Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of self-publishing is brought to you by sci-fi time-travel adventure author and interviewee Sheron McCartha.
Should I Self-Publish?
So you’re thinking about self-publishing? Right? You just read that list of those authors who have made more than a million sales at Amazon.
You know that most likely it won’t be you…but why put up obstacles? Who really knows? I would settle for just a nice living from my writing. I would love to do what I am passionate about and have fun every day…well almost every day.
Still, you run into them, you know, the writers who angst about not getting a response from their 200 query letters and can’t imagine not formatting and sending in a killer synopsis, and first three chapters all doubled spaced in Times Roman font. All following big publishing rules for submission. And then waiting forever.
Or, the person who mumbles, “Oh you’re self-published? I heard that authors that self-publish write terrible books.” …as if they had statistics and accurate knowledge that would validate such a conclusion. As if there has never been any poorly written books put out by legacy publishers. As if.
Millions of readers say otherwise. Millions of readers are reading ebooks and ordering paperbacks. I doubt they check who is publishing the book they read. Does a publisher’s name influence your choice? Is that how books are bought? I don’t think so.
You’ve heard the naysayers who cling to the old ways like a drowning man onto a plank of wood in a tossing storm.
So why should you self publish?
- Times are tight and publishers are even tighter. It’s getting hard to get in with any fiction unless you’re Amanda Hockings with a million books sold already and a fan base, or Steve Jobs, and he’s dead. Reality check time. Big publishing houses have missed the boat sometimes on figuring out blockbuster hits. Scholastic picked up Harry Potter for crying out loud after big publishing houses turned it down.
- You’ve tried for ten years to publish and you know you have a book that people will like. Get it out there. Let the readers decide rather than a few gatekeepers who often choose at a given moment and then never reconsider their decision. No second chances in that game. And the rejection may be not because it wasn’t good, but just because they accepted a similar one last week and that slot is now filled.
- People ask me if I’m making money. I answer, “More than gathering dust on the shelf” that made me $0. What have you got to lose? Just be wary of the scams. Yes, another blog for another day, but so far all revenues have covered any expenses. So it can be done, but it does take work.
- Maybe you are retired, currently unemployed, or have time on your hands. Or have room for a part time side job. I worked full time for years and wrote on the side. Then, they closed down the art gallery where I worked and the economy was terrible. Finding a new job where I wanted to work wasn’t easy. Okay, I was picky. Now, instead of depression and feeling useless, I’m learning exciting new skills and getting paid for the experience. My life has purpose and I’m having fun. There is a psychological side to it—a sense of purpose…a sense of accomplishment.
- You are your own boss and set your own schedule. You decide on the cover, what your write, how you price it and no one else tells you what to do. I don’t have big gas bills and I have a short commute. No stop lights. Plenty of coffee in the morning.
- You have exciting conversations at parties about your book and you give speeches and show what you have written. Long lost college roommates e-mail you and tell you how much they liked your work. You amaze your mother who is astounded that her own child has written a novel, or two, or more.
- You love to write and your dream is to see you book in hand. Now. Facts: It takes a long time to get published. It took eighteen months to get Baen books to ask for my entire manuscript after countless other queries to other publishers and then a year after that they said, “No thanks”. I wasted two years because they said, “No simultaneous submissions.” They make up all these rules and like sheep, wannabe authors follow them afraid to rock the boat or ruin their chances. Even if you were accepted right this second, acceptance in hand today, it takes a year or more to hit the shelf. Most likely two. Will those shelves be there in two years?
- What is everyone getting for Christmas? Most likely a Kindle Fire, an Ipad2, a Nook, or an iphone. Why am I a self-published, Indie author? It just makes sense for me in my place and at this time. Why not? Why wait any longer?
- And if you are successful, didn’t a big publishing house offer Amanda Hockings an amazing contract? You can put both oars in the water if you want. You can do both and no one will arrest you. Ask Dean Wesley Smith about that. It isn’t an “either, or” situation.
If you’re smart about it, you have nothing to lose. Hey! Don’t these babies look great and fun to read? Why don’t you try one? An ebook is $2.99-$3.99. Less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Think about it.
I do… on my iPad2. 🙂 Thank you, Sheron!
Science fiction has been a passion of mine for many years. I graduated from the University of Florida with a Masters degree in Education specializing in language, speech and journalism. I taught creative writing and literature for eight years at the high school level.
One night while riding home from a weekend vacation, I passed a billboard with the name Penryn on it. Out of boredom I began to create a story. Out of that one name, a whole world and generations of exotic characters and places developed.
