Xlibris Publishing introduces Eva Poluha and Elehu Feleke, the authors behind Thinking Outside the Box.
We are thankful for the request from Xlibris to share our writing and publishing experiences because it helped us reflect on our journey from inception to publishing our book, entitled “Thinking Outside the Box: Essays on the History and (Under) Development of Ethiopia.”
We, the authors, have been married for over 40 years, but our professional careers have been as far apart as imaginable. Eva is a Senior Associate Professor in Social Anthropology, who has been engaged in social research, writing and teaching. Elehu is a Medical Doctor who has specialized in Cardiology and practiced clinical medicine in both Sweden and Ethiopia. We have both lived and worked interchangeably in Eva’s native country, Sweden and Elehu’s native country, Ethiopia. We have seen many tragedies and experienced momentous events in Ethiopia.
As some readers may know, Ethiopia is a country with more than 2,000 years of history and a farming population that independently domesticated a number of food plants. Yet, the name Ethiopia was almost synonymous with mass starvation during the last decades of the twentieth century. The book is the result of our joint efforts to make sense of this enigma.
When we started the research, we had not thought of how or in what form we were to publish our findings. The question only came up after we had reached the stage of a coherent manuscript. We each have varying degrees of experience in traditional academic publishing. Eva has already published several books – see our website: www.poluhafeleke.com. Elehu has participated with other co-authors in publishing medical articles in various medical journals.
For our joint work, we chose to explore the brave new world of self-publishing. Several factors prompted us to choose Xlibris. The first contact with and continued support from our publishing consultant was one major factor. We can say that the “Professional Publishing Package” was executed professionally. It was thrilling to hold the first print-out of the book!
After publication, Xlibris offered us a number of marketing options. Unfortunately, the offers did not consider two particular aspects. First, most of the strategy seems to be geared to fiction books, whose market could be extremely elastic, depending on marketing methods. For a non-fiction book like ours, dealing with a specific topic in a specific country, the potential readers are limited and far apart. The same methods of marketing as for fiction books may not be optimal. Secondly, as we live in Europe, marketing activities like television appearances, radio interviews, book launching events, etc., in the US would be impracticable or prohibitively expensive. We suggest that Xlibris tailor a separate strategy for non-fiction authors, particularly from outside the US.
Our own marketing strategy is still evolving because, we have to admit, we did not reflect upon it before publication! We do understand that our potential readers must become aware of the existence of our book and have started a website dedicated to promoting it. Even bringing the website to the attention of potential readers is a challenge, however and we know that we need to learn more about social media. Outside the digital world, we have organized a book launch in our hometown, Stockholm, and we hope to have other launching opportunities, both in Sweden and in Ethiopia.
Our biggest challenge is that the book, in its present form, will be relatively inaccessible to average Ethiopians. The number of people in Ethiopia who could read an academic text like ours in English is limited. Even for those who can read the book, currency restrictions make it difficult for people to order the book through the on-line bookstores. We have therefore realized that that an abridged version of the book in Amharic, the official language in Ethiopia, has to be published and marketed in Ethiopia. This will in effect be a sequel to our book.
A final observation that we would like to offer to our fellow authors is that self-publishing is a brave new world which is much smoother and easier than traditional publishing. Your publishing need not depend on the whims or lack of time of an over-burdened traditional editor. With just the right amount of assistance that you need or are prepared to pay for, you can have your book on the market in a very short time. But you have to remember that your publishing task does not end as soon as you have submitted your final proof-reading. In traditional publishing, it is the publishing house, which sees to it that your book is distributed through the right channels and is reviewed in the proper publications. In self-publishing, it is your responsibility to ensure that your finished product gets the attention of your potential readers. Either you are prepared to commit a lot of additional funds for marketing services or you have to develop your own alternative strategy. Either way, a marketing strategy is as important as having your manuscript available in print.
This then is the single most important advice that we can offer to aspiring authors who are considering self-publishing: work on your marketing strategy as soon as you have finished your manuscript. This does not mean that you have to acquire salesmanship skills, as some people urge you. Not all people have the interest or aptitude for salesmanship. What we mean is that you owe it to yourself to ensure that your work gets the attention of your potential readers.
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