The Most Awesome Self-Publishing Success Story!

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Hi there! 🙂 Here’s something you might find interesting. It’s the most awesome self-publishing success story I’ve read lately.

But here’s what’s really awesome about it. It didn’t even involve ebooks! Wow!

I dug this up while I was reviewing old episodes from Season One of the Crime Cafe podcast. So, this one comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Except it’s an author’s mouth, not a horse, okay? 🙂 We’re not talking about Mr. Ed or Bo Jackman or Hugh Jackman or BoJack Horseman or Jackass or anyone else.

Anyway, this is an excerpt from my interview with Kenneth Wishnia. So … here it is:

Debbi:  I want to tell you I’ve always being impressed by the fact that you were a self-published author in the pre-Kindle days. Can you talk a little bit about what it was like to publish your hardboiled mysteries before it became so ‘easy’?

Ken: Yes. The world has suddenly changed. My first novel, 23 Shades of Black, was rejected by agents and editors for nine years before I gave up on the notion of commercial publication. It was self- published and nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Anthony Award, so yes, I have a nice asterisk next to my name in the record book for that.

I’ll just say it’s not something I entered into lightly. I really did try several rounds of submissions, and tried to do it right; queried people who I knew published things that I thought would appeal to the same audience, and only sent out manuscripts in response to a specific request for the manuscript. Every now and then, after sending the first three chapters, someone said, “Okay send the rest.” This was the late 1980s; quite some time ago. I’ll just say the rejection letters got nicer as the years went by.

I’ll just say it’s not something I entered into lightly. I really did try several rounds of submissions, and tried to do it right; queried people who I knew published things that I thought would appeal to the same audience, and only sent out manuscripts in response to a specific request for the manuscript.

Debbi:  I know what that’s like.

Ken:  Yes, you do. I polished the work a bit, I was more specific in targeting who I was writing to, but around 1995 or 96 I finally gave up. At that point you actually had to publish a physical book. I went to the Small Press Center in Manhattan to learn about how to do that, and it was advice such as, “You need to print the title and your name on the spine, most books are displayed spine out.” And I’m writing this stuff down. “Have a barcode. Just look professional.”

At that point you actually had to publish a physical book. I went to the Small Press Center in Manhattan to learn about how to do that, and it was advice such as, “You need to print the title and your name on the spine, most books are displayed spine out.” And I’m writing this stuff down. “Have a barcode. Just look professional.”

It wasn’t something I entered into lightly, but after nine years I just gave up on the notion because I really did feel, and you and your listeners might relate—you send out a manuscript and everyone takes out their pen or their blue pencil and starts marking things that they don’t think are right or whatever. I just felt like I just need to make this a book. And you won’t take out your pen. You’ll either read it or you won’t.

At the time, yes, I actually had to do desktop publishing, prepare high-quality, camera-ready laser printed stuff, print it myself, and I actually did go through the motions of sending it out to the prepublication sources. I made my own ARCs and sent them out to Booklist and all the others. In fact, Booklist reviewed it. Somehow, somebody pulled it from the pile and maybe read a few sentences, and said, “Gee,” and the kept reading, so we had a legitimate review in Booklist.

At the time, yes, I actually had to do desktop publishing, prepare high-quality, camera-ready laser printed stuff, print it myself, and I actually did go through the motions of sending it out to the prepublication sources. I made my own ARCs and sent them out to Booklist and all the others.

When it was time to bind the book, I was able to use a real review from Booklist on it and I sent that out to the Edgar Allan Poe Awards Committee for Best First Novel. It was clearly a book from a small press, but it wasn’t obviously self-published. I did not know there was a rule against self-published authors at the time, but it was just sort of pragmatic, like they won’t pay it any mind if they think it’s self-published, but my goal was also to look professional for any market, and this was the book.

As I say, it was clearly a small press book, but again we had that Booklist review, so we had a genuine blurb. I guess I’ll just say that the strength of the work worked for us in that the book was actually reviewed. Then the key thing is distribution. What do you do? You’ve printed two thousand books and now they’re sitting in your basement.

A representative from the Independent Publishers Group–which distributes PM Press, which is publishing Jewish Noir—actually called me up and the guy said, “This is self-published, isn’t it?”

So, there’s a lesson there. You can break the rules if you have something that, if someone would just open it and start reading it, they would realize it’s good.

At the time, I was so naïve. “How could you tell?” “Well, you’re a one-book publisher I’ve never heard of.” But then he said, “I think you have a shot with this. We don’t normally distribute self-published stuff, but I think this is good enough.” So, there’s a lesson there. You can break the rules if you have something that, if someone would just open it and start reading it, they would realize it’s good.

*****

So … still think you got it tough? 🙂

Oh, look! Here we are! Chatting about self-publishing and all that thang! 🙂