Mark Shaiken's Blog: Head Talks! mark shaiken : : author blog - Posts Tagged "self-publishing"

Depending on your age and musical tastes, you may remember the 1966 Beatles’ song, “Paperback Writer,” penned by Paul McCartney. Beatles lore reports that McCartney’s Auntie ‘Lil challenged him about writing only love songs. She asked him why he didn’t write songs about more important things, suggesting a song about a horse, or a summit, or something else interesting. Later, McCartney saw Ringo Starr reading a book backstage, “Paperback Writer” came to be, and the rest is history—except for the usual controversies about which Beatle played which parts of the song and whether John Lennon contributed any of the lyrics.

The song tells us about a writer who sends a letter to an anonymous publisher (Dear Sir or Madam) hoping to convince the publisher simply to read the book. We presume it’s not the writer’s first letter to a publisher. We learn the book took years to write; the writer was desperate to find someone to publish the book; the book is roughly a thousand pages; the writer intends to write more pages shortly; the writer can change the story around; the publisher can have the rights; the writer thinks it would make the publisher a million overnight; and, sadly, the writer informs the publisher how to return the book, even as the writer says over and over that all he or she wants is to write paperback books.

And there you have it. In his own way, in the mid-1960s, Paul McCartney created a character who, to me, captured some of the angst of a modern day indie author. Turns out, the longing of a 1960s writer wasn’t all that different from the dreams of a twenty-first century indie author. Don’t all of us who write and self-publish just want to be that paperback writer? Don’t we just want people to read our books? And if they do, to leave a brief review? We may not say it, but don’t we dream every once in a while that a traditional publishing house will latch onto something we write? Don’t we long for thousands—no—tens of thousands of readers and reviews? Aren’t we willing to change our works around if that’s what it takes to fulfill our dreams?

As McCartney’s fictional author implored the letter’s addressee, I felt the desperation and related to the ask the writer made of the anonymous publisher: please, please, please just read the book.

How could Paul McCartney possibly have known how an unpublished, or in the modern era, an under-read, published indie author, might feel?

The answer I came up with is this: He already knew. John and Paul met in the 1950s, started writing original songs together in John’s aunt’s house, and performed for whomever would listen. They went to Hamburg hoping to find an audience and hone their skills. They looked for an agent who then looked for a record company. For years and years, no one important would listen to their works, but through it all, the duo kept writing and honing and dreaming. They never gave up the dream. They had resolve. And then one day, George Martin and Parlophone Records listened.

When I talk with other indie authors, I often hear that resolve as well: Keep writing. Never give up. Maybe we self-published writers aren’t that different from Lennon and McCartney. Now, to be sure, Lennon and McCartney’s teenage dream came true and then some, and they had boundless talent. Few writers I know have quite that kind of talent.

But the lesson is nevertheless clear to me: never lose faith. Write because that’s the calling. Put words down on paper because that’s what we’re driven to do. And slowly but surely, more people will read those words; maybe not throngs of people, at least not yet. Maybe the throngs will find the next book. Or the next.

After all, all we need is a break . . . because we are indie paperback writers.

Mark

http://markshaikenauthor.com