I was just catching up with a short article over at guelphmercury.com about how self-publishing, through enabling virtually anyone to publish their own writing - brings us “stories otherwise untold“. But if other creative media are evidence, it can also lead to much sub-standard work.

Industries begin to disintegrate in their perceived value once just about anyone can get their hands on the tools of the trade. I have personally seen this within the design industry as what were once useful tools for the creative and graphic artist are now so commonplace that anyone can claim to be a professional based on software knowledge despite an often clear lack of core design or creative knowledge. Even back in the mid 90s I remember reacting in horror to working with a top level packaging designer who would selected a visual effect based not on the requirements of the creative brief, but the latest Photoshop plugin. Over the years this increased and has diluted the perceived skill in creative design.

We are seeing a similar effect in the audio and visual media spaces with independent producers lowering the audience expectation bar every day. Once the professionals start lowering their own sights, the industry is doomed.

Will publishing follow the same path?

I am not sure it will.
I have no doubt it is in for a revolution - nothing sudden, but it is coming nevertheless. The online world allows anyone to now market their self-published book to a global audience. No longer are budding authors spending months driving around bookstores to broaden their outlets, they are doing it online with virtual book signings, virtual interviews, and good old social networking.

None of this, however, will overcome a poorly written book. I do not feel that readers will have their quality sights lowered to the extent that inferior works will cause anything more than a brief blip on the radar.

The reason is simple: readers have to buy books. In whatever form, a financial transaction takes place and disappointment therefore becomes far more personally focused than, say, having wasted half an hour watching a terrible television program. Once bitten in their purse, a reader might find author loyalty failing to encourage another risky transaction at the next release.

It will likely not surprise you to learn there is nothing straightforward in selecting the right self-publishing service to help you get your work into print and distributed to readers. As we have come to expect, PODy Mouth is presenting some very clear and down to earth advice on the important criteria when selecting the right print-on-demand, self publishing services.

One of the critical elements, according to PODy Mouth, is that your selected service should include Ingram distribution:

You want your POD to have a relationship with Ingram. Without Ingram wholesale distribution, there is no point in going POD - you may as well go traditional self-publishing and sell books from your van.

I wonder how many authors decide to opt for the self-publishing route with rose tinted glasses thinking that so long as the book is published, that’s all there is to it. Distribution, of course - and the right distribution - is utterly critical. I have spent the past three years within the very new space of Podcasting, and prior to that immersed in creation of corporate websites for many years, and there are still a great many individuals in those spaces with the ability to create great content, backed up with nothing more than the idea that “if you build it, they will come”. The quality of the content - just as with a written work - is of course critical, but the content itself is not what draws in the eyes and attentions of the audience. They need constant reminding and sometimes close to bullying, in order to get their thinly stretched attention focused long enough on what you do to even consider sampling your content.

It’s a tough world, but the marketers will always win. Content is king? Content is nothing without marketing and distribution.

Our recent post on the potentially disheartening level of income most authors can expect to earn, spoke of the need for a long term outlook. Long term is important, but author John Shore is of the opinion most freelance writers give too little consideration to editors.

Writing is a creative process, right? Genuinely creative writing is a very small part of the total effort required to be successful. The rest is editing (lots of it), promotion, marketing, and - you cannot deny - plain old-fashioned, understanding your client’s needs and business.

Removing the ego from your writing is key, in Shore’s opinion, to having a mindset that offers a stronger potential for success.

Nobody cares about you as a writer. Magazines rip through writers like … well, like elephants rip through hay. You don’t want to even care about you as a writer. What you want to care about is the editor of whatever magazine you want to publish in

I find it hard to believe that writers who aim for the freelance magazine market - at least those who are serious and not simply looking for some extra cash - do not have a business-focused, professional motivation, even if they do get the implementation of that motivation a little off-centre. But Shore clearly has a contradictory experience.

Over at his blog, Shore offers his professional advice on how a freelance magazine writer can be successful. It all comes down to a clear and professional attitude towards your work and, most importantly, your client (the editor). In what reads more like a rant at inexperienced - or genuinely incapable - freelance writers, John wants a simpler life, calling for writers to give editors much more consideration and make their lives easier.

Your job — your goal, if you’re starting from the outside — is to make [the editor's] job easier. Because everything about an editor’s life is working against his job being easier.

Make their job easier? It is an odd way of looking at it, but the sentiment runs true: professionalism in freelance writing is in providing what was requested, in the correct format, by the required time. It is the same for any industry, surely.