Posts on self-publishing

Last month I was ruminating about (what I perceive to be) differences between self-publishing in music and self-publishing in books. One of the reasons was April saw the release of two terrific independent albums by friends of mine!

First, “folk on the rocks” singer-songwriter Lis Harvey released her new album, Any Two Cards. This is a truly inspired indie effort; Lis went old-school and recorded Any Two Cards completely solo in her apartment with her guitar. A feeling of quiet and solitude seeps through every song, making it the perfect album to listen to when you’re the only one awake at five in the morning, preferably with a light drizzle streaming down the windows.

Lis’s just-above-a-whisper singing style adds to the intimate listening experience, and her lyrics are as poetic as ever. It’s no surprise she was a creative major in college (how we met, actually)!

Of course, I also have to plug Lis’s next-to-newest album, Porcupine, spirited and more lively than Any Two Cards, and featuring this drummer named Joe Chellman.

Next, the fabulous trio Girlyman (“delicious acoustic harmony-driven gender pop”) released their first live album, Somewhere Different Now.This is everything a live album should be: a surprisingly cohesive mix of old favorites, never-before-recorded songs, trademark covers (an oxymoron, I realize, but you know what I mean), and witty banter that makes you feel like part of the audience and actually remains witty in repeated listenings.

Sharing songwriting, lead vocal, and instrumental responsibilities gives Girlyman balance I’ve never seen in another band—not even Peter, Paul & Mary, to whom they are sometimes compared. Their folk appeal and queer sensibilities make their audience demographically unique, ranging from silver-haired boomers like my parents to college-age lesbians to pretty much anyone—in my experience—who gives them a listen.

While Somewhere Different Now successfully captures the energy and fun of a Girlyman show, I’d recommend that new listeners start with the group’s most recent studio album, Joyful Sign, which is, by nature, a more polished product. And, what do you know, it also happens to feature a drummer named Joe Chellman.

Continuing the recent theme of topics no trade publisher will touch: It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana. This self-published tome, illustrated by a boatload of artists, aspires to educate children about the wicked weed while neither stigmatizing nor glorifying its use.

Not a terrible aspiration, in my opinion, but as is all too typical of self-published books, the product is laughable. So many retro rainbows grace the pages, you'll swear you're trapped in a Roller Disco circa 1977. A text that's ridiculous and didactic. (“What’s that, Mommy?” asked Jackie. “Are you and Daddy smoking a cigarette?” “No, baby,” said her mother. “This is a joint.”) Imponderably set on Halloween so the little girl and her mother are riding a bicyle around town in bizarro costumes. (Is she supposed to be a Samurai?!)

BUT. How many other straight-talking picture books about marijuana can you name? Yeah, didn't think so!

You can ingest (just don't inhale) a representative sample of the book online, in your choice of English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, or Thai. Because, y'know, marijuana is a global affair.

I'm guessing the current surge in publicity is due to the ignominious occasion of April 20. Maybe all the blog posts will help them sell a few books! (Via Big A little a.)

The lovely back-up singers of Chameleon
World, indie band extraordinaire

Recently it occurred to me there is more dignity in self-publishing an album than a book. Then it occurred to me I ought to have some reasons to back up that opinion. So, here goes.

In self-publishing, there’s no real quality control except by the musical artist or writer. One could assume that, as a result, all self-published works are at best mediocre. And it’s true, I’ve heard a lot of mediocre indie albums. But I’ve also heard many indie albums that are absolutely brilliant, and indie albums comprise a significant portion of my CD collection.

In contrast, I’ve never seen a brilliant self-published book. I’ve read some that were okay, but most of them have been just terrible. (Have you heard about My Beautiful Mommy, a new self-published picture book that explains to kids why Mom’s getting a tummy tuck?* Thanks for the link, Big A little a.) I do feel that self-publishing has an important role, especially when it comes to books on topics trade publishers don’t usually touch. But trade-quality editing and art is rarely there.

Why the schism?

My impression is it’s much harder for musicians to get signed by a competitive label than it is for writers to contract with competitive trade publishers. I haven’t been able to find hard data, but my impression is that many more books than albums are published each year. If this is true, and if we assume that those musicians and writers who don’t find a competitive publisher for their work go on to self-publish, then it stands to reason a greater proportion of indie musicians than self-published authors are actually halfway decent. Even superb.

And due to the nature of the business, indie musicians gain credibility in other ways. Most musicians’ careers are built not on albums but on performances. Before a band records an album, it’s gaining fans through performances at home and on tour. After the album’s out, it’s back to the road. The musicians must prove their mettle night after night, not on a single shiny disc.

