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Anatomy of a DIY Buzz: Authors Are Doing It for Themselves

October 06, 2005
By Ed Christman

Despite some shifting attitudes in the book world toward self-published authors, many of those do-it-themselves types remain convinced that the mainstream book industry considers them an alien species. Fortunately, there are platforms designed specifically to make them feel at home, and events that help provide recognition for their efforts.

Take an event put together by Do It Yourself in Films, Music & Books. On Oct. 8, at the Tangiers restaurant in Los Angeles, the DIY organization will hold its fourth annual DIY Book Festival, to celebrate independent and self-published books and present awards in 16 categories. For some authors, such a program is a much-appreciated change of pace.

°Publishing is the only industry where the entrepreneurs are looked down upon,¡± says once-upon-a-time self-published author Steve Schindler. ¡°In every other creative field, whether it's movies, music or fashion, it seems those entrepreneurs get the most accolades, while [here,] self-publishers get no respect. It really riles me.¡± Schindler speculates that the situation exists because publishing still has a strong ¡°old-boy¡± network.

Self-published children¡¯s author Laura Duksta agrees. ¡°We all here are trying to do our best, and we are getting shunned by the [book] industry, whereas in music and film, the indie people are very well-respected.¡±

Through DIY, Schindler and Duksta have both gotten their props, having won awards at DIY¡¯s book conventions.

This year¡¯s award-winners include Keith White¡¯s The Portal, which was named book of the year, while Treasure Trove Inc., which published a children¡¯s book¡ªunder that name by Michael Stadther, won the top publishing award.


The DIY Book Festival grew out of the DIY Convention; the sixth annual affair will be held Feb. 5-12 at the Egyptian Theatre and Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood. In addition to concerts, film previews and parties, the event will have an extensive lineup of panels, workshops and keynotes speakers, all focusing on creating, promoting, protecting and distributing independent film, music and books, according to a DIY press release.
Among the artists who have performed in conjunction with the convention are Steve Earle, Madeleine Peyroux, Mountain Goats and Hidden Cameras. According to a DIY press release, co-sponsors for the upcoming convention include Spaceland Productions, the LA Weekly, BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, FilmBaby, the Los Angeles Times, Final Draft Screenplay Software, CDBaby, Guitar Center, the Hollywood Creative Directory, Hewlett-Packard, Imagic, Alcasid.com, and DIY sister operation theDIYReporter.com .

Schindler won the DIY best fiction award in 2003 for his second book. As a self-published author, Schindler says, ¡°All you have to go on is the reputation of your books, so it means a lot to get those type of awards.¡±

Schindler says that through a friend and with the aide of the DIY award, he managed to get his third book in front of an editor at a major publishing house. Consequently, Simon & Schuster published his third book, From Here to Reality, on Aug. 15.

¡°Fiction is the toughest nut to crack in self-publishing,¡± Schindler says. ¡°It is really hard to get into to bookstores and get a buzz going, but I was pretty lucky with my first self-published book, Sewer Ball,¡± a coming-of-age story set in the Bronx in the 1960s. First off, Schindler says, he was lucky to get a glowing review in a small-press publication, and he also managed to get his initial effort into some bookstores¡ªthanks to the fact that he ¡°knew someone.¡± Schindler ultimately ran two printings of that book, which he put out under the name of Elevated Press, and claims sales of about 3,000 copies.

Although he won the DIY award for 2003, his second book actually came out in June 2001. Books that qualify for this year¡¯s DIY Book Festival are any published after Jan. 1, 2003. ¡°It takes indie books a lot longer to get traction in the marketplace, so people are still working releases from that far back,¡± explains Bruce Haring, a journalist who started and runs the DIY organization.

Haring reports that his festivals generally generate about 300 to 500 submissions, which are reviewed by a panel including editors, authors and publicists. ¡°They read the books and decide which ones for us to focus on, and then we, as a group, flesh it out from there,¡± he says.

This year¡¯s deadline for submissions was Sept. 25, and it costs authors $50 to enter, although comics, fanzines and fan fiction entrants are only charged $25.

¡°The vast majority of self-published books don¡¯t sell tons,¡± Haring acknowledges. ¡°But you¡¯d be surprised how many they do sell through pluck, perseverance and savvy marketing. There is some stuff that is so brilliantly good that you just slap your forehead and say, ¡®Wow.¡¯ ¡±

One such book¡ªwhich won in the children¡¯s category and, for its publisher, the Publisher of the Year¡ªI Love You More, was written by Duksta and illustrated by Karen Keesler, both of whom are former bartenders from South Beach. Duksta, who published the book under the name I Shine Inc., says it has sold 167,000 units in three-and-a-half years.

But that book¡¯s sales base was established in the gift-store market, which, according to Duksta, has a big word-of-mouth network among owners, who pass along tips to each other about what is selling. Duksta started out with a $10,000 loan via her mother¡¯s credit cards, made available because, Duksta says, her mother ¡°loved the idea that I would be a children¡¯s author.¡± She says that her book became successful because it ¡°has an incredible title and my book is about love, which is one of the easiest subjects to sell; and we had a unique marketing strategy.¡±

First off, Duksta explains, the duo made a big investment upfront, allowing them to use an established printer that was able to produce a book that felt and smelled the way a book from a major publisher does. Then Duksta made her first sale to the gift shop down the street from where she lived, which took ten copies on consignment¡ªand then started re-ordering. The shop owner gave her a list of other gift galleries, and told her to call and tell them, ¡°You are the next Lucky Bamboo/Groovy Girls,¡± referring to the now-ubiquitous Asian-grass-in-a-pot phenomenon and an equally prevalent line of dolls and accessories.

¡°I guess when they pass on something that sells, it is a favor owed and you have to pass on your sales success in return,¡± she said.

Had Duksta gone the traditional route to bookstores, she believes, she would have been lucky to get two copies into the store with spine merchandising. Instead, gift stores have been ordering two boxes of the title at a time, and making it a display item. ¡°The customer knows that the owner takes a lot of time hand-picking¡± unique items for sale, she says, and that translates into sales.

Duksta provided another sales-boosting tool by making a gold sticker touting the DIY award. Gift-store owners liked it so much that when she ran out stickers and stopped packing them with the books, they called her. So her assessment of the award? ¡°It certainly was worth the $50 entry fee,¡± she says. Duksta says she encourages other new authors to remain active in the marketing and promotion of their book instead of relying on publishers.

Interestingly, she¡¯s now written a second book (Purple Potatoes), and for this one, she says, she would prefer to partner with a publisher to print and distribute the book. ¡°Now, having proven our sales in the specialty market, we have the attention of just about any major agent and/or publisher and will be able to negotiate a great deal for a first time author-illustrator team,¡± she says. And she would never been in that position, of course, had she not put herself in it.