I so wanted to comment on this when it first popped into my inbox but....I was too busy self-publishing. It has been an absolute marathon. I started from the same place as you - just too old to wait for an agent, to make any changes they might want, then to wait for a publisher, and make more changes, then to wait for the book to appear. So I dove into self publishing and have done it all myself. Treated it like a job/school and have been enjoying in the process - some of it I loved... designing the cover and the interior of the book and learning about the mechanics of how it all works but the rest of it, the distribution, marketