When I hit the wall of no-more-excuses-write-the-damn-book-already, I had a good healthy blog reputation. I was scared to death of writing a novel, but there was nowhere left to hide. The ghost had found me. Once I got through the outline process, it didn’t seem so scary. Then the writing started to happen.
Writing the early part of a book is like helping 4 people move without a truck. It’s HARD. It’s HEAVY. It SUCKS. And, like all moves, it’s NECESSARY. Regardless of whether you want to write a book about your life or a sci-fi novel, all beginnings are the same. Hard.
Finally, it lifted off the ground, taking flight like a struggling balloon. I had decided that self-publishing was for me. So many advantages!
- Choose your own cover
- Market across many platforms
- Tailor your marketing plan to your own pace
- Experience DIY, so you can strategize who should do what on the next book
There are a million decisions when you do it yourself, and with that, more control. The cover, the launch party, the editing process, maybe even a tour. If you hand over that control to your agent and publisher, just know that they are going to do those things for you, and with it, charge their cut for doing it.
At first, I likened self-publishing to a 3 course dinner. You know, you have the appetizer (outline and research) the main course (the manuscript) and the dessert (the editing process). If ONLY.
No, I was very, very wrong about that.
It really is more like the pregnancy/labor/having a child business we monkeys here on Planet Earth like to do.
Pregnancy. As in separate trimesters.Each having their own pitches and valleys.
Labor. The process of which a highly trained team and several hours of grueling work, pushing, cajoling, bargaining results in an entity with a soul.
Infant. The mesmerizing, fragile, life-threateningly needy, luminous creature that you made. Containing your essence, and your message.
A publishing house will take approx. 12-18 months just to finish the editing & launch. I did mine as an ebook, print book, and recorded the audio in 5 months.
You getto decide what you want to do with yourdelicious creative spark. Despite the goblin of What To Do Next, waving his arms about like a distracting pinwheel.
But in my case, I decided it can’t be any harder than trying to do anything else in life-just take your time with research, keep track of your decisions, and enjoy the ride!
Author Bio-Karryn had two career arcs involving Lighting Design and then on to Health & Healing, before writing her first novel in 2013. She is currently working in Berkeley, CA on a short story and is easily bribed into sunlight with chocolate or tea. She can be reached at redkarryn@gmail.com.
Her book can be found in print here, or in ebook form here.
She can also be found on Facebook here, or on Google + here!