What The Hell
I told myself I’d never do it. And when my first novel, Parts Unknown, was published in 2003, I imagined I’d never have to. Self-publish, that is. The time has come, though, so — What The Hell?
This is the beginning of my junket through the strange land of publishing my own work, using a variety of new tools available to independent authors. I’m preparing a new novel for publication in the fall of 2013 in the form of an ebook, a novel, by the way, that is complete, edited, polished, and ready for prime time. It’s been shopped around the major publishing houses to no avail, unfortunately, but it’s too good to consign to the dust bin of history. It’s called Yesterday Road, and I’ll be talking about it as I go along here.
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Reblogged this on WHAT THE HELL and commented:
Well whataya know about that. It’s my two-year anniversary here at What The Hell!
This was my first post. I had no idea at the time what horrors were in store. 😱
Kind of creepy to look back and see how few Likes/Comments we got in the early years. When I go back to some of my posts from 2007 & 2008, I get the feeling I was simply talking to myself 😉
Well, thanks to you and a few others, I know I have a nice little crew of listeners. 😉
So, would you do it again?
Ah, good question. I think I might, but I wouldn’t have very high expectations from the marketing point of view. This is about connection, not selling.
Yep. When I started writing, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Then the self-publishing craze came along and after a few feeble attempts at finding an agent or publisher, I decided to give it a try, with no expectations involved. And with that first novel, I actually experienced more success than I expected. Nowhere near enough to quit the day job, but enough to think that if I kept plugging away. Then second novel was published and … nothing. Crickets chirping. So, I have no expectations anymore. Which is part of the reason I struggle with writing. It takes up so much time and emotional energy, there needs to be something else there besides my own fulfillment. And so I struggle these days. The connections with those in my blogosphere are good and rewarding, but, I don’t know, I need something more. I’d love to figure out a way to crack the nut.
That’s the rub, all right. We need to figure out what a reasonable reward is (apt, glowing reviews?) and what reasonable expectations might be. Yet you can’t help hoping each new effort will move you further up the ladder.
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