So You Want To Self Publish Your Plays. OK Go Ahead! No Really.

Occasionally I read the topics of various "Playwright" message forums on the Social networks and sometimes I will throw my 2 cents (or maybe a nickel) into the comments. Most of the time, there is someone just starting out in the playwright arena who asks a simple question and I feel obliged to reply with an answer. (note - "an" answer, not "the" answer. There are some writers out there who feel there is only One way to do this or that and thankfully, I didn't apply to that school of thought because my grades weren't acceptable. And my mind was open to many possible ways of thinking, not one.  )
play-dead.com

 

The most recent question that came up was on the topic of "Self-Publishing" - Should you? Or Why Would You? 

There were many responses to the question ranging from "No way! Why would you even consider doing it yourself?" to the other side - "Sure! Why not? ."  And for some odd reason, there was even an inference that "self-publishing" was the "lazy man's way".  I'm still trying to wrap my head around that concept. 

The "lazy man's way"?  Way of what? Hello? And buying furniture from IKEA and assembling it all yourself is the lazy man's way. 

Anyway, there were a few responses such as "No, you must submit your work to play competitions and publishing houses to really get your work out there."  You need the blessing of the Sammy French's and Moldy Old guys otherwise you're nothing. 

The theory here is - if you create your own website with "Hello World! Here I am. Here are my plays! Please produce them!" It just won't work. You will have to market yourself and ultimately prove yourself. After all, you want the theatre world at large to find you and believe in you. Doing it yourself just won't work. You need a large established machine (or publishing house)  to do the work.

You do? Really?

I wish someone had given me that advice back in 2000.  (I wouldn't have listened but still, I wish someone had.)  And thinking back I would have to to say, No! You're wrong oh wise-advice-giver- all -knowing-playwright-person  -   I wasn't lazy - the bottom line is that -  I didn't know any better. (And as I said, no one said anything to me as in, Don't do it! )

 I had a hand full of comedy murder mystery scripts I had written for a local theatre group and I thought, "Hey! Why not put these out there and see if any other groups may want to do them."  O.K. That's not exactly what I thought, word for word - but for the sake of time - let's go with that.

At the time, I was familiar with some of the big names in play publishing out there such as Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service from seeing their names branded on the scripts that I held in my hand as an actor in High School and elsewhere. I may have considered for a brief second the possibility of farming out my plays to the big guys but checking their websites and reading the terms and conditions and submission guidelines - seemed like too much work. (Oh, see there! You admit! Self-publishing is the lazy way after all. No. Shut up.)

After considerable thought about a catchy name and checking to see if the domain name were available, I purchased play-dead.com.  I found a reasonably priced hosting service and set about teaching myself HTML. I consulted with some folks who knew what they were doing in the online world - setting up shopping carts, who to use for online transactions and everything else I could think about related to conducting business on the web. It took time and energy - that is, the time and energy you have available away from your full-time job and responsibilities.

 I read articles, books about marketing and sales and blah blah blah - many were not helpful - out of 50 Ways to Market Yourself On-Line!  Of which 3 were actually useful. It took a good year to get things rolling. One year, after my self-styled website went online,  a theatre group contacting me about purchasing the rights for one of my plays.  Ha!

Back in the year 2000,  there were not a lot of helpful books or online articles aimed at the D.I.Y crowd, let alone advice for the self-publishing playwright. Of course, now, the expression is you can't swing a dead cat in a room without hitting someone writing something about self-publishing.  Also, in 2000, there wasn't a strong presence of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to post news about your plays and ways to market yourself. In the old days,  you needed to actively seek out similar websites and ask if you could exchange links. For me, at the time,  it was very much trial by fire, learn as you go, make mistakes and correct them. Was it worth it?  By all means. Would I recommend self-publishing to someone starting out? Yes. Am I really a control freak at heart? No. Not that I will admit to. But the point is when you do it all yourself, the reward is so much sweeter.

I was contacted by major play publisher a few years ago who after some negotiations offered me a pretty sweet deal. They would take over publishing, marketing and order fulfillment and pay me a percentage of royalties. After some thought, I turned down the offer. At that point in my life, I had put a lot of work into getting my name out there and was developing an audience, I wasn't ready to hand the reigns over to someone else. Not to mention, (but I will) as a self-publisher, you don't have to settle for a percentage - you get the whole enchilada. Most importantly, you can be personally accessible and accountable for your work. When people call my phone number they talk to me, not a corporate entity. I can answer questions or offer suggestions. That makes it all worthwhile as well. The human factor.

Is it the lazy man's way, self-publishing? No way. It's very difficult and a lot of work. Especially when you don't know any better.

For further reading on my self-publishing journey and thoughts on this you can read:

Some Thoughts On Becoming an Indie Playwright

More Thoughts On Being and Indie Playwright and Promotion



And what's this below? Self published plays?