If you’re among the millions of people finding themselves at home in the middle of a work week, you may very well be the next J.K. Rowling, T.S. Eliot, E.L. James, or E.E. Cummings, and just not know it yet. All of those famous writers self-published their first works before hitting the big time (and initials aren’t even required)!
As The Guardian reports in this March 26th article, the publishing industry is seeing a surge in submissions as more and more aspiring authors find themselves sequestered with idle hands, lively fingers, and active imaginations. “Lisa Coen, of the award-winning independent Irish publisher Tramp Press, said the press normally gets four or five submissions a day; they’re now averaging twice as many, receiving up to 16 in one day.”
According to The Guardian article, literary agents are also seeing a surge. “I am seeing an upturn in email queries rather than actual submissions of finished manuscripts, and I expect that to continue,” states literary agent John Jarrold in The Guardian article. “Like most agents, I take on a tiny percentage of the authors who submit novels to me, maybe three or four a year out of 35 or so submissions a week, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.”
If that sounds like increasing competition and daunting odds to you, you’re not alone, which is why more self-isolating writers are becoming self-publishing authors. Self-published books are published within weeks rather than years; self-publishing authors earn a larger percentage of the book’s net profit (up to 100% in some cases); and, most importantly at the moment, self-publishing empowers writers to complete the entire publishing process from the comfort of their own homes.
For example, we at Outskirts Press have helped thousands of authors from all over the world self-publish over 25,000 paperbacks, hardbacks, ebooks, and audiobooks, all through the safety and security of “the cloud.”
During these turbulent times, people from all walks of life are discovering what aspiring authors have known all along: writing is therapeutic. As Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. writes in her article, The Power of Writing: 3 Types of Therapeutic Writing (published on the PsychCentral.com blog here), “Some of us think that writing is only for writers. But writing is for all of us.”
We think she has the “write” idea! Keep healthy. Keep safe. And keep on writing!