For many writers the idea of self-publishing is like giving up on a dream, selling out. I used to think that until I ran into BookSurge.com a company bought by Amazon in 2005. I came across the print on demand information on Amazon’s site the other day along with publishing information for Amazon’s Kindle. My preconceived notions about self-publishing all went out the window.

Now there are upsides and downsides, of course. The upside, you get your book out there for the world to read. The downside, you book is out there for the world to read and nobody knows about it but you. The upside, you receive a higher return on every unit sold. The downside, you probably won’t sell as many units self-publishing as you would with a traditional publisher, but who knows.

The self-publishing route holds a certain fascination for me. I look at it like an indie rock band, instead of signing with a major label who has a huge overhead and marketing division, they instead do it all themselves. They retain more money and control, in exchange for having to promote themselves really hard. It’s kinda the same way with self-publishing. You are the author, editor, marketing department, and publicist, all in one.

Self-publishing doesn’t preclude anyone from selling out and going with a big publisher. In fact, a case could be made that it gets your work out there for more exposure to the big publishers. So it seems like a win all the way around. I can still look for the super-agent to sell my book to the super-publisher while I self-publish and get my work out there to build a fan base.

The update in all of this is that I’m currently working on finalizing my manuscript. I figured being the editor, the only editor, I should probably go over it once again and make sure I like it and it’s presentable, I’m a little paranoid about this kinda thing. Then comes the cover design and layout, then the actual publishing. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I can say, go to Amazon and buy my book or download it to your Kindle.

I am proud to write that The Book is officially finished. We finished the final chapters last night. Tonight, or today rather, starts the next adventure of preparing query emails and letters for agents. I will update as I move forward and learn more.

So, as if over twenty-four hours of Christmas music was not enough for Christmas listening enjoyment, XM now has all of their Christmas stations going in full effect. They have all the sub-genres covered from your traditional carols to the novelty to the normal everyday Christmas music from artists like Mannheim Steamroller, Kenny G, and Mariah Carey. It’s nice to have choices, choices are good, it’s like an auditory 31 Flavors.

The Book will be finished this week, we are so close. The excitement is building, we’re trying to figure out how to celebrate. To me a celebration seems premature, even if it is well deserved, it’s still premature. Technically, I don’t have a book yet, I have a manuscript that really, really hopes to grow up and become a book. I’m guessing that the road to bookdom, yes I just made that word up, may be arduous. But it does speak to some accomplishment and for that I should be happy. So maybe we’ll go grab a slice at The Costco, celebrate small, because even the small accomplishments deserve to be celebrated.