Kenn Amdahl is the author of “There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings” and “Joy Writing,” which I am currently reading. He’s also the publisher of the aforementioned books. In fact, he hasn’t called anyone “Boss” in eighteen years, thanks to the success of Clearwater Publishing Company. Jealous? Read on to find out what he has to say about following in his footsteps. You can find the first part of the interview here.

You have the rare pleasure of being both an author and a publisher. Do you often argue with yourself? If so, is it treatable? Also, have you ever considered opening an independent bookstore to complete the cycle of pain?

No, I never argue with myself. What do you mean by that? Of course you argue with me! I do not! See, you’re doing it now! OK, cut that out!  All right, you two stop it. I’ll handle this.

When I’m in “writer” mode, I’m a child. I’m playful and carefree, innocent and cheerful. It is the best time, and I wish I could spend all my time in that mode. But the truth is, I can only write about five pages a day before my brain is empty. It rarely takes longer than two hours to empty my brain.

When I’m in “editor” mode, I try to be more serious because some people really care if your serial commas are consistent.  It’s clearly a grown-up activity.

When I’m in “publisher” mode, I’m a businessman. If I don’t sell enough books, I’ll have to get a job where someone might pay attention to how much actual work I do, and if I show up, and nonsense like that.  With that threat looming over me, obviously I keep moving. Being in businessman mode, as a publisher or book store owner, is not at all like being a reader or a writer. It’s like being a businessman.

Many writers don’t appreciate the disconnect between fame and fortune. Many rich folks are unknown, and many well-known authors scramble to pay their bills. Most publishing companies fail. Most books don’t make money. It costs money to print a book, and if the author doesn’t help promote it, the publisher will lose money. The author will get the glory of simply being published, and will blame the publisher for poor sales.  The publisher will blame the lazy author. As both author and publisher, when one of my books doesn’t sell well there can be only one explanation: the book store screwed up.

I love good books, but selling even excellent books (like mine, for example) is hard work. And most books aren’t very good. And many people can’t tell the difference. Owning a bookstore would be a special kind of Hell. But thanks for the suggestion.

I spent all weekend writing a novel.  I made a PDF out of it to sell from my website and can print up a few copies at my friendly neighborhood print shop if need be.  Should I join a publishers’ association first, or can I go ahead and take out an ad in the yellow pages?

Well, I’d join a publishers’ association, because they can probably give you EVEN BETTER marketing ideas than an ad in the yellow pages.

Before you self-publish at all, you might test the New York waters. If a major publisher wants to hand you a bunch of money, I’d suggest you take it.  When I was submitting Electrons to Real Publishers, I dreamed someone would offer me three thousand dollars plus royalties. If they had, I would have taken it. But one’s vision can change. After I published it and sales started registering, several of the publishers who rejected it called me. They’d been thinking about my book, they said, and decided they’d been hasty. If I’d take three thousand dollars, they’d be willing to take it off my hands. Where should they send the contract?

I felt bad, but I had to reject them. “Unfortunately,” I said, “I’m making more than that on it every month now. But good luck to you. Keep in touch. Let’s do lunch sometime.”  At one point an agent called and said, “Kenn, why don’t you let me sell that book to a real publisher for you? I know I can get you a quarter of a million for it.”  Well, that was pretty tempting. Then I did the math. After paying her commission and taxes, if I put that advance into a savings account, the interest income would be a serious pay cut.  I declined, but I confess I declined very politely.

Self-publishing is not for the timid or fearful.  It is also not for bad writers: the competition is ruthless and you will fail. If you’re a good writer, with a good book, and you’re willing to work hard at marketing, then maybe. But not if your book is about electrons.

This article was written by John Roach http://prowritingtips.com John is a writer and copy editor. You can follow him on twitter at @johnwroachiii. To see more posts click here

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• Interview with Kenn Amdahl, self-publisher - part 3
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