Was Self-Publishing the Wrong Choice?

Self-Published Collection

A few months ago, I posted about self-publishing my poetry collection. Yes, poetry. I think that's extremely a hard sell already, whether through a publishing house or other.

I took control of the full process of writing, editing, making my own book cover, writing the book description and publishing it on Amazon.

Few months later... and I still haven't sold a single copy. In fact, the only book I sold this year was of an older chapbook, shorter in size.

Why Didn't I Sell More?

There's few easy answers to why self-publishing was not successful at all. First, I've gone radio-silent.

I stopped engaging in social platforms that I was active in back in my poetry peak. Twitter became X and killed any form of meaningful engagement, and I had never found my groove back in Hive after being forked out from the Steem blockchain.

My attempt at meeting other poet-enthusiasts in real life kind of foiled as well. After attending two Open Mic events, even though I enjoyed reading, I got overwhelmed and did not enjoy the socialisation aspect. Yeah, being autistic makes this altogether more challenging!

And of course, I did not put any spending budget into marketing the book. It's poetry. I have no serious following. I don't think there is any financial investment I could have put into the book that would have resulted into a profit?

It Was Still the Right Choice

You read that right. Despite not selling any copies, I still believe it was the correct path for me.

The truth is, there isn't another viable option that is accessible. Submitting to publishing houses takes a lot of energy that I don't have.

Instead, I focused my time on editing, making the cover, and all the things I enjoyed about producing. Focusing on finding publishing houses that barely paid any royalties would have not only taken too much time, but drained any fun out of the process. It's a sad reality.

If an opportunity landed in my lap, I would have definitely taken it. In fact, I have another book that I wrote and edited that is still gathering dust for four years.

The Ideal Path

Should a genie decide to grant me a wish, I'd definitely love to make poetry more popular. Many artists nowadays produce content online for no to little returns and it can be demotivating.

That's one thing I really enjoy about these blockchain platforms where I am heard and paid, even if ever so slightly, for my contributions.

Poetry being so niche, I still am unsure what is the ideal path, but all I can do is focus on what's right for me.