Publishing- the crapshoot

I am less than an expert on the subject of publishing. Quite frankly, I feel out of my league even putting in my two cents. However, here goes my thoughts on the subject.

I was poking around a writing forum the other day, just snooping on all the conversations, when I can upon a discussion concerning the merits of utilizing a small press versus submissions to a large publisher with hopes of gaining a substantial book contract. This got me thinking.

All of us writers, at some point, go through the same or similar process. We write for a variety of reasons, but the bottom line is, we write. Also, we are all trying to figure out how to get our stuff published. We read all the books and articles, ask the same questions and search the Internet gathering information on getting an agent, on publishing, on self-publishing, on trade publishing, on POD, on small presses, on agent scams and publishing scams. We research and calculate the odds of being published, and all the while, we send our writing out to agents, editors and publishers hoping for a bite.

We do all the same homework and research, yet each writer is a uniquely dissimilar individual with distinctly different work and diverse approaches to life and life's situations. A publishing method that may be ideal for one person may not be appropriate for another. Some writers may not have the patience or fortitude to send their work out time and time again only to be denied, while another writer may not have the skill, determination and resources to self-publish his or her work. In short, after all the information is gathered, dissected and mulled over, no one person can assure a writer of which publishing approach is guaranteed to garner success. A sound strategy and hope is the best that can be done, yet each individual will formulate a plan based on personality, resources and skills.

Perhaps the worst publishing plan to go with is the gut-feeling approach. The experts advise never to let gut feelings replace building a platform and developing a strategic, logical business plan, yet sending material out over and over based on hope does not seem all that logical.

My advice, for what it's worth, is this: do the research, access your personality type, skills, resources and last, but most importantly, go with your gut feelings. A manuscript, article or short story stashed in the box in your closet is of no service to yourself or others. Get the material out there in the method you deem best for you. This may, in the long run, involve an assortment of methods given the variety of avenues now available with the introduction of the Internet. If you make an error in judgement, so be it. Let's face it; it's all a crapshoot anyway.

Never give up hope that your material will be read, re-read, loved, talked about and made into a movie. Some of the best books I've read took ten years to become common household conversation and movies, and I picked up a now infamous diet book for a couple of bucks years before it became well-known. The main thing is to keep writing and never stop putting it out there.