Kevin Kelly shares everything he knows about independent publishing, and concludes: 

The way I approach publishing today is with as much self-publishing as I can handle. I’d write in public installments, as a subscription newsletter, or e-book single chapters, or simple posts on my blog. If I could find an audience that wanted more of the material, I’d rewrite, re-edit, re-compose the material into a longer form.

And at every stage I’d be making some kind of visual version for YouTube and the other attention seeking channels, because that is where the attention is.

He also included this flow chart:

This was a helpful reminder that finding an audience isn’t just a business or marketing necessity, it’s a critical part of the publishing process. 

A book isn’t just an object, it’s special ability is to start conversations and make a subject matter. For many authors, starting or contributing to the conversation is a driving factor—maybe even the whole reason—they’re going through the effort of writing the book.

“Both art and science can be filled with passion and frustration, setbacks and breakthroughs. But, most importantly, the work is never meant to exist in a vacuum: whether it’s receiving a vaccine or being moved by a painting, it is the audience that completes the picture,” Rachel Sussman writes (via Maria Popova).