Joseph Eugene Green has written five books, two during his
college years. Three have been published. Steven E. Wedel has
published five books.
Traditional publishing has not opened its gilded doors to Green,
who has a bent to the provocative, and some would say,
graphic.
His self-published novel, “Merging with Monsters” opens with six
and a half pages describing a gang rape of a young black woman in a
University of Denver parking garage.
“I can’t believe I left it in the book,” Green says. Green
debated the scene with his mother, who thought it should be left
out.
Green also hoped to capture publisher interest under a working
title, “Invisible Niggers,” one that threw the book’s message into
sharp relief. The work looks at the lives of several employees of a
large software company and the degrees that black, female and
homosexual people are made invisible in the corporate
world.
No one in publishing thought the title should stay, so Green
changed it.
Literary agent Frank Wagner read three chapters. Wagner was the
agent for James Bradley and Ron Powers’ historical memoir “Flags of
Our Fathers.”
“I felt like I’d won the lottery when he read the original three
chapters,” Green said.
The next nibble of interest had a requirement: Finish the
book.
Green did so and Michael Bourret of literary agents Dystel &
Goderich read the final book and spent four years shopping it
around, to no avail.
So Green contacted iUniverse, a division of Barnes and Noble,
and paid a flat fee of $700, on a special, to set up the
book.
The publisher sets up the galleys for printing and only prints
the number of books needed – no overruns, no piles of unsold books
in the writers’ garages and attics.
He heard about it on the Oprah show, while Amy Fischer, the Long
Island Lolita, was pitching her memoir, also on
iUniverse.
“I thought if it was good enough for Oprah, it was good enough
for me,” Green joked.
The book has been available for a year and he thinks he has sold
about 100 copies.
He hopes the self-publishing route can gain attention from
established publishing houses.
Green crashed the Aspen Summer Writers Conference in June, to
hand out copies of “Merging with Monsters.”
With a traditional publisher, a book is marketed to some degree;
although Green points out that big publishing houses spend the
majority of their resources on the writers they feel will make the
biggest impact.
Green is depending on word of mouth or more accurately, word of
mouse, marketing with a friend placing reviews on Bookcrossing.com,
a book swapping site; and reviews on community journalism sites and
several online book review portals including Amazon.com, Web logs,
online forums and rare book dealer Web sites.
Self-publishing also started the paperback revolution, when
Lawrence Ferlinghetti co-founded City Lights Books and two years
later, in 1955, City Lights Press. Ferlinghetti prints books by
many beat authors including Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Diane
DiPrima, Charles Bukowski and William Burroughs. City Lights Press
also prints writers from around the world.
Self-publishing has a partially deserved reputation of being a
tiny market or just bad books, or countercultural topics no
traditional publisher would touch.
While invoking visions of Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalogue
or photocopied punk ‘zines with lurid color covers, self-publishing
has actually allowed books to find success, often netting contracts
for the authors.
“The Joy of Cooking” was originally self-published in 1931.
Other books that got started through self-publishing include
“Celestine Prophecy,” “What Color is Your Parachute?” and
“Eragon.”
Deepak Chopra self-published his first self-improvement book,
“Creating Health.” He sold rights to Crown Publishing and it became
a best seller. John Erickson printed his Hank the Cowdog series of
children’s books that sold to Texas Monthly Press.
Colorado photographer John Fielder founded Westcliffe Publishing
to print his photography and field guide books.
Robert Kiyosaki self-published “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” creating a
million-seller series.
Many print on demand or self-published books have topics that
traditional publishers shy away from. Green’s book takes on
discrimination in the corporate world and the dynamics where one
minority will defend his or her position at the expense of another
minority.
Horror writer Steven E. Wedel also has topics mainstream
publishers avoid.
He published his latest reprint novel, “Shara,” through a small
press, Scrybe Press, which handles 10 authors.
Pitfalls of the small press include late or nonexistent royalty
payments, missed printing deadlines and missed opportunities for
getting a book on bookstore shelves.
“You can walk into Barnes and Noble and ask for my books, and
they will order them,” Wedel said, “but they won’t be on the shelf
unless someone has ordered them.”
Scrybe, like iUniverse, prints on demand. Both sell through most
online book retailers.
“Scrybe is really good at getting me books I need,” Wedel said.
“I can call him up and say ‘I need 20 books for a signing,’ and he
calls Ingram distribution and I get the books.”
Wedel also praises the artists at Scrybe.
“They do gorgeous covers,” he said.
Scrybe has three books of Wedel’s, “Call to the Hunt,” “Murdered
by Human Wolves,” and “Shara.” Wedel also has been published by
Fine Tooth Press and Double Dragon Publishing, which released
“Seven Days in Benevolence” as an e-book.
E-books are purchased at lower prices and printed by the buyer
like any document from a computer.
“No one buys e-books,” Wedel said. “At least no one bought
mine.”
Scrybe is scheduled to release a trade paperback version of
“Seven Days in Benevolence” someday, Wedel said.
“I met the guy who runs Scrybe through the Horror Writers’
Association,” Wedel said. “He released ‘Murdered by Human Wolves’
and it did well, then he re-released ‘Shara’ and it was well
reviewed. That is when the delays started.”
Wedel has not seen a royalty statement in two years. The release
date for “Seven Days in Benevolence” has come and gone, originally
scheduled for October, the horror genre season.
Still, Wedel stays with small presses.
“I think publishers and readers look down on self-published
books,” he said. “Self-publishing has the perception of being what
no one wanted.”