Of course, authors frequently promote their books by touring, also. And in the rare case of Christopher Paolini, touring with his self-published Eragon—while dressed in medieval garb, I might add—is what attracted the attention of Knopf. But the book must come first. Musicians can tour without an album, but an author cannot tour without a book. The book is the pudding where the proof is.

Another way indie musicians beat self-published authors in credibility is through distribution. The Internet is a reasonably level playing field when it comes to producing and distributing self-published books and music. Artists and writers can sell their work on their personal websites and small retailers, of course, but also through major online retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (Though musicians can also distribute through iTunes, eMusic, and other music-oriented services.)

Offline, however, I think independent musicians hold the advantage. There are companies, such as KOCH, that handle music distribution to get indie bands’ CDs into big retailers across the country. If there’s an equivalent meat-space book service, I don’t know it.

Then, also, there’s a real WYSIWYG element to the music business. Audiences can reasonably expect that band’s live performance is indicative of its recordings, and vice versa. You can expect no such thing in the book business. A book is not a performance piece. Many authors are dynamic and engaging presenters; others are abysmal.

Conversely, we know today’s surfeit of “celebrity authors” rarely delivers when it comes to producing a good book. (A few notable exceptions: Julie Edwards/Andrews, Jamie Lee Curtis, Steve Martin, Michael Palin.) Anyone else a little scared of the new Snoop Dogg series for kids, “Where’s the Cheese”? (Thanks for the link, LISNews.)

As I mentioned, these are all just my personal impressions. I would love some additional perspective on the differences and similarities between independent music and self-published books.

ETA, 4/17/08
*For the record, I'm not opposed to cosmetic surgery. I generally believe that people should pursue happiness in their own way, so long as they are not hurting other people or the planet (not that we can ever avoid that 100%). But based on what I've read here about My Beautiful Mommy, I'm rather alarmed at the message it seems to send to young children (a certain idea of what it means to be beautiful, surgery as a desirable means to achieving happiness, etc.). Then again, the modeling industry already does the same thing, right?

At the library, I'm often asked for reading suggestions that fall under the heading of "bibliotherapy"—in other words, books to help kids through a tough time. Some topics, such as the death of a loved one, coping with bullying, or beginning school are very well-covered. Others, particularly on "less universal" situations, are hard to come by.

For example, last month I was reviewing my library's picture book collection for books about various medical problems and/or disabilities. I believe it was Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children that recently published an extensive bibliography on everything from ADHD to lactose intolerance to Crohn's disease. I was surprised how few of the recommended titles were trade publications. A great many appeared to be essentially self-published by hospitals, nonprofit organizations, and even individuals. Of these, the few that managed to snag a review in one of the journals tended to get pretty atrocious reviews. The stories were described as didactic, the writing and illustration inferior to that which is published in trade. But when the alternative is no book at all, what's a parent to do? Likewise, if I were a writer with a book on one of these topics and couldn't find a publisher who'd take it, wouldn't I rather self-publish than do nothing at all?

A picture book topic not quite as overlooked in these years of war is parents and family members working overseas in the military. Several have been published in the past four years. Our library owns the following:

• The Impossible Patriotism Project, by Linda Skeers
• My Red Balloon, by Eve Bunting
• Red, White, and Blue Good-Bye, by Sarah Wones Tomp
• Love, Lizzie: Letters to a Military Mom, by Lisa Tucker McElroy
• When Dad's at Sea, by Mindy L. Pelton
• While You Are Away, by Eileen Spinelli

But while books like these can help families cope, I believe there is no one book that will ever say everything that needs to be said in a specific situation. We get that all the time with the death bibliotherapy questions—"But don't you have a book about a little boy's special relationship with an older babysitter who moves to Indiana and then gets cancer and passes away?" Nobody can tell your story like you can.

Yesterday's Salon.com article Once Upon a Time, Dad Went to War touchingly addresses just this conundrum. A mother writes how no book she found, published in trade or self-published, gave her children the message they needed to hear. Her solution: to write a simple, stapled, sticker-covered book just for them.

"Why do you write?" seems to be a popular interview question for authors, but it's always struck me as a little dumb. There may be different things playing into a writer's decision to devote a good chunk of their life to setting words down on paper, but I think ultimately it always comes down to feeling like you have something to say and wanting to say it your way. That goes for writers whose books about potty-training are published by big houses, writers who self-publish a book for kids about IBS, and writers who hand-write a story to comfort their children while Dad's away at war.