Via This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  and the Toronto Town Crier comes a great piece on Rita Baker—a woman  who took the fate of her unpublished manuscript into her own hands.

Writes De Giorgio:

Believing that her manuscript, Of Bonds and Bondage, was destined for much greater things than collecting dust in her Yorkville home, the retiree contacted the online American publishing company AuthorHouse and published her first book last March.

She continues:

Baker, who resumed writing 18 years ago after her two sons were raised, isn’t ashamed of self-publishing her work when no one else would touch it.

With Of Bonds and Bondage she hopes to entertain readers and make a name for herself as a Canadian author. She also hopes to show that perseverance can also lead to success, no matter how old you are.

But while Baker’s story is a heartwarming tale about determination, self-publishing is no stranger to negative connotations.

De Giorgio also taps Stuart Ross for some insight:

“The idea is that you couldn’t get it published so you did it yourself,” said Ross.

But vanity publishing is only one aspect of the self-publishing world, said Ross, who started self-publishing his poetry pamphlets in the late 1970s.

...

Ross, who has been active in the city’s underground literary scene since the 1970s, sold more than 7,000 copies of his self-published poetry pamphlets on Yonge and Bay streets in the 1980s, often wearing signs saying such things as “Writer Going to Hell,” just to get attention.

...

“It’s a real thrill doing it myself,” Ross said, reiterating that self-published authors like him aren’t in any way like vanity published authors.

...

Also in Toronto’s underground literary scene, the art form is alive and well. In fact, it’s highly respected and even has local literary magazines such as Broken Pencil devoted to the scene, said Ross, who co-founded the Toronto Small Press Book Fair with Nicholas Power in 1987.

And if you’re still debating whether self-publishing is solely vanity publishing and just boosts the author’s ego, here’s an important fact to consider, added Ross.

In the traditional mainstream literary scene it might take just two people — the author and the editor — to believe in a particular manuscript. In the self-publishing world, it’s just one less person.

For the complete article, check out the Toronto Town Crier. Click here.

Source: Toronto Town Crier

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