Self-publishing my debut novel
Why did I chose to self-publish?
Since I started writing seriously three years ago, I thought traditional publishing was the way to go. After revising Last Spiritwalker, my second novel, I researched agents and queried. The response varied from not hearing anything back, polite rejections and comments on how some of my novel, such as the names of foreign mythological creatures, read strange to an American audience and I should change my novel to make it "easier".
I revised my novel. Got new beta reader feedback. Researched agents again. And then paused. There were things I could not bring myself to change as it would reduce the authenticity of a novel based around well-researched world mythology.
I stared at the agent list and my query letter, and then thought: what is the worst that can happen?
Traditional publishing - no responses or feedback I feel fundamentally goes against my novel
Self-publishing - I do all the work and no one buys my novel
Then I realized self-publishing would still excite me to write because my work is out there and I am learning skills that will help me improve. And if I still fail? They say the journey is more important than the destination, and the speed, flexibility and control of self-publishing seems infinitely more exciting
Where am I at?
As a previous management consultant my first step after deciding to self-publish was to make an excel action tracker, budget estimate and timeline. That done, I used Reedsy.com to find a great copy editor and am sending out the manuscript on August 2nd!
Next step: search Amazon for similar titles and get inspired by their covers and blurbs
What else am I doing?
In between launching Last Spiritwalker and revising my next novel, I write short stories and enable my addiction to prompt driven writing competitions (NYC Midnight, Writer's Playground, Writing Battle...)
This picture from our pre-Covid 19 family trip to Marrakesh inspired my recent short story submission to Writer's Playground - results coming in October!
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