Adam Scott Huerta's Blog
November 14, 2024
Self-Publishing
Being a self-published author has its advantages.
You have full control over what you do, and you get significantly more of the royalties. For example, a book priced between 2.99 and 9.99 on Amazon will garner you 70% of the royalties. The biggest pro is you do not need to pass a gate to have your book on the market. Simply upload the appropriate file and it will be available to buyers.
That’s where the advantages end.
The disadvantages can be simply defined by your primary competition: Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Publishing, etc.
These are traditional publishers. They have the resources to finance a marketing campaign well beyond the typical self-published author, and they have the connections to accumulate reviews from the most prestigious outlets such as the Washington Post.
The reality is, unless you are the 0.01%, your sale threshold has a ceiling significantly smaller than a traditionally publishing novel. This is the reality.
I’ve queried hundreds of agents for my debut novel Motive Black, and have received hundreds of no-responses and a few rejections. The industry incentivizes what is profitable, and also what is palatable. Motive Black is, among many things, a satire on the LGBT—a group that is universally celebrated among the literary world. And so agents seek novels in the LGBT genre, certainly not novels pointing fun at it.
My point here is agents, who are the first gate to a traditional publishing deal, filter what may be escorted to Random House. Because any serious author wants to make a career out of their craft, we’re incentivized not to express ourselves honestly, or innovate, but to follow trends. If I wanted Motive Black to have a better chance in the ring, it would be about a homosexual attempting to thrive in a hostile world. Or a straight man in the opposite circumstances. Instead, Motive Black is nuanced and explores it all in a way that is simply not ‘palatable’ or ‘profitable.’ It’s too niche. Too controversial.
This is why I’m a self-published author and will likely continue to be. But with all of that said I believe self-published authors are the future of literature. We’re not gated, and we’re not confined to shareholder constraints.
Don’t give up. I won’t.
You have full control over what you do, and you get significantly more of the royalties. For example, a book priced between 2.99 and 9.99 on Amazon will garner you 70% of the royalties. The biggest pro is you do not need to pass a gate to have your book on the market. Simply upload the appropriate file and it will be available to buyers.
That’s where the advantages end.
The disadvantages can be simply defined by your primary competition: Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Publishing, etc.
These are traditional publishers. They have the resources to finance a marketing campaign well beyond the typical self-published author, and they have the connections to accumulate reviews from the most prestigious outlets such as the Washington Post.
The reality is, unless you are the 0.01%, your sale threshold has a ceiling significantly smaller than a traditionally publishing novel. This is the reality.
I’ve queried hundreds of agents for my debut novel Motive Black, and have received hundreds of no-responses and a few rejections. The industry incentivizes what is profitable, and also what is palatable. Motive Black is, among many things, a satire on the LGBT—a group that is universally celebrated among the literary world. And so agents seek novels in the LGBT genre, certainly not novels pointing fun at it.
My point here is agents, who are the first gate to a traditional publishing deal, filter what may be escorted to Random House. Because any serious author wants to make a career out of their craft, we’re incentivized not to express ourselves honestly, or innovate, but to follow trends. If I wanted Motive Black to have a better chance in the ring, it would be about a homosexual attempting to thrive in a hostile world. Or a straight man in the opposite circumstances. Instead, Motive Black is nuanced and explores it all in a way that is simply not ‘palatable’ or ‘profitable.’ It’s too niche. Too controversial.
This is why I’m a self-published author and will likely continue to be. But with all of that said I believe self-published authors are the future of literature. We’re not gated, and we’re not confined to shareholder constraints.
Don’t give up. I won’t.
November 8, 2024
Pain
This is unavoidable for any author, for any kind creative for that matter.
Maybe I’m speaking for myself, but if you have dedicated yourself—truly—to a project then you understand how the majority of the time there is no flowing, energetic inspiration. Mostly you have to work under the condition: I do not want to do this.
A regime is required, especially treating the regimen as sacred. And though you will likely feel relieved at the end of your time working it will feel tantamount to, say, dieting.
Hemingway killed himself. King was an alcoholic and drug addict. In fact most artists, especially the great ones, go through what King did. That’s because we cope and cope with whatever we can get our hands on. The former—Hemingway—is a possible outcome for the latter—king—so don’t give in to that temptation.
There are so many books that are not interesting to me, but the admiration I have for the author comes by default. To willingly torture yourself for the inclination you were blessed with—no, not cursed with—is admirable, always.
