Adventures in Self-Publishing

Some time last spring, I must have become somewhat insane: the idea of self-publishing my most recent manuscript got hold of me and refused to go away. Why? Conventional wisdom advocates finding an agent, or at least shopping my work around to those publishers that accept non-agented submissions.

But there has just been so much scuttlebutt recently about the whole e-publishing phenomenon that I couldn't help growing curious about it. So I started conversations, some by e-mail, some face-to-face, with several writers who have gone this route and are happy with it. They all had their own lists of do's and don't's, some of which contradicted each other, but what I took away from these conversations was very hopeful: there is plenty of room for all of us. Good books will sell. Marketing is not much different than with a traditional publisher, since my name is not J.K. Rowling or Suzanne Collins. Most of all I found that every writer I contacted was more than willing to answer questions and give suggestions--and best of all, to a person they wished me luck. They couldn't have gotten any more generous short of offering me an actual limb or perhaps a first-born child.

So whether delusional or not, I decided to take the plunge and give self-publishing a try. I am no tech-head so luckily I had one or two writers who were willing to correspond with me almost on a daily basis about formatting. Also luckily, my engineering husband isn't afraid to try something outside his own area of technical expertise. After much trial, effort, and panic on my part, the manuscript uploaded, and Haunted is now available for Kindle with a print edition soon to follow.

I don't know if the book will soar or plummet, but at least it's out there. I have a firm belief that a story never really breathes until it has been released to the world for other folks to read. So now comes the next part of my journey: Adventures in E-Marketing!

(By the way, since taking a nearly full-time job at the end of September I barely have time to sleep so I apologize that I haven't been leaving comments on people's posts lately. I have read all of them, though, and was struck again by how diverse and talented this group really is! I'll try to do better as things settle down.)