Doing Hard Things: Self-publishing, Art & Validation

How to self-publish a book Q&A / The Wizard of OZ / And Questions of Legitimacy/ The Muse Letter No. 96

I think about art and writing and validation: a lot.

I have to because to an extent it is my livelihood, my purpose.

It’s been over a year since I self-published “Things I Have Noticed – Essays on leaving/searching/finding”, now in its 7th print run and over 1000 copies sold later it still feels strange to write self-published in my CV, still I need to ask when submitting somewhere if I, in fact, do count as published. Or if I am still new and fresh and undiscovered?

Which really comes down to the individual’s assumption about the success and legitimacy of self-published authors. So far it usually is: unacknowledged.

As in: it doesn’t exist.

On bad days self-publishing feels like forging my Mum’s signature when she forgot to sign a sick note. When she was busy or quite frankly could not be bothered to do it, early in the morning, me rushing out of the house, remembering. So I did it instead which would make me feel strangely empowered while also: not quite legitimate. Not quite right.