There are a lot of reasons why looking to the past for role models can be problematic, particularly (in our case) when looking for legendary figures for us to admire as self-publishing authors. For one thing, the world simply looked … well, different back then. Whether we’re talking about Gutenberg and the Fourteenth Century or Austen, Dumas, Thoreau, and Potter in the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth centuries, we must admit that the everyday fabric of human existence has been altered––and therefore, the nature and appearance of the publishing industry. Calling certain (late & great) authors “self-published” is unlikely to do justice to the whole picture.
But let’s take a second to look at those points, two per author, which I plucked from each (late & great) author’s life story and publishing history.
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From Johannes Gutenberg, we learned to:
Use the tools at hand, and use them well, but don’t become shackled to any existing paradigm.
Pay attention to the market; listen to both your readers’ needs and those of your own practical enterprise.
From Jane Austen, we learned to:
Adapt as you go.
Use what you have.
From Alexandre Dumas, we learned to:
Own it. Bring it. Fight for your place in the sun.
Flee to Belgium when you need to.
From Henry David Thoreau, we learned:
Optimism is a discipline, not a fragile state to be moved through and discarded.
We must write what we feel compelled to write.
And (last but not least) from Beatrix Potter, we learned to:
Not let others change you without your permission.
Keep it relational.
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Are these points still valid, when pulled out of context? Factually, I think they are. They may sound a bit like lines from the latest cheer squad movie, or chapter titles from a self-help book, and I’m okay with that. Because you know what? We can all do with a little direction, and a little encouragement. (I’m most definitely the proof in the pudding. And of course, I’m *completely* objective about my own opinings, right?)
Loosely, these ten points fall into one-word attributes: flexibility, attentiveness, adaptability, pragmatism, determination, forgiveness, optimism, fidelity, authenticity, and relationality. These qualities are timeless; they will always, always, workin your favor as a self-published (or self-publishing) author. No matter what century you’re born into.
Of course, when it comes to interpreting the past, any decent scholar and historian can tell you that the act of interpretation says far more about the interpreter than the interpreted. It tells us what we need, rather than what really happened. (It might also show us what “really happened,” but that’s secondary and beside the point.) So I suppose this list tells you what I, specifically, need to hear when it comes to icons of self-publishing––and, more broadly, what the culture that produced and sustains me probably also needs to hear.
The point of looking back is to look forward, with a clarity of vision and insightfulness of spirit. Each and every one of the five authors I have examined over the last five weeks was human, and therefore not always liable to be warm and fuzzy when dispensing with advice for other and future authors, but they were also rather generous and kind to those they knew would pick up the torch of literary ambition. They each would want you to persevere, to exercise wisdom, and above all, to write.
And of course, to see your writing through, from beginning to end––dream to publication.
This concludes my series on the Late Greats of self-publishing! If you have any comments, reflections, or suggestions for future series, I’d love to hear them. Drop me a line in the comments box, and watch this space on Wednesdays in 2015!
 ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com. |