It takes courage to tell the truth, and so it takes courage to write. Don’t give up. Keep going. You can do it. I promise.
Maybe I’m speaking for myself, but if you have dedicated yourself—truly—to a project then you understand how the majority of the time there is no flowing, energetic inspiration. Mostly you have to work under the condition: I do not want to do this.
A regime is required, especially treating the regimen as sacred. And though you will likely feel relieved at the end of your time working it will feel tantamount to, say, dieting.
Hemingway killed himself. King was an alcoholic and drug addict. In fact most artists, especially the great ones, go through what King did. That’s because we cope and cope with whatever we can get our hands on. The former—Hemingway—is a possible outcome for the latter—king—so don’t give in to that temptation.
There are so many books that are not interesting to me, but the admiration I have for the author comes by default. To willingly torture yourself for the inclination you were blessed with—no, not cursed with—is admirable, always.
It takes courage to tell the truth, and so it takes courage to write. Don’t give up. Keep going. You can do it. I promise.
October 16, 2024
a self-published author
After about 5 years of writing when and where I can I completed the first novel in a series titled Motive Black. It’s a shocking, proactive series aimed squarely at unveiling the mechanisms driving evil and the temptations into doing so. Needless to say, beginning with a setting blatantly satirizing the LGBT, and without restraint, has made it a controversial and thereby niche novel at this time (2024).
Once completed, I spent 6 months querying as many as 50 agents who I believed would suit representing the word and faced 3 rejections and 47 non-responses. With the climate as it is in the literary industry, being quite liberal, I expected as much. So I decided to self-publish on Amazon.
What I’ve learned in this time is the state of the self-published author today. Traditionally writers seeking any sort of financial success were (still are) gate kept by literary agents who are then gate kept by traditional publishers with the connections and financial backing to sell your novel. They have the contracts, the industry reporté, and influence to claim high profile reviews, precise demographic targeting for readership, and the internal tools to craft an authors manuscript for him, or her, to make it as sellable as possible.
That is a self-published authors competition.
How can we get our work to be seen by readers in the midst of the powerful marketing push of traditional publishers?
The answer is we really can’t, and only by a miracle can we really.
I’ve spent a sum within my constraints on advertising primarily on Facebook and Twitter, not for sales necessarily, but for the public to even know my work exists. There are indie publishers, but due to the restraints of their own resources, they have to risk averse in their choosing, making a work like mine less than a consideration.
I began Motive Black with a sense of pursuing art, self expression and a real desire to entertain, shock and encourage thinking, all the while being naive in assuming a book like this will simply sell once it’s on the market. This isn’t true. It’s not even close.
As a writer, as for who I am, I can only write what I know and I can’t compromise on this. So I face the challenge. And any authors of my feather will face the same.
Innovative authors do not give up. We have a place somewhere, it’s only a matter of finding it.
Once completed, I spent 6 months querying as many as 50 agents who I believed would suit representing the word and faced 3 rejections and 47 non-responses. With the climate as it is in the literary industry, being quite liberal, I expected as much. So I decided to self-publish on Amazon.
What I’ve learned in this time is the state of the self-published author today. Traditionally writers seeking any sort of financial success were (still are) gate kept by literary agents who are then gate kept by traditional publishers with the connections and financial backing to sell your novel. They have the contracts, the industry reporté, and influence to claim high profile reviews, precise demographic targeting for readership, and the internal tools to craft an authors manuscript for him, or her, to make it as sellable as possible.
That is a self-published authors competition.
How can we get our work to be seen by readers in the midst of the powerful marketing push of traditional publishers?
The answer is we really can’t, and only by a miracle can we really.
I’ve spent a sum within my constraints on advertising primarily on Facebook and Twitter, not for sales necessarily, but for the public to even know my work exists. There are indie publishers, but due to the restraints of their own resources, they have to risk averse in their choosing, making a work like mine less than a consideration.
I began Motive Black with a sense of pursuing art, self expression and a real desire to entertain, shock and encourage thinking, all the while being naive in assuming a book like this will simply sell once it’s on the market. This isn’t true. It’s not even close.
As a writer, as for who I am, I can only write what I know and I can’t compromise on this. So I face the challenge. And any authors of my feather will face the same.
Innovative authors do not give up. We have a place somewhere, it’s only a matter of finding it.
