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Well, have you ever thought you might finish that pet novel and see it available in paperback on Amazon? Too hard you probably think.
Here then, is an interesting fact.
I am now a published author, for the princely outlay of around £200! Yes that's right...
my paperback is on sale worldwide for an outlay smaller than the cost of printing sample chapters, envelopes and postage to send the draft to disinterested agents.
So, your paperback blockbuster could be much closer than you think, provided you can commit the time to complete it.
There are a few caveats; you must be proficient with a computer and unafraid of trading using the Internet.
If you already use a word processor and buy from retail websites then you are there already.
In this two part article I hope to tell you firstly about my personal journey to publication, and secondly, the detailed steps you need to take to achieve the same.
You can access the second article by clicking through to my website listed at the end.
As I write this article my novel sits invitingly on the bookshelf above me, still looking just as spectacular as I imagined.
Just occasionally I pick it up, guiltily turn it over and admire the binding, leaf through the pages and sigh contentedly.
Even more indulgently I occasionally read it, or at least favourite sections, reliving the same pleasure in the characters and plot as when they were first conceived.
I can certainly assure you that there is a great deal more satisfaction seeing your book presented as the finished paperback you imagined, rather than a dreary home printed draft in that ubiquitous spiral binder.
I have had novels within me, yearning to escape, ever since I was a schoolboy.
Yet, I have been distracted throughout my life by the primal need to earn a living.
I am no career writer; in fact, I am an engineer whose writing skills have been corralled into the occasional, deathly dull, technical manual.
So, this ambition has smouldered unfulfilled for decades.
Then last year, I moved to part-time working as a prelude to retirement.
Finally, I had the time to compose that first novel, feel those characters grow within me, find their story and paint the detail of their world.
It took me about sixteen weeks to write as a first draft.
The story poured out once I stopped researching and actually started.
Not for me the issue of writer's block.
A long dammed torrent of creative storytelling spewed forth, but the haste certainly showed.
I was rather chastened that it took six months of revision and crafting in order to bring it to a standard I felt comfortable to publish.
Writing the first draft was a liberating and exhilarating experience but this second phase was hard grind.
You probably already know that writing is a time consuming process, but this was living it up close and personal.
If you consider writing as some fabulous money spinning wheeze, best stop right now.
Unless that is, you have that one in a million storyline, character or talent, Ms Rowling...
If you thought writing your novel was the challenge then prepare for a shock.
My problems came after I had finished the writing, getting it published.
I followed the traditional route of sending sample chapters to all the literary agents that would accept it.
I did this in rounds, selecting eight at a time, believing I would be able to use the feedback from one round of inevitable rejections to improve the draft for the next.
What fabulous unfounded optimism! After two quite lengthy rounds I gave up, agencies typically requiring twelve weeks to respond.
In the passage of six months I had received no useful feedback whatsoever.
I learnt that agents are so busy they barely have time to read your sample chapters.
Generally, they make snap decisions after having your first chapter speed read by an assistant.
The helpful feedback I craved certainly never materialised.
Instead, I received impersonal boilerplate rejection letters exhorting me 'not to give up', but invariably that my novel was 'not for us'.
They were clearly expensively crafted to give not one scintilla of criticism or guidance, and to avoid hurt feelings.
Once it became clear that it was not really getting a chance, I became disheartened.
After all, what can you do with that sort of empty reaction? Do you plough on until the last literary agent in the country has been hounded down; re-write it, in the belief that it must be nearly there; or just give up, on the basis that so many rejections must tell their own story? It was at this point that self-publishing started to look attractive.
Previously, I had looked down on the idea of 'vanity publishing' as it is otherwise known.
Who wants to be thought of as vain enough to pay for the publication of their own work? Like most people, I instinctively felt that my book would only be 'valid' if it were accepted and printed by a 'proper publisher'.
Faced with the dawning realization that those 'proper publishers' were already sated with the reliable hits of their existing 'proper authors', the self-publication route became the only real way forward.
Otherwise, I would end up placing it into that dreaded binder to curl up and die, largely unread and unfulfilled.
Not much reward for all that effort in the construction and telling.
I think it was at this moment it dawned on me that writing your first novel is an exercise of utter vanity in any event.
I had already committed vast amounts of my spare time to the construction of a story no-one had ever asked for.
I had planned that a publisher would push this story unbidden onto the bookshelves and entice complete strangers to buy it.
When on Earth did that seem like an exercise in modesty? Suddenly, my already preening vanity was cruelly exposed.
However, I hadn't done that harbouring the notion that I would recoup my time and effort in later royalties.
