This week I’m interviewing Brian Libby, who’s self-published through various companies.

Leaving the Institute for the Homeless, Andiriel longs for excitement. Befriended by a knight of the illustrious Sovereign Order, she enters the Order’s auxiliary services and finds herself on a strange mission leading to a challenging future in a job she hardly expects. No magic swords or mighty rings, no orphans who are really kings, no elves or dwarfs or prophecies, no ghouls and vampires, if you please. A mercenary regiment, its men (and women), where it’s sent, its training, tactics, work and play; a growing threat (still far away): That’s Storm Approaching.

Can you tell me a little about your first published book?

In the late 90’s I published And Gladly Teach, a satirical novel about life at a (fictional) prep school, which has been well received by a discriminating (i.e. small) audience. And Gladly Teach is funny, sarcastic, light-hearted, serious, and more realistic than you might wish. It is also short and has a happy ending: ideal reading on long trips, at the beach, or at dull faculty meetings (as long as you sit way in back, so the Headmaster or Director of Studies can’t see you).

I began writing the Mercenaries [Storm Approaching, Gold and Glory, and  Resolution coming later this year!] books in 2001. I hoped for traditional publication and was lucky enough to get a fine agent, but even fine agents are not always successful: after being approved by the first reader at one well-known fantasy publisher, Storm Approaching languished on the chief editor’s desk (figuratively speaking) for almost three years (!) before my agent gave up. In response to my proposal to self-publish, advised me to go ahead, and to send him a copy.

Why did you self-publish, rather than try another agent or an e-publisher?

These answers relate to And Gladly Teach, which I wrote in 1999 and published in 2001; the  answers would be  somewhat different for Storm Approaching and Gold and Glory, which I published in 2009 and 2010 (and for which I used two different publishers).

I did not try more agents because (a) after 35 agents turned down my query my patience was at an end, (b) I was eager to see the book in print, and (c) I was ignorant of a lot of things relating to how publishing works, and of how very difficult it is for a self-published author to market his book. I was confident that And Gladly Teach was worthwhile, reasonably well-written, and funny—a belief that has been confirmed by many readers—so I decided to get it into print. (It has sold about 245 copies.)

I did not consider e-publishing because I did not think that e-published books would ever sell; also, I most definitely wanted a book, a physical object. I still do—I would not publish a book only in electronic form, although having one available in that form as well as in print is a good idea today.

How did you approach the process?

I simply looked up as many POD publishers as I could and picked one that seemed to have good services at reasonable prices. AuthorHouse—called First Books then—was a big name in the field and obviously had published a lot of books. Why not mine? They also did an extremely good job with my cover, which I submitted merely as a crude pen-and-ink sketch (for I cannot draw); they turned it into quite a striking cover, exactly what I wanted, and I don’t recall that the charge was very high (although I don’t remember now what I paid).

What differences did you find between publishers? What made you switch between books?

I went with AuthorHouse for Storm Approaching, the first volume in Mercenaries, because they had done a good job with And Gladly Teach nine years before. I sent them the book in October, 2008, and it came out in early May, 2009. The production team was very good–thoroughly professional and easy to deal with. The finished product is fine. However, AH was expensive–$2020 exclusive of buying copies of the book. Author Solutions is a very large company and there were many people to contact–the Design Consultant, the Marketing Consultant & Services Coordinator, the Promotions Assistant, the Book Sales Consultant, the Project Manager–and these people sometimes changed abruptly, since there is a good deal of turnover. AH does try to sell you many expensive things that I do not think are very likely to help (e.g. ads in newspapers, exposure at book fairs) none of which I bought, but less experienced authors can spend thousands on these things. They made a bizarre error at one point, charging me 690 pounds sterling instead of dollars (although I am in Minnesota and they in Indiana); they at once admitted the error, but it took a while to straighten out with my credit card company. I found dealing with so large an organization sometimes trying.

