I’ve written a book called The Cheeseburger That Ate the Whole Town. It’s about a cheeseburger that eats a whole town. It’s 50,000 words long and I have put my heart and soul into writing it. It’s totally ridiculous – but I love it, and I want to share it with the world.
But I don’t think it’s traditionally publishable. It’s just too weird. Why would a publisher take a chance on something bizarre from an unheralded writer?
That’s why I’m taking matters into my own hands and self-publishing.
Taking Inspiration from Eric Andre
I’m often reminded of how Eric Andre got The Eric Andre Show off the ground. At the time, he was unemployed, working odd jobs to make ends meet. But he had this idea for a totally off-the-wall chat show that he knew had potential.
The only problem was that it was so different from anything else that it had to be seen to be believed.
“I knew it was too crazy and visual and too much of like an absurdist stream-of-consciousness show to really sell on paper. So I was like, I’m just going to have to shoot this thing myself.” – Eric Andre
After shooting the pilot, Andre didn’t have enough money to pay an editor, so he spent a year learning Final Cut Pro so that he could edit it himself.
Today, The Eric Andre Show is one of Adult Swim’s most popular shows, and Andre himself is one of the world’s most popular comedic actors.
Like him or loathe him (I love him), I think we can learn a lot from what Andre has achieved.
Lessons Learned From Going It Alone
Taking matters into our own hands can be scary. A lot of us don’t have the skills to self-publish or self promote – yet. But those skills can be learned.
I started self-publishing short stories as zines a few months ago, sharing my process on Instagram along the way. And somehow, over the last 6 months, I gained 10k followers.
This is for someone who is naturally very shy with an initial follower base of family and friends.
I’m not pretending that I have built a massive fanbase of dedicated readers or anything like that. But I have at least built an audience, and that’s something I never thought I could do.
What’s Next?
So stay tuned for updates as I take matters into my own hands and publish my unpublishable book. Here’s what’s on my plate:
- Formatting, printing and selling short stories as zines.
- Formatting The Cheeseburger That Ate the Whole Town for self-publication.
- Learning about self-publication and book launch strategies.
Follow me on socials or sign up to my Substack newsletter to see how I fare promoting and selling The Cheeseburger That Ate The Whole Town.
