Monthly Archives: May 2013

Getting Serious About Publishing

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A great friend (who I’ve never met in person and lives Wyoming way) worked with me for the first six months of 2012 betaing my sci-fi/fantasy novel, Shimmer In The Dark, and I did the same on her epic novel, which is brilliant by the way. I’m waiting for the day she publishes so I can recommend it to anyone who will listen.

Shimmer In The Dark is in a good state, but I was worried about the pace. I still am. So I put it away for a few months and I’ve been working on other writing projects as well as learning about self-publishing. I got a little distracted with a building project, did some beta work for other writers, then my piano tuition business got busy, but I’m determined now to focus on getting Shimmer out there.

There is no doubt that traditionally published authors are working as hard to market their books as the the indies. So I’m going to have to do my own marketing anyway, but the explosion of digital publishing does make it very easy to publish. The quality of self-published books is the problem, but I believe good books will surface to the top if the author treats their book as a business and puts the effort in. I’ve read self-published and traditionally published books and the good self-published books have no more editing issues than traditionally published ones. I even found a glaring plot hole in one famous author’s book that all the traditional polishing had not eliminated.

Some self-published books are simply superb. Some traditionally published books are not.

What is important to me is that self-publishers retain control of their work. Plus they can buy expertise in if they wish and keep a higher percentage in royalties. It’s also a good way to build a platform, establish a readership and fanbase that could attract publishers to future projects. More and more agents and publishers are viewing self-publishing as a means to vet potential prospects.

So I’m going to get my feet wet and just enjoy being a published author, whatever the future holds for my future literary endeavors. I hope you join me along the way.