So, for Gold and Glory I looked around a bit and found (through a mention at Absolute Write), the Avid Readers Publishing Group. I think this is a one-man operation, but a very good one. They got the book in March 2010 and published it at the end of April (!) I paid less than half of what AH cost. The book, although much longer than the first one (445 pages/260pages) can sell for only a couple of dollars more. We exchanged e-mails about every other day, he was professional and very dedicated–in fact he sometimes moved almost faster than I wanted–and the finished product is fine. (Since both AH and ARPG use Lightning Source for the actual printing, this is not surprising.) I intend to ask ARPG to publish volume 3, Resolution, in a couple of months.

Why did you go for a publisher like AuthourHouse rather than do everything yourself? What did you feel they (and ARPG) could offer you that you couldn’t do yourself?

I have no wish to start a publishing company or incorporate myself, take full charge of formatting,* buy ISBNs, and fill all orders myself. I am not a businessman, or at least no more than I have to be. AuthorHouse and ARPG save me time and give me someone to help me. (I also expect that ARPG saves me money.)

I realize–mainly from reading a lot of comments at Absolute Write–that “true self-publishing” involves doing everything youself, and is mainly respectable, while using a subsidy/vanity publisher is (in the opinion of some) contemptible. I have never understood why. In both cases one is publishing the book without a “gatekeeper.” (But in the case of my Storm Approaching, the book did meet with the approval of a very prominent agent and the first reader of a major publisher).

The above represents my opinion based on what I know; but I realize that, especially in the rapidly-evolving publishing world we live in today, I may be ignorant of many things.

* I did publish two items with Lulu. The “fun” I had in downloading them, then ordering several copies (one after another) and correcting the formatting errors, was not something I’d ever try with a long novel.

Of the services offered by both publishers, which did you find most valuable?

Well… printing the book, I guess: formatting it, doing the cover, etc. 🙂

Beyond that… the color postcards and bookmarks are handy marketing tools.

Speaking of marketing, what kind of promotion have you done? What do you think has been working best for you?

I use my Facebook page; I ask web review sites if they’ll accept a copy of my book (many don’t want POD books at all; but I have received favorable reviews from some, although I have not figured out if these result in any sales); I have a blog devoted to humorous essays but also promoting my books; I send postcards to other authors and to some bookstores, and anyplace else that might help; I implore anyone who says he likes a book to tell other people about it any way possible. I entered the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards (and won an Honorable Mention for “Storm Approaching,” which, so far as I can tell, resulted in absolutely nothing good).

None of this works particularly well, yet. I have sold approx. 250 copies of “And Gladly Teach” in 10 years, 130 of “Storm Approaching” in 1 year; and 42 of “Gold and Glory” in 3 months. I doubt I have sold any books in the last six weeks. One must just keep trying.

This is often a somewhat discouraging subject because I know, from what reviews and objective comments I have received, that my books are well-written and would appeal to a large audience. You might check the latest entry on my blog.

Who would you recommend self-publishing to? Who would you suggest avoid it?

I’d recommend s-p if the following conditions apply:

1)  The author does not expect to make any money. (The author may, of course, hope to make something, but he should not expect to. S-p is, in other words, a hobby, not a profession.)

2)  The author has revised and edited the book very thoroughly.

3)  The author really feels that many people would enjoy the book.

4)  The author has given some thought on how to publicize the book, and is willing to spend some money (at least for sending out review copies), and a good deal of time, doing so. The more money the better, of course: this is advertising, and has nothing to do with the actual quality of the book.

Self-publishing is also a good idea for people who want to preserve their memories (or their prose, poetry, etc.) for their friends and families, and know in advance that very few people will be reading the book.

I think that about wraps up everything I had to ask. Is there anything you want to add?

I can’t think of anything else, except to thank you for the chance to give some information on my self-publishing experience; I hope some of what I said will be useful to others.

And Gladly Teach can be purchased from Amazon, Authorhouse, or via his website. For more information on his fantasy series Mercenaries check his site too.