Guest post by author Zachary Rawlins

My favorite, entirely accidental discovery in 2011 was The Academy by Zachary Rawlins. It was the second book that made me realize how much the self-publishing industry has to offer, if given a chance. I asked Zach to write a guest post for us not because I was part of a blog tour or because I had to for some other reason, but because I love his books so much and I want to do everything I can to get you guys interested as well. He was kind enough to agree and here's the result: 

Hello! My name is Zachary Rawlins, and I am a self-published novelist. You may have heard of my kind – depending on who you ask, we are either the future of publishing, or the end of it. Rather than attempt to sell you my books (The Academy, The Anathema, & Paranoid Magical Thinking), I would like to tell you the story of how and why I decided to do it alone, and at the same time try and convince you to take a chance on a self-published e-book.

Opportunity Knocking, or A Reoccurring Nightmare

I won’t bother with the circumstances that encouraged  me to write my first novel. Suffice it to say that I didn’t expect much when I started. I’d been writing my entire life (mostly poetry), so it seemed like a natural progression. The Academy was an experiment in producing the sort of fiction I enjoyed reading. But when I finished, the early responses were surprisingly positive. Based on their encouragement, I began to explore the possibility of publishing, and to my utter shock, received some interest.

Which lead to a meeting with an editor, one that I was pathetically unprepared for. I was sweating like a fountain and scorching hot, but refused to take off my hoodie, for fear that she would see how damp I was. I brought copies of my manuscript, along with a pitch and a synopsis. To my horror, she didn’t touch them. Instead, she told me that I had ninety-seconds to pitch my novel to her, out loud.

Perhaps it would be helpful at this point to know a bit about me. I think it is fair to say that I have never sold anyone anything, partly because I am pathologically afraid of talking to strangers, and partly because I am unfailingly honest. Neither of these qualities interferes with being a writer. But a salesman? Not so much.

Twenty seconds in, I knew I had blown the pitch. After thirty, I realized I was doing such a bad job that even I wouldn’t read the book I was describing. Shortly before the minute mark, I trailed off in confusion, and considered leaping out of the window rather than finishing the meeting.

We talked for almost an hour. At the end of the experience, I was convinced that I not only did not want to publish a book, I didn’t even want to write one anymore.

If There is Kissing in a Book, Does That Make it a Romance Novel?

Eventually I recovered, rewrote my pitch with the help of the editor, and then got up enough courage to send it elsewhere. And that’s when things turned bizarre. Here are some of my favorite responses:

“Unfortunately, we already have a vampire novel in our lineup this year.”

Understandable, except that The Academy is not a vampire novel – it is a novel with a minor character who happens to be a vampire.

“We don’t publish Young Adult novels.”

That’s fine – because I don’t generally write them. Some of the characters are young adults, not the prospective audience.

“There are problems with the female characters.”

Sometimes, the complaint was too many ‘strong’ female characters. At other times, they worried that the potential romantic interest in the book was not a ‘damsel in distress’, and that readers would fail to connect with her if she didn’t need more rescuing.

“Your main character isn’t likable/heroic.”

Well, yeah. Alex Warner is a seventeen-year old boy. Not too many teenage males are particularly likable. I know I wasn’t. Also, it is a five-book series – there isn’t much opportunity for character growth if the protagonist starts off noble.

“There is too much swearing/drug use/violence/sex.”

Okay, this may be true. I base my work on what I know. And my teenage years were devoted to swearing, drinking, smoking, and trying to convince any girl at all to go out with me. Perhaps my experience was atypical.

But I object to the lack of realistic violence, and meaningful consequences stemming from it, in titles devoted to children. I don’t like fantasy novels that are reserved for characters with squeaky clean morals. And I hate romantic teasing, when a relationship is built up for the entirety of a series, only to be settled in a brief ‘Years later…’ epilogue (I’m looking at you for that one, Hunger Games).

Ruining it For Everyone

Around this time, I discovered e-books. I knew they existed, but I never considered them ‘real’ books, or had much interest in reading or writing them. Then I made some friends in Japan, where e-books are hardly a new idea, expanded my reading to include electronic and indie novels, and found a whole new world of literature that I had been missing.

I started writing an e-book to occupy my time while The Academy was in publication hell. I finished that book (Paranoid Magical Thinking), and then wrote the sequel to The Academy, still waiting for a definitive response to my first novel. Instead, I received another request to rework the concept – demanding that I replace my original take on vampires and faeries with a conventional interpretation, while purging the text of any mention of sexuality or drug use.

Two and a half months later, I had completed edits on The Academy, and self-published it on the Kindle Store, expecting no response at all.

I was wrong about that. As it turned out, I was about to achieve modest success and be introduced to an amazingly supportive community of readers and fans. Also, I was about to become part of the problem.

Credibility, Artistic Integrity, and Groupies

If you have the opportunity to join an indie band, I suggest doing it. Even terrible bands can attract at least one or two devoted groupies.

Or how about making an independent movie? With Sundance and Cannes, the industry is falling all over itself to get a piece of the action. Some of the most profitable films, and the most famous directors in the medium, started with indie projects.

Independent artists? Well, Folk Art is quite the lucrative field these days.

But independent authors? As it turns out, we are destroying the industry we work in. Publishers hate us for obvious reasons. Authors hate us for flooding the market with cheap competition. And a number of readers avoid independent work, because it lacks the professional copy proofing and editorial fine-tuning of a traditional novel. Self-published novels are derided as overly long, an exercise in vanity, and most of all, containing typos.

And I’m the first to admit it – I would love to have the services of a professional editing team. My book would benefit tremendously from a good editor (Maja said as much in her kind review of The Academy on this very site). But I don’t think the standard is being uniformly applied to all media.

Several times in the film Reservoir Dogs, the boom mike drifts into the shot. Folk Art is frequently executed with the skill of a grade-school art project. Kurt Cobain failed to hit notes and forgot lyrics. Not one cast member of The Blair Witch Project could act. And yet…

They are described as authentic. Honest. Raw.

How often do you hear, ‘I only listen to major labels?’ Or, ‘I only like Hollywood blockbusters?’ Probably not frequently. But many readers avoid self-published authors based on the exact same rationale – the lack of polish makes the work uninteresting. It’s like changing a radio station because the artist failed to use enough auto-tune.

This is why I encourage you to give one of the many self-published novels available online a chance. If you love books the way that I do, then you already know that the story is the important thing. Typos are awful distraction, I agree. Indies often lack slick covers or good copy-editing. Semi-colons are rarely used, and generally incorrectly.

But if you are willing to do without Oxford commas and seamless formatting, there is amazing stuff being produced by writers who are doing it for no other reason than love of the work. Writers who are so passionate about their stories that they are compelled to show them to the world, without safeguards or support, like a tight-rope walker performing without a net. Indie authors can take risks, explore controversial topics, and follow their stories in original and unusual directions that might not otherwise be possible. 

That is what I love about self-publishing – the freedom it offers the writer. The joy of creating for the sake of creation. The individual nature of the accomplishment. Behind every self-published novel, there is an author like myself, who simply wanted to write, and share what they had written.

Everyone knows you can’t judge a book by its cover. Why judge a book by its publisher’s imprint?

Thank you so much, Zach!

It's thanks to authors like Zachary Rawlins that the way people see the self-publishing industry is finally changing. If you want to know more about him and his novels, visit his GoodReads author's page. You can read my review of The Academy HERE.

All three books are available on Amazon. You can buy The Academy or The Anathema for $0.99 or $2.99, depending on your location. Both these books are very good and definitely worth your time. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, guys! You're the best.