Nine years and nine books ago, I launched Bucking Horse Books. To many, diving into self-publishing seemed a rash decision—especially given the fact that I’d already had more than fifty books published with other publishers. Then again, in 2010 the Great Recession had rendered new book contracts as rare as Big Foot sightings, and it became clear that if I wanted to continue having books published at a reasonable clip, I would have to do it myself.
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One of the fun things about self-publishing is getting to see your books in various stages of printing and binding! |
My
approach to self-publishing has been different than most. Other self-published
children’s book authors have typically gone with a company such as Amazon or
Ingram to print and sell their books on demand. Instead, I took a more
traditional tack. I hired a publisher/distributor to put my books in their
catalog, warehouse them, and fill orders. Everything else was up to me: design,
editing, printing, reviews, advertising—everything.
It’s
been a learning curve.
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4,000 book covers, waiting to be applied! |
One
thing I quickly discovered is that if I didn’t nab at least one or two solid
reviews in top-line journals such as School
Library Journal, Booklist, or Publisher’s Weekly, my book would be
dead on arrival. Fortunately, my reputation from previous books helped my
self-published works continue to receive good reviews. Lesson: if you can’t get
these kinds of reviews on your own, you probably don’t want to self-publish.
Another
thing I learned is that books that stuck to my traditional strengths—science,
nature, and the environment—did better than fiction and other areas that I
wasn’t as well-known for. Of my four self-published novels, two made modest
profits, while two others completely wiped out those meager gains.
Those
results compelled me to focus more on science books, a decision that has paid
off. Three of my last four books have been in this genre and all have not only
made money, but continued to build my science-writing reputation.
Fire Birds: Valuing
Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests earned both Junior Library Guild and NSTA/CBC
Outstanding Science Books selections. Ditto for Hopping Ahead of Climate Change: Snowshoe Hares, Science, and Survival.
Both of these books have won nice awards to boot. My latest, Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes and Bagging Bugs,
is also a NSTA/CBC selection and earned a starred review from Booklist.
Which
leads me to perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned from running Bucking
Horse Books: the books have to look great.
I rarely see a self-published book that doesn’t look amateurish or poorly
made—never mind the quality of the writing. To really make a go of
self-publishing, you have to not only be a top-notch writer, you have to find a
top-notch book designer.
Kathy
Herlihy-Paoli of Inkstone Design designs my books, and hiring her was one of
the best decisions I’ve made. I never stop marveling at the ideas she comes up
with to make each book look sharper and more appealing than the last.
I
also hire freelance editors as needed for my various projects. I can’t claim
that my books always appear error-free, but they compete in quality with almost
everything I see from big name publishers, a fact borne out by reviews, awards,
and other honors.
I
want to point out that for me, self-publishing is just one career tool. I still
submit to and publish a variety of books with other publishers. Which leads to
the question: do I recommend other children’s writers self-publish?
Answer:
only in very specific circumstances.
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Sneed's tenth self-published book, Birds of Every Color, is his first 32-page picture book and will be released this spring. |
If
you do a ton of school visits where you sell your own books, yeah,
self-publishing can make you bigger profits than your paltry ten- to fifty-cent
royalties through traditional publishing channels.
If
you come up with concepts that are ahead of traditional publisher thinking, you
might also want to consider self-publishing. In my career, I have often written
books that publishers just weren’t ready to take on—humorous science books, for
instance, or books about biomes and invasive species. If you believe strongly
in something, then you may just want to take the leap.
Again,
all of this assumes that you can produce books that are just as well-written
and illustrated—and are as well-produced—as books from established New York, Massachusetts,
Maine, and California houses. If not, you’re probably better off continuing to pound
on the doors of other publishers.
At
least until the next recession.
Sneed B. Collard III has written more
than eighty books for young people and adults, and is the recipient of the
Washington Post-Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award for his body of work.
His tenth Bucking Horse Books title, Birds
of Every Color, comes out this March and features photographs by Sneed and
his teenage son, Braden. To learn more about Sneed, his books, and school
visits, explore his website www.sneedbcollardiii.com and the birding blog
by Sneed and his son, www.fathersonbirding.com. You can contact
Sneed directly at collard@bigsky.net.
Thank you for your input. I've self-published a children's book that hasn't earned out yet (due to cost of illustrator) but the experience and learning were worth it.
ReplyDeleteSneed, I met you eons ago at Chautauqua (2006). It's great to see you succeeding with your publishing venture! I plunged into self-publishing with a YA novel (Bound) and it's been great fun, but at the same time, I struggle to get my book into schools and libraries. How did you get your indie book reviewed by Booklist and SLJ? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative post! Good luck Sneed with your future books and thank you Melissa for posting this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this! I had no idea some of your books were self-published. I loved both Firebirds and Hopping Ahead of Climate Change too--fascinating and informative books. Looking forward to the woodpecker one.
ReplyDelete