Go. Read. Comment.

And ponder the fact that I can help you speak like a non-idiot when we spend time together to get your book written

In 15 minutes, she knew what to do next, and was pretty sure she could do it.

Hearing the frustration, almost hopelessness, leave her voice, replaced with wonder, had me all weepy and choked up.

Every person alive deserves to live each day in a state of awe, filled with joy. When I can help one person take one step closer to that state—that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.

Some folks might be surprised to discover that James Altucher is, too, because his first 5 books were published traditionally.

Here’s someone who can choose traditional publishing, doesn’t have to wait to be picked, yet he’s chosen the benefits of independent publishing instead.

Read his article. In 5 minutes, he’ll change your mind if you’re on the fence about which path to choose.

The same day we’ll be releasing Frances Schagen’s Your Effortless Business. I read the completed manuscript yesterday before sending it off to one of our content reviewers. It’s clear and educational, and at the same time warm and personal. “Write what you know” has worked for Frances.

Our next step is one of the most fun in the process: cover design with Asia the artist.

Have you seen all the junk that comes out of vanity press? Traditional publishing avoids that.

No, it doesn’t.

Traditional publishing has one primary driver: money. In order to achieve that end, they ensure that, no matter what’s inside the book, the cover art, layout, font, and marketing are pristine, top-quality stuff.

Oh; that’s what they mean. Not quality writing, quality printing.

That’s like ensuring the quality of the plate you serve your guests their cat food on.

Preemptive reply: I’m not comparing traditionally published books to cat food. I’m saying that focusing on money has no direct bearing on the quality of the book inside the cover we’re judging it by.

While I have your attention, let’s put another mistaken notion to rest; this time, from advocates of independent publishing:

Every time someone independently publishes a bad book, it hurts all of us.

And kills a kitten, I might add.

I’m still waiting for a cogent argument to explain how independent publishing of books is any different from independent publishing of music. Songwriters, good, bad, and atrocious, have been recording and selling their own work for years. I have never in any manner experience any person saying “I heard a poorly done independent song the other day, so I’ll never buy another independent song because they’re probably all poorly done.”

If poor quality put us off something, we’d all have stopped listening to the radio years ago. (Wait; I don’t listen to the radio. Does this invalidate my argument? Dunno. Do you still listen to the radio, despite having heard songs you don’t like? Oh, you do? Okay. Just me then.)

Folks, assumptions aren’t facts. Truth is not caused by belief. It’s the other way ’round.

The traditional publishing industry has one interest: its own financial continuation. They’re awfully quick to point the money-grubbing finger at their print-on-demand competition who wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a market.

My interest in your book is to help you ship a work of art you can be proud of; to fulfill your dream of becoming an author—and, where it makes sense, to create an income stream around your writing.

I’m working on another Little Purple Book, You Don’t Want a Job. At the same time, I’m working with the first new LPB author Frances Schagen on her own book Your Effortless Business.

Both will be released with a minimum of fuss and a modicum of pride on February 29th, 2012. Since they’re both about choosing entrepreneurship over the risk and uncertainty of a job, we’re calling it “Leap on Leap Day.”

More, as they say, as it comes to hand.

Did you know that even folks without a Kindle or Nook can buy and read the digital version? Since Amazon offers a free Kindle reader for PCs, Macs, and most smart phones and Nook does the same, the market for digital books is far greater than the number of Kindle or Nook owners.

Don’t lose out on sales because your book isn’t digital-ready. Forget about solving the mysteries of electronic publishing formats and understanding Amazon and Nook’s technical requirements. If you have an electronic copy of your book, we can convert it for Kindle and Nook quickly and painlessly.

Quality Conversion to Kindle and Nook at a Fair Price

Our background in digital technology and with modern publishing uniquely qualifies us to make the digital version of your book the highest quality it can be.

Here’s our favorite part: the price won’t even be a surprise. For $125 plus 1/2 cent per word and $5 per image (after the cover image, which is included free) we’ll take care of all the details including both Kindle and ePub versions. For a 20,000-word book, that’s under $250 total; for a 50,000-word book it’s still under $400. Call, email contact@somedaybox.com, or use the contact form to get started right away.

And if your book isn’t completed yet (or even if it’s not started yet) you know we can help.

Examples of Our Work

Befriending Death
The Time is Now 11:59
Through the Fog
Hits or Niches
Why We Lead
Getting Your Book Out of the Someday Box
Permission Granted
The Commonsense Virtual Assistant
Indie Publishing Quick Start Guide

I was enraged.

Since their comments made it clear they’re incapable of understanding this, and since I’d rather start a range war on my own soil, I thought I’d share my response here.

The authors who choose independent publishing aren’t trying to sell their books to others in the industry. Saying if an agent doesn’t like my book, the average reader won’t like it either makes no sense. The publishing industry wants to choose what readers like and don’t like, by deciding what can and can’t be published.

Maybe there are “thousands of publishers” but if you look at the almost infinite number of authors who have nothing but rejection letters to show for their efforts at getting permission from traditional publishing it’s obvious that “finding a publisher” is not an obvious step in the process of becoming an author. The publishing industry has no more right to choose who becomes an author than the RIAA has to choose who becomes a musician.

Music buyers and fans decide who succeeds and who fails, but the artists themselves make their own choice, almost as if they were adults in a free society. Why aren’t authors accorded the same rights? Do you find independently recorded music as offensive as you do independently published books?

I find particularly offensive the claim that self-publishers prey on people’s dreams of being authors.

You’ve set yourself up as the gatekeeper of others’ artistry. You have no right to decide who is and who isn’t an author. You only have the right to decide whose books you’ll read. Allowing people to choose to take the risk of independent publishing is not “preying” on them. Your unsympathetic attitude toward people whose passion doesn’t live up to your standards is unpleasant.

You make a snarky comment about spending thousands of dollars on books and then selling them from roadside rest areas. Have you ever been to a highway rest area in Ohio? They’re great. I think I’ll go set up a book kiosk. They have free WiFi, security guards, vending machines and bathrooms. They’re like an outdoors business office in America’s heartland. Thanks for the suggestion. (Maybe you’re thinking of rest areas in California, in which case, I agree entirely. They’re awful. Most other states have pretty nice rest areas, though.)

(Hmmm . . . you seem to be unaware of the ability to print small runs of books instead of buying them by the palette full . . . )

The next round of your argument will be about all the junk that gets independently published. Ignore the junk. We’re in the tiny little earliest stages of independent publishing. You can’t tell me that in the 1600s there wasn’t also an enormous amount of junk published. Anyone who could afford paper and ink could create a book. Too bad someone didn’t take control and ensure that frivolous nonsense like that Shakespeare guy’s silly and occasionally obscene plays were prevented from being published.

Traditional publishing has one primary driver: money. If money and quality ever had any connection, it’s an inverse relationship. Traditional publishers who rant about maintaining quality make it clear that the quality they’re interested in is lucre, not art.

Perhaps if you were able to state the case for traditional publishing without invective, insult, and broad sweeping generalisations your argument would carry more weight.

You say $10,000 is a realistic, perhaps low, estimate for independent publishing. Any authors who believe that $10,000 figure and want to defy the publishing gatekeepers, let’s do it for a fraction of that. Don’t let members of the traditional publishing industry decide whether or not you’re allowed to share your art. It’s not their call, it’s yours.