The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

42 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Ask someone to comment on the current state of publish- ing, and you’re likely to get this exclamation: “The industry is dying! There is no future in publishing!” To be sure, the publishing landscape has been turned on its head. Marketing and pricing models have changed tre- mendously with the introduction of e-books, and seamless printing technologies have eliminated the need for inventory and initial print runs. Perhaps most notably, the dynamic self-publishing niche has opened up unique new territory, as well as challenges, for writers and readers alike. A Brave New World “If you were to take all the revenue bundled up in self- publishing, it would be the sixth largest publishing company,” says Arnie Grossblatt, director of the master’s program in publishing at The George Washington University. This type of profit is impressive considering it comes in just behind the “Big 5” powerhouse publishers: Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster. Until relatively recently, publishing a viable, professional- looking publication was really only an option for the most popular authors or the independently wealthy. Today, self- publishing options mean that anyone can be a published writer—whether you are writing a memoir with a limited print run for your extended family or aspiring to a first or second career as an author. Of the 66 books by Foreign Service–related authors in this issue, about half were self- published. Today writers can send their completed manuscript to a print-on-demand vendor and have a physical (or electronic) book in hand quickly, usually within a week. Many POD services will automatically list books on distribution sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. And the best part is that authors no longer need to navigate major business deals and can potentially reap a greater percentage of profit from their work, because they don’t have to share nearly as much of the earnings. The operative word, however, is potentially. True, authors can avoid the costly process of securing agents or sending out manuscripts and waiting for responses that may never come. But because self-publishing allows anyone and every- one to be a writer, the competition for readers increases dramatically. How to Be Discovered “The mere act of getting something self-published is fairly easy,” explains Grossblatt. “What’s difficult is figuring out how you cut through the noise and get discovered.” This, in turn, has a lot to do with utilizing technology effectively. Some of the most successful self-published authors have done well by establishing a strong platform and active social media presence. Young adult author Nikki Kelly enjoyed great success self- publishing her series on Wattpad, one of the largest online reader/writer communities. She was able show agents that she had an existing fan base and proven popularity, and has since secured a three-book deal with Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan. In this case, self-publishing was the catalyst for acceptance by a traditional publisher. AFSA’s popular book, Inside a U.S. Embassy , is a good example of an unusually successful self-published book. AFSA declined a half-dozen offers from publishers in order to maintain the rights and most of the revenue from the book program. At 100,000 copies and still going strong, the book has been a great investment for the association, as well as one of its strongest outreach tools. Sometimes, though, even successful self-published authors don’t make as much money as they initially expected. As Patrick Wensink relates in a March 2013 Salon article, after becoming the sixth bestselling novel in America and being featured in the New Yorker , Time and Forbes , his Broken Piano for President only brought in some $12,000. “Even when there’s money in writing, there’s not much money,” he says. While few authors are likely to earn enough money from book sales to quit their day job, self-published works can serve as a source of secondary income for many. A 2013 survey from Digital Book World reported that of approxi- mately 5,000 respondents, the median income range for self-published authors was about $5,000. The July 2014 Authors Earnings report found that romance, science fic- tion and fantasy categories, in particular, have found great success with self-publishing. Another finding: self-published Self-Publishing: An Up-and-Coming Industry