Turning Rejection Notices Into Publishing Success

It has become one of the hottest paperbacks in Michigan, but at first you couldn’t find “Buck Wilder’s Small Fry Fishing Guide” in bookstores.

The place to look was your friendly neighborhood gas station.

The 64-page fishing primer for children got off to a slow start with established booksellers when it came off the press two years ago. So author and publisher Tim Smith decided to bypass them.

His best prospects, he figured, were motorists and anglers. He visualized grateful parents buying the book to entertain the children on the way to the vacation cabin.

“I wound up selling 40,000 in four months just out of northern Michigan--mostly at gas stations and outdoor stores,” Smith said. “Now we’ve sold well over 100,000, and it’s in every bookstore in America.”

Smith, who ran a stained-glass cabinet company before making it as an author, recently published a sequel, “Buck Wilder’s Small Twig Hiking and Camping Guide.” He is negotiating deals for use of the Buck Wilder name on fishing and camping equipment and clothing, as well as videos and cartoons.

The moral of this story: Self-published authors need more than writing skills; they need marketing savvy.

Few aspiring writers understand that, said Jerrold R. Jenkins, a consultant whose Traverse City company produces the industry magazines Small Press and Publishing Entrepreneur.

“So many people think, ‘Well, there’s the bookstore, I just put my book in there and I’m done. Everything else will be taken care of for me; I just go to my mailbox and pick up my check,’ ” Jenkins said.

“That’s the farthest thing from the truth.”

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Independent publishing is nothing new. Thomas Paine published his revolutionary pamphlet “Common Sense” after colonial newspapers rejected it. Walt Whitman published his own poetry collection, “Leaves of Grass.” Among other self-published literary giants: Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau and Virginia Woolf.

But personal computers, desktop publishing software and laser printers have made self-publishing easier than ever.

Authors who put out their own books and “small press” companies that handle five to 10 books a year are the fastest-growing segment of the industry, said Jan Nathan, executive director of the Publishers Marketing Assn., a trade group for the independent press.

Some people turn to self-publishing after striking out with major publishing houses, which are increasingly drawn to established authors and celebrities who can virtually guarantee a bestseller.

But others prefer to go it alone. Self-publishers retain control over production and marketing and pocket a bigger share of sales revenue.

The publishing world is rife with tales of writers who, snubbed by the New York establishment, used pluck and imagination to reach the bestseller lists.

Blockbuster novelist John Grisham sold copies of his first work, “A Time to Kill,” out of the trunk of his car.

James Redfield, author of “The Celestine Prophecy,” hawked copies to New Age bookstores across the South.

In 1992, Richard Paul Evans penned a novella called “The Christmas Box” as a gift to his daughters. He gave photocopies to friends and relatives, who reacted so enthusiastically that he decided to publish it and foot the bill for the first press run.

Evans eventually hit the road for a self-financed promotional tour, finally catching national media attention. By late 1994, “The Christmas Box” had become the second independently published book to make the New York Times’ bestseller list. He sold hardcover rights to Simon & Schuster for $4.25 million.

Of course, most self-published authors don’t get near that kind of success. But for writers who can tell a good story and aren’t shy about promoting their work, there is hope.

“Self-publishing is not for everyone,” said Anne Stanton, who with Jenkins has written a guidebook called “Publish to Win.”

“It’s for people who really like being an entrepreneur, because for them it’s fun to push their own work.”

Robert Davis is just the type. A former physician who went downhill abusing drugs and alcohol, he began dabbling with fiction while in prison for filing false insurance claims.

Realizing no big-name publisher was likely to accept his novel “Plutonium Murders,” he rounded up investors and formed a company, Horizon Press, to produce it. He has sold 32,000 hardcover copies.

“I’ve been crossing the country, doing signings everywhere,” Davis said. “I’m like a Johnny Appleseed. My vision is to get people to read the book and spread the word.”

He frequents bookstores and media outlets, trying to snag at least one radio and television interview daily. He prowls airport bookstores while awaiting flights.

“If someone picks up a Grisham or [Tom] Clancy novel, I go after them,” Davis said. “I’m the Fuller Brush man, giving them the one-minute sales pitch.

“A lot of authors don’t like doing that. But they forget their purpose is to get readers. When you’re brand new, you have to make people excited about buying your book.”