Bookstrapping

Seth Godin is a bestselling author who has made the jump to self-publishing with The Domino Project. He has a post today about something he calls Bookstrapping.

I interpret that word to be a play on picking yourself up by your bootstraps, a phrase that means improve your situation by your own efforts. The site I linked to this phrase adds: "Some early computers used a process called bootstrapping which alludes to this phrase. This involved loading a small amount of code which was then used to progressively load more complex code until the machine was ready for use. This has led to use of the term 'booting' to mean starting up a computer."

Seth coined "Bookstrapping" to mean self-publishing to get your message out. He applies it to entrepreneurs seeking to use their non-fiction books to stake out a place in the business marketplace.

I think it applies equally well to indie fiction writers. Rather than waiting for a traditional publisher to publish and market our books so we can sit back, cash royalty checks and wait for an invitation to the National Book Award ceremony, we can, and should, self-publish and make it happen ourselves.