April 19, 2008 - Publishing the Book

People have asked me how the book will be published, and I tell them that I’m going to publish it myself. The reason for that is because I don’t want to waste time getting rejected by publishers. Many writers – both good and bad – who seek to have their first book published when they have no literary connections, have experienced numerous rejections. I’d rather that energy be directed towards publishing the book myself.

Although self-publishing a book involves much more work than is needed when someone else publishes it, I am willing to deal with the additional labor. That is because I am confident in the product that I am creating, and I want full control over my it. Since I wrote the book to convey a message, I don’t want it to be distorted by anyone who doesn’t understand what I’m trying to do.

The book’s message is aimed directly at Black people. Because of that, few if any White people would understand the nuances of the book. If they were allowed to publish it, they might seek to change it for commercial purposes, which would destroy the reason for its creation. Many Black people have encountered White people in the entertainment industry who changed their artistic creation in order to make more money, because the White person thought they new more about Black people than the Black artist. I won’t allow that to happen to me!

Throughout the process of writing the book, I’ve been studying literary publishing. And because of the knowledge that I have acquired, I believe that I can successfully accomplish the task of self-publishing my book. I also plan on making posts about the publishing process, so that other authors can see how it’s done.