True Artistic Freedom

I published my novel «ShadowWalk» in March 2003 on my own label, my own publishing company after a desert walk lasting two decades between various established publishers. That was my second. The first was the Norwegian edition of «Dreams belong to the Night».

No established publisher would or will ever want to touch my work, at least not without major rearranging, censorship, so I decided to do it myself. I took the advantage of current technology, and did everything, except the actual printing myself. In hindsight I feel almost grateful towards all those greedy and stuck-up publishers…

There are basically two major faults with them. They publish either only work they, personally deem to be of artistic merit, or they just want lots and lots of cash. Either approach equally despicable in my eyes.

I remember sitting there, with the book in my hands, with both of them, for hours, feeling something very close to awe. I sat there with a real book in my hands, a novel, 300000 words I had written.

Many people frown at self-publishing novels. Many bookstores won’t touch them and they even brag about it. They even call them «Vanity projects», «suggesting» that there are basically people with an overblown ego and a lot of money that’s doing it. To me that is clearly yet another tactic put out there by the establishment, including the established publishers.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to both self-publishing and doing so through established publishers. One major disadvantage of doing it yourself is that you lack the advantages of a big operation. You need to «waste» a lot of time doing everything the big bucks publishers pay others to do, for one thing. And then there is the obvious thing about distribution, which is or was crucial. If you didn’t get your book into the stores you wouldn’t sell much. But to me, what everything comes down to is this:

When you do it yourself, on your own, you do everything, and can do everything, exactly like you want. You don’t need to do things you don’t want to do. You accept aid, of course, and advise from people you trust, but ultimately you are making the decisions. I have (briefly) experienced the process the authors go through suffering the meat grinder the established publishers demand you go through. They wanted me, like they want everyone to change three fourths (or rather everything) of the book. And we’re not talking about grammar here, or even wording. We’re talking about the story. They wanted the book, want all books to become their story, their neutered child, not the authors free-spirited wild creature. They are part of the worldwide censorship process, and many self-publishers aren’t. I get very angry when I see the smirk on the big guns’ faces when they state how proud they are to give voice to previously censored work. They do, and they don’t, if you get my drift…

So I will dare this outrageous claim: Generally speaking (there are exceptions to any rule) self-published books and art in general beat those being published by a major operation by a vast majority.

So I published them on my own, using my own hard-won money, and I lost quite a bit of those money doing so, but I would have done it again in an instant. I sold several hundred books worldwide, mostly on the Internet and in the city of London, and as an added bonus of having low sales I was contacted and could respond personally to my readers, and I learned a lot in the bargain. Big time writers can never have such a personal rapport with their readers.

And now, now it’s finally the time to take the next step. The poor artist’s publishing method is finally here in earnest.

The Print-On-Demand is here, and I’m here, and I’m ready.

The time, the dominion (at least) of the major publishers, books, music, movies and art in general is done. Good riddance!

After a long time of picking and choosing I’ve now registered with lulu.com, and the first novel in my new venture, «The Defenseless» is due in November. This date and the others below are not set, but I foresee no major obstacles at this point. Not technically, nor economically. They, the current world, its masters and eager servants will keep attempting to stop me, censor and stop any truly free expression, of course.

It takes about ten years for me to complete a book, from start to the final finishing touch. But with The Defenseless it has taken me thirty years.

My plan (it’s great to have a plan) at this time:

Your Own Fate in February.
The Slaves in April
Night On Earth in June
Collected Poems in August
Birds Flying in the Dark in October/November
Dreams Belong to the Night in February (2008)


There you have it, folks, in all modesty (and pretentiousness) seven of the most controversial books ever written (and soon hopefully published).