids don’t think of Shel Silverstein’s books as poetry, they think of them as fun. Good rhyme is timeless.
And despite the alarm bells, good rhyme is good business.
And there’s the rub: can I write a
good rhyme?
I can, at least, try. And I can’t help myself – it is fun. Some of the mechanical details are lost in my high school memory fog: poetic rules for slants, accents, structure and form. Any suggestions on favorite poetic resources would be appreciated.
I read my stanzas aloud and I know that the rhyme must flow as naturally as dialogue, it must not be forced, and each verse must serve the purpose of the story, moving the plot forward. Knowing however is not always the same as doing. I’m going to try anyway. If anyone has any good tips on giraffe juggling, that would be appreciated. What resources do you use to help you hone this irresistible craft? Do you have any success stories about juggling giraffes (ok, or writing)?
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By: Julie Whelan,
on 2/24/2012
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Writing conferences stimulate my creativity, so I try get to at least one every year. But in recent years, market reviews were so discouraging -- fewer publishers acquiring fewer books for fewer bookstores -- I left wondering about my choice of profession.
The SCBWI Winter Conference in January was different. The air bubbled with fresh optimism and renewed enthusiasm (amid familiar cautions, of course).
GOOD NEWS
- The children’s market is ‘very robust’ (Ken Wright, Agent, Writers House). Kids are still reading real books (Chris Richman, Agent, Upstart Crow Literary).
- Imprints for YA have increased in the last three years (Regina Brooks, Founder and President, Serendipity Litereary Agency, LLC)
- MG is the new YA (Regina Brooks) with rising popularity and market potential. YA and MG will continue to grow.
- Picture Books are ‘alive and well’ (Nancy Paulsen, Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin). Digital books, so far, seem to be an incremental purchase rather than a cannibalistic one. Parents like a book which is already on their bookshelf, and buy a digital copy for travel purposes.
- Non-fiction is underestimated (Ken Wright). National Geographic and Discover are doing more, and make NF commercial enough for Barnes & Noble. A number of NF titles have appeared in the National Book Award lists.
TRENDS- The Best Seller Mentality: traditional publisher’s lists are narrower and more focused. They want the books they publish to do very well, theoretically translating to more support for those titles and authors.
- Differences between genres will blur as writers seek new and fresh material. (Ginger Knowlton, Agent, Curtis Brown LTD)
WORRIES - Amazon: Is it a big bully? ‘Discoverability’ is a problem here.
- Transmedia: How will digital evolution continue to change and impact books? Again, ‘discoverability’ can be difficult in the digital world. New devices generate a need for new content, but beware smaller margins and fierce competition. As kids inherit digital devices from their parents, what effect will this have?
- Continued consolidation of the traditional bookstore. Where will it end?
The landscape is becoming more defined, and more certainty enables the market to move forward. Publishers have mostly stopped merging and wringing their hands. E-books, digital devices and self-publishing are part of the future, but are now more tangible and predictable. Personally, I write MG fiction (as well as PBs), so I was pleased to hear MG is ‘the new YA’, and note that many editors list it as one of their needs. Now I have to use my conference-inspired enthusiasm to follow up with those agents and editors who said it. What’s your feel about the children’s market? Do you agree or disagree? Any good news to share?
If you find that you need to ‘butter someone up’, or wonder if the elderly man is ‘as old as the hills’, at ‘death’s door’, or about to ‘bite the dust’, you are thinking in biblical terms. Surprised? I was.
The Bible is a masterpiece of authoring and editing. Culturally so ingrained, often we don’t realize we are referring to it. Consider some of the phrases the Bible introduced into our lexicon:
• Turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6)
• Apple of my eye (Deuteronomy 32:10)
• The root of the matter (Job 19:28)
• The skin of my teeth (Job 19:20)
• Fell flat on his face (Numbers 22:31)
• Pour out your heart (Psalms 62:8)
• Wits’ end (Psalm 107:27)
• From time to time (Ezekiel 4:10)
• Blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14)
• Scum of the earth (1 Corinthians 4:12-14)
National Geographic has just highlighted these and other fascinating insights in its December 2011 issue.
With re-readable plots and subplots, a balance of dialogue and description, and a thread that pulls the story from beginning to end, the original Bible text was, in some cases, inscribed on papyrus. Notwithstanding those tedious chapters on lineage, and even with divine inspiration, how do you pull that off in a draft or two?
In addition to the Greek and Hebrew-speaking authors, Latin and English translators (e.g., default editors) deserve some credit. Under King James I in England, the well-known English translation was first produced more than 400 years ago. And today, over 100 million Bibles are sold or given away each year.
Since to everything there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1), Thanksgiving seems an appropriate time to stand in awe (Psalms 4:4) of the writers and editors of the Bible.Happy Thanksgiving!
Amazon is publishing 122 books (electronic and print) this fall, and 'aggressively wooing' some top authors, reports The New York Times. The New Republic says “writers should embrace Amazon’s takeover of the publishing industry.”
While playing down Amazon’s market power in its newly assumed role as publisher in addition to retailer, one Amazon executive noted that “the only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and the reader.” And Amazon?
Amazon Publishing is a new market opportunity for writers, and can be seen as a force for necessary change in the industry. Amazon’s willingness to share the Nielsen Bookscan sales data with authors has other publishers following suit.
