Jackie Collins Explains Her Decision to Self-Publish, Gives Advice to Writers

Posted on April 25, 2012

Bestselling author Jackie Collins raised some eyebrows when she decided to self-publish a book. Many wondered if she had experienced some terrible falling out with her publishers. Jackie sets the record straight in a very interesting blog post. She says she gets along great with her publishers, and her next book will be released with them as usual. But she likes to try new things and keep up with technological advances, so she self-published an updated version of her bestselling novel The Bitch. She explains,

First, I have fantastic relationships with my two publishers, Simon & Schuster UK and St. Martin's Press US. No juicy story about a tiff or spat between us-we're good. I'm currently writing my 29th book The Power Trip, and it will be published by both companies, respectively.
But times are changing, and technology is changing, so I wanted to experiment with this growing trend of self-publishing.

Jackie discusses ebooks and how they are changing the bookselling business. She also has some great advice for writers, including this bit about book promotion:

Publishers are in the publishing business to make money (and that's a good thing). But remember that their goal is NOT to make your dreams of being an author come true. Their goal is to make money through the careful and thoughtful exploitation of your book.
So, you have to fight for what you want. (Even I do.) If you want a full-page ad in People magazine, you have to get it in your contract; otherwise it's not going to happen, and you'll hear things like, "it costs too much."

Jackie tells writers never to give up and to never quite hustling. If you believe your writing is good, then don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Jackie has sold more than 400 million copies of her books, which have been translated into 40 languages.