The Responsible Self-Publisher

Most people want to publish their books.  This is true for many writers, and while a work in progress is still a work in progress, I would like to point a few things out.  Writers need to think of their readers.  This is really importatnt for self-publishers.  Here is a true story… my own.

There is something called a responsible self-publisher.  Why do I make this statement?  I used to get many emails about self-publishing a book that contained more writing mistakes than I make!  This lead me to believe that there are many reasons why people look down on self-published books.

There was no real responsibility from the writer.  I looked into this theory deeper, and I looked at some of these books and their reviews on Amazon.  If the book was self-published, and someone took the time to read it, often they would make a comment like: this is a good beginning but I wish they had taken some time to work harder on it.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

This is what these poorly self-published writers were looking at as a goal for their writing.  But they did not look at the options that they have for making money while writing — and editing — and more editing — their books.  It is not simply deciding what looks good, but rather creating what the reader will want to read.  There are a lot of options out there to help you with making money with writing.
As I said, I was a bit dismayed, but I think I’ve learned a lesson when it comes to responsible self-publishing:  people will see you’ve worked hard on what you’ve written, and that means that they will give you another read.

I think that is the key to responsible self-publishing — and a being a responsible self-publisher is to give the reader only your best.