Your Inner Publisher

Go to any writer’s conference and you will likely find yourself in a debate about the value of self-publishing versus traditional publishing. On a mechanical level, the biggest difference between these two is that the self-published author must be a writer and a businessperson, while the traditionally published author is mostly a writer and just a little bit a of businessperson. But in another way, every writer is self-published. Whether Createspace or Random House publishes your book, every writer must decide, alone and in his own heart, that what he has written is worthy and ready to be shared. Whether you have an editor or an agent or a writing group advising you along the way does not change this requirement. You must find your inner editor, your inner publisher, and learn what it means to listen to him or her, learn that his or her opinion is to be valued and trusted above all others.

On the other hand, the idea that anyone is completely self­-published is a misnomer. If you use Createspace, for instance, you will probably hire a cover designer and an editor and a proofreader. Furthermore, Createspace itself is the invention of a whole host of people who aren’t you. If not for all these Other People dreaming up Createspace there would not now be so many people running around claiming they are self-published.

We are never, ever, ever alone, and yet all decisions must be made within the sanctity and sovereignty of our mind. But you already know this. You know this when you sit down to that empty page. You know that each word is a choice you make in conference with your imagination and conscience and desire. And you already know that the success of a piece of work depends on readers – who aren’t you – deciding in the sanctity and sovereignty of their minds to buy your book.

This is called life on planet earth, where writers and readers and presidents and principals are in control of absolutely nothing except their own freewill.

Write Within Yourself: An Author's Companion. "A book to keep nearby whenever your writer's spirit needs feeding." Deb Caletti.

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