Q: Would you recommend self-publishing to other people today?
A: Self-publishing is a road fraught with peril, as Tolkien might say. Some very successful books were self-published, but most successful books are traditionally published after being accepted through the process of editorial review. And it helps tremendously for a writer to be able to work with an editor, particularly if that editor has a passion for the subject.
My advice for people who want to self-publish is to know what they are getting into. They will have to spend a lot of money, and they will be responsible for marketing their books. If they use print-on-demand publishing services providers, they will have a difficult time getting their books into the stores. Many self-published authors have to buy large quantities of their own books and act as distributors before they can get into mainstream channels. Online bookstores are more friendly to self-published authors, but the burden of marketing your book is still on you, the author.
So, as frustrating as it is, I think people should first try the traditional publishing markets. Competition is intense and most people get rejected. But most self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies. People should not give in to the vagues promises that the vanity presses make in their marketing pitches. They make most of their money by selling services and products to authors, not by selling books to the reading public.
Q: Parma Endorion: Essays on Middle-earth, is an eBook. Why did you choose electronic publishing for your second book, and how successful has it been?
A: Parma Endorion is one of the most popular eBooks of all time. I was blown away by its success. More than a half million copies had been downloaded by the beginning of 2004. To the best of my knowledge, only Stephen King has had more downloads of a single title.
I had originally published the Parma essays as a Web book. There were almost a hundred HTML pages on the site by the end of that process. I had originally encoded each essay onto a single page. But I used awful background colors and images to make it difficult for people to print out the essays. I was afraid of that. I wanted people to read the Web book. But I was inundated with emails from around the world, asking me how to print out the essays. At first I asked people not to do that, but it became impossible to stop the requests. Finally, I revised the Web site to use individual pages and look more like a book. With white backgrounds, the pages were easily printed out. But people still said the format was very tedious (which it was).
So, when I began thinking about writing a third edition of the Web book, I realized that an eBook would be a much better platform. About that time, Matt Tinaglia contacted me and asked if/when I was going to write a sequel to Visualizing Middle-earth. I told him I was working on the new Parma Endorion and he asked if he could help. As we worked together, I realized that I could invite other people to join in the project, too. It was always my intention to leave Parma Endorion as a free resource. I was afraid that if I tried to sell it, I might run into a dispute with the Tolkien Estate (although that is probably unlikely).
So, we looked at hundreds of pictures by fan artists and chose several artists to invite. Rich Sullivan and Anke Eissman agreed to let us use some of their work. I feel that Matt's work as editor and the inclusion of the artwork made the eBook an extremely valuable and popular resource. My initial hope was to get 50,000 downloads in the first year. I felt that was a very bold, liberal projection. To be honest, I wasn't even sure it was realistic. And then we had 25,000 downloads in the first month alone. What an incredible experience that was! My only regret now is that we DIDN'T charge for the eBook, but what's done is done.
Q: And what about Understanding Middle-earth? How has it been received?
A: UME has been better received than VME in many respects. It is a better written, better edited (thanks to Matt Tinaglia), and better organized book than VME. But it has still been overshadowed by Parma Endorion. To this day, I meet people who have read Parma Endorion but not my other books. I suppose that is the true price of a free eBook. You reach a larger audience which isn't willing to pay for your other books. Other eBook authors have had similar experiences. One doctor had a free eBook about health on his Web site. After 20,000 downloads, he pulled it from distribution because people were not buying his other books.
But the people who have read and reviewed Understanding Middle-earth tell me they really like it. Some reviewers have been blown away by it. The essays represent an immense amount of time and effort. And they are not simply reprints of the Suite101 essays, although most of them were originally published on Suite101. Matt and I strove to bring new value to this collection. He rearranged and combined some essays, and he asked me to rewrite portions of several essays. I also took the opportunity to update several of the essays with new information and corrections. And one essay, "How the Elves have changed", was written explicitly for that book (along with another which Matt ultimately rejected).