Over the next few years, I held day jobs as banker, stockbroker and art gallery manager while still writing. My husband and I moved all over the United States from Miami, Florida to Portland, Oregon where we now live. I have a beautiful twenty-six year old daughter who is now buying her first home. I have published four science fiction time travel/adventure novels in this universe and have four more to be polished and edited for the series.
Currently: Caught In Time: a romance time/travel story in Medieval Alysia
A Dangerous Talent for Time: A time travel/adventure a generation later.
Cosmic Entanglement: An alien probe crashes on a twentieth century Alysia opening up a space race. Mystery and romance.
Past the Event Horizon: Space adventure and first contact thriller
Space Song: coming early 2013
***All are available on Amazon, both paperback and ebook. The first few also via Smashwords, ibookstore, Nook, Sony and other ebooks.
Blog on great science fiction/fantasy reads: http://www.scifibookreview.com
Twitter: Sheronwriting
Facebook: Sheron Wood McCartha
You can find Sheron’s books at http://Amazon.com/author/sheronmccrtha. Also at Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Smashwords multiplatform formats including Kindle.
Caught In Time: an exciting time travel adventure about Rowyna Grae, a clone who goes back in time a thousand years to her medieval past in order to save the future, not to change it. But does.
A Dangerous Talent for Time: What if you could control events and change time? What if you were that future and whoever was changing time, changed your now? What would you do to stop him or her?
Also at Amazon, Smashwords, Kindle, Apple ibookstore, Kobo, B&N.
Cosmic Entanglement: An alien probe crash lands on the planet Alysia. What do they do? Outer space is no longer safe. Amazon, both digital and paperback.
Her Blog is at www.scifibookreview.com to discuss all things in science fiction and fantasy, and http://www.AlysianUniverse.com for further information on her books and the world of Alysia.
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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.
The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with children’s / YA author Gigi Sedlmayer – the five hundred and eleventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me. I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.
Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) 🙂 on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.
Even so, I floundered around a lot before finally deciding to write professionally. Yes, I had done some freelance journalism for a bit but I mean writing fiction – being artistic and creative. My first work, a novella entitled On My Knees, was published in June 2011 and became an instant Kindle genre bestseller. It’s a coming out story and, yes, somewhat autobiographical. Being my first published work of fiction it taught me a great deal, especially about how readers see your work. Thankfully, the vast majority of reviews were terrific but the ones that did criticise tended to do so because the very elements I had put in there that were true, the reader said ‘Tsk – just as if!”
I followed with another novella – in fact so far all my works have been novellas because I like them, both from a writing and reading point of view – called Lorenzo il Magnifico. This draws on some of my experiences in Florence, a wonderful city which you must visit if you haven’t already. The title plays upon the historic Medici figure after whom a street in the city is named. My Lorenzo inherits an apartment in that very street and it is the setting for some man-on-man romance.
Fixed was published in September and is about a successful chap who loses everything, including his partner, in the financial crash of 2008. Mike ends up back in the Yorkshire countryside living in a rented dump where he bumps into an old school friend, Pete. Pete is a plumber with a knack for fixing the broken.
My final offering of 2011 was something rather different, an historical gay romance called The Hun and The General. I took the old barbarian, Attila the Hun, and made him fall in love with Livianus, a fictional Roman general. It’s a story of political intrigue, masculinity and tenderness that shows how the course of events can be changed by love. It became an instant bestseller on ARe. My stories are erotic in parts – can I say that? – though I try to avoid writing porn. However, they are definitely adult material, so don’t buy The Hun and The General for your kids’ history homework.
Carolyn: My name is Carolyn Smith and I write as Caroline Clemmons.
When Jimmy saw his sister in bed, he rushed over. “Sis, what happened? What’s with the towel and the ice packs?” He frowned at Derek. “What’s going on?”
reading some science fiction book as if it were a forbidden treat. I now understand this behavior, especially since we were four kids at home. Sometimes I read in out-of-the-way places too, feeling as if I am partaking of some guilty pleasure. He always talked about how he was going to write the great science fiction novel. Later, he would add that he would write it after he retired. Then he retired. He started on his novel. One day he came to me and shook his head. “I love to read it,” he said “but I can’t write it.” He threw up his hands in defeat and I saw the torch arcing my way and caught it.
search for pieces of a riddle in it. Then Google came along and I discovered that someone else had already used the title. Sometimes technology makes me cry.
Morgen 'with an E' Bailey 