On the other hand, concerns have arisen: will Amazon Publishing add editorial value or will it be a glorified vanity publisher, loosing an avalanche of slush pile dross? What about those ‘unnecessary’ people like agents and editors? What of books from traditional publishers sold through Amazon: could they be quietly buried on the site if they compete with Amazon's own titles?
To manage it’s group of six imprints Amazon has hired ‘well-regarded’ professionals including former agent and former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, Laurence Kirshbaum, and Ed Park, author of the ‘acclaimed novel’ Personal Days, and previously editor of The Believer and The Village Voice.
Several well-known authors are signing on, including self-help author Tim Ferriss and reportedly, actress and director Penny Marshall. Businessweek notes that thriller writer Barry Eisler, who turned down a $500,000 two-book deal with a traditional publisher earlier this year, later signed with Amazon. Eisler was swayed, at least in part, by Amazon’s ability to publish an e-book version and a paperback within a matter of days, both at cheaper prices than the traditional house’s practice of charging print prices for e-books. “What I care about is readers, because without readers I can’t make a living… If I can find a way to get readers books that cost less and are delivered better and faster, I want that.”
Sounds good, but what about less recognized authors? Will worthy authors, and in turn readers, get lost in a wave of low quality text? Will Amazon ensure the same credibility as traditional publishing houses?
What effect will Amazon's increasing dominance have on our industry?
Sometimes I am so entrenched in mothering-mode, I forget that I’m a writer.
At yet another flag-rugby practice, my daughter chatted happily to a teammate. The coach called out familiar instructions: “Stay in your lane. Move forward. Pass backwards!” At six feet plus, he towered above the children and his words soared over their heads.
I sympathized with the coach. Fifteen five-year-olds moved in thirty directions as he tried to line them up. Why couldn’t they listen?
As a mother, I was mildly bored and glad that I was not in charge. The children were not my problem. Then I remembered: my motherly boredom translated to a writing opportunity. I watched the scene from my child’s perspective.
My daughter pointed at a newly acquired, glittery turtle tattoo on her arm. A teammate reached out to touch it. The teammate told a joke while jumping in place, making my daughter’s smile wide enough to display the gap of her missing bottom teeth.
“Line up!” her coach shouted to everyone. “Stay in your lane!”
Her new friend wasn’t talking to everyone. He was talking to her.
She was listening. My daughter followed her bouncing friend, turning her back toward the coach. Her giggle made me want to hear her friend’s commentary.
Of course children listen – to what’s important to them. What was more important than a new friend? Certainly not lanes.
My grown-up brain forgets, focusing on important things like instilling approved behavior. As a mother, I often lose my objectivity. As an author, I can’t do that.
It is I who must listen, to instill an authentic voice and a child’s perspective in my work. If I stay tuned in to what’s important, maybe readers will stay tuned in to my writing. Maybe even my children will listen to me…
Do you ever tune out? How do you stay tuned in to the world of children?
(p.s. Though it required the coach’s hand on her shoulder, she did eventually line up, and zig-zagged after the ball. Lanes are hard to learn!)
A lesson learned and to use a cliche, a post to warm the hearts of editors.
I think the only thing we know right now, is the publishing industry is in flux -- and that's rather exciting. And even though we are the writers, not the business people, it's still important to pay attention to the changes that happen. It will be very interesting to see how the self-publishing trend plays out.
so ture!!!!
Hmmm...I think self-publishing has come a long way. Truth is, it's hard to do it right. It takes a team to get a book 'out there' and I think that's where many people who think it's the easy way to publish find out the hard way - that it's not so easy. You essentially need to be editor, cover designer, copy editor, and your own marketing/publicity...and I'm sure I'm leaving some 'hat' out of it. It can be done successfully but it requires more work that just throwing a book together.
I recently 'attended' a webinar by Emma Dryden and it was really eye-opening. There are a LOT of editors who are leaving traditional publishing because they can't take on projects they love - less and less of their time is about editing, and more of it is about number crunching and producing bestsellers. So there are a lot of skilled freelance editors out there who are willing to work with authors who want to self-pub. Does every self-pubbed author go that route? No, but a savvy one would hire an editor to help them.
Bottom line is, I think it's becoming more viable to self-publish but a writer who goes that route really needs to do their homework if they want to put out the best product possible.
Awesome post, Julie!!
From what you are saying about the publishing industry, self-publishing may lose its stigma as editors/agents go off on their own. From my own experience as a newspaper editor, every time I got a call or email from someone self-publishing, I would cringe. Invariably, there was a correlation between bad writing and pushy publicity hunting. Writers who thought somehow that their very ordinary story was unique, or who wanted to leave a legacy for their family and felt that typing it up for their children wasn't good enough.
We never get money for author visits at my school, but occasionally get offers for a free one from self-published authors. One we had was okay. She did a great program, and while her book wasn't a standout, it looked very professional. The kids liked it and the book. The other offer we got for a visit was from an author who had self-published a picture book series. I was asked to arrange a visit. The books were AWFUL. Luckily the visit did not pan out. I was so relieved I would not have to present her. There is nothing worse as a children's librarian than have to promote a book one knows is awful.
On the one hand, it's true that publishing houses are going for the fast money-makers and consolidating at an alarming rate. On the other hand, in a world where the Internet makes even the mediocre writers feel like superstars, a "real" publisher still sifts out the better stuff. I guess.
I am not surprised that the book club could not tell the book was self-published. Ten years ago you could look at the cover and it was apparent--now the design is more sophisticated.