Jackie Collins Takes the Plunge Into Self-Publishing

By Bob Hughes - Mar 01 , 2012

What would Jackie Collins do?

She’d self-publish.

How long before other name-brand authors decide to do the same?

Jackie Collins is offering – for $2.99! – a rewritten version of her bestselling novel The Bitch. As Collins said in an interview with the site GalleyCat, “If it does well, I probably will continue to e-publish, because I have a book of short stories and my publisher says short stories don’t sell.” Well, publishers know everything, don’t they?

It’s a good bet that Collins’s short stories – e-published separately or in a collection and probably priced competitively – will sell just fine. Maybe better than fine. At least better than anything her publisher could probably come up with. But then, her publishers won’t publish her short stories, because “they don’t sell.” That’s the publishing attitude: think of what doesn’t work before trying to find out what does.

Collins had the e-rights to her novel, so she could go ahead and market her new version without a legal hitch (publishers are trying to grandfather in e-rights to books – not to rush them into digital print, mind you, but just to have the rights so that authors or their heirs can’t cash in).

In any event, as self-publishing grows more of a workable option, Collins’s move has made it that much more viable: she doesn’t have to self-publish, but she’s chosen to.

But if you’re an author who’s deciding whether to pursue a traditional publishing route or to self-publish, we’re not advocating one or the other. What you’ve got now are more options. And it’s important to stress that self-publishing is no longer the option of last resort (nor is traditional publishing a guarantee of quality, as some people claim – this is nonsense as anyone who’s browsed a bookstore over the last century can attest: a lot of crap gets written and published by the “gatekeepers”).

But you’re building a platform for your ideas – you may find that for you a combination of traditional and e-publishing will work best. Your audience will help you decide; and as your tribe of loyal, interested readers grows, publishers will still be interested in you because of the proven power of your message.

The thing is: you’ve got a choice now, and you’re no longer at the mercy of the marketplace. You’re talking to your market, and you’re making a difference. Be bold. That’s what Jackie Collins would advise.