I had just wanted to write the story and to see it through to completion, for the simple release of my creative impulse and the chance to share it with others.
Once I was past that realisation, the idea of indulging one further vanity, to pay for the printing, seemed less important.
If you want one final motive to consider this route yourself then research how many well known authors started out self-publishing their first novels.
It seems that the world of publishing has already changed, to accept self-publication as a filter that de-risks the choice of new authors.
Agents are more easily persuaded when you have a novel that has already amassed some evidence of a readership.
Your self-published sales and reviews offer a tangible measure of your appeal.
So perhaps self-publishing is becoming the enabling step for the novice author, rather than one more vanity on that huge crackling bonfire.
I researched self-publication using the common Internet resources and quickly learnt just how short the supply chain can be between a naïve author and his finished paperback.
The growth of on-line business means that you can even launch your physical book onto the unsuspecting world without leaving your comfy chair.
You start with your book already written on your PC and so you are missing a publisher, a printer and a retailer.
Here's the thing, you can be the publisher and the printer and web retailer operate so closely together that they can be dealt with as one.
In the second part of this article I will give detail of the necessary steps to self-publish using a well known Print-On-Demand (POD) company.
For the moment please accept on faith that you can upload your book to a website and receive a paperback proof copy within days.
Once you have accepted that proof, the book is released for publication automatically.
They regularly issue lists of new books to a phalanx of retailers who automatically list them for sale.
The point is they supply Amazon, a key book retailer worldwide, who will automatically create a transaction page to sell your book.
Yes, it really is that simple...
The quality of my proof was exemplary; have no fear that a POD printed paperback will be inferior.
Indeed, I'd suggest they are a quality benchmark when compared to many of the volume printed and remaindered books you'll see.
The cover was a quality weight, the cover photos and graphics pin sharp, the book block crisply cut, printed clearly and the binding robust and durable.
My printer costed the book at 70p for the cover and binding plus 1p per page in the United Kingdom.
I dare say it's cheaper in the US, you lucky people.
It was a 356 page novel and therefore the print cost was £4.
26 per book.
The retail margin in the book trade is a staggering 55%.
So, whatever retail price you elect determines a wholesale price 45% of that.
The difference between that wholesale price and the print cost is your margin as the author/publisher! Only basic maths will show that POD books are not as cheap as mass produced paperbacks.
My book needed to retail at £9.
99 before I received any meaningful return.
Even then, that is smaller than a conventional publisher royalty.
I am not going to pretend there are too many customers prepared to spend that kind of money on a new author.
Of course the retailer can, and generally does, reduce their margin on your book to offer it at a discounted price.
Luckily, you as the author/publisher are not required to share in this generosity.
Taking into account normal discount activity, your POD book will end up finding a more realistic market price.
As usual, a high price foretells better sales performance.
At this moment you are the published author you dreamt of becoming.
Now you must start the ugly business of haranguing friends and acquaintances into purchasing their copies.
As publisher you can buy copies direct at the wholesale price.
So, if you have the stomach for it, you can make direct sales and take that 55% retail margin too.
While your sales are low this is probably the only way to make any money, if that is your main goal.
It certainly pays to have a quantity of books to hand.
After all, you'll need to provide them to reviewers, local newspapers, your library, as well as to friends and family.
It depends now how seriously you want to tackle the task of promotion.
This is a test of your ambitions for sales.
Your book could be one step away from the big time, but it is down to you alone to place it in the public eye.
I'll never recoup the investment of my time and money in my novel, but I'll take having a small appreciative readership.
Of course I dream that one day a traditional publisher will contact me and ask, nay beg, to represent my next book.
I also dream that I will send a boilerplate rejection letter, telling them that they are 'not for me' but 'not to give up hope'.
That's the trouble with dreaming, in the real world, who am I kidding ...
! Whatever else you take from this article; if you ever felt that you had that blockbuster novel within you, at some stage in your life do take the time to let it out.
Give it air, let it breathe and see what emerges, blinking in the light.
Whether you make money or lose it doesn't really matter when the sums involved are so small.
What is important is that your imprisoned creativity will be free at last.
You may be surprised by what it conjures up, but I guarantee you'll enjoy the experience.
You can find Part 2 of this article by taking the link to the website listed below.
Look for the Articles Tab where you will see both Part 1 and Part 2 listed.
Whilst you are on the site if you're curious there are pages describing my novel.
Why not take a look and see how it all worked out.
Maybe even buy a copy just so you can check out the competition.
Who knows, maybe you'll put it down later and say, "Well, even I could do better than that...
"
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