Weekly Writers: Self Publishing Is Not New
"Everybody's doin' it, doin' it, doin' it"
Here’s the Weekly Writers Monday post. Thanks to my paid subscribers, this post is open to everyone.
Self Publishing Is Not New
Although modern technology has made it easier than ever, so that we no longer have to hand-crank pages in our dining room as Virginia Woolf did, self publishing is not a new phenomenon. It was used by many famous authors, sometimes for their classic works – which would never have been seen by the world and become classics in the first place if they hadn’t been self-published.
Jane Austen paid for the first print run of Sense & Sensibility, which is why they said “PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR” on the title page. She was investing in her own writing, and took the financial risk if it failed. (Luckily it made her a substantial profit.)
Beatrix Potter self-published The Tale of Peter Rabbit when traditional publishers refused to do so. They came crawling back to her eventually and published future editions, selling over 20,000 copies in the first year (and apparently over forty million copies since then).
Mark Twain started his own imprint due to frustrations with traditional publishers, and published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. Apparently he had over 40,000 pre-orders of what went on to become one of his most popular books.
Margaret Atwood won awards for her self-published poetry book, Double Persephone.
As mentioned, Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard had their own imprint, Hogarth Press, which published many of her books (and those of other authors). Possibly her most famous book is Mrs. Dalloway (1925), which she self published.
So self publishing isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s part of the literary tradition.
Next week I’ll reveal my tremendous data table that compares all the main aspects of the two main publishing options open to authors in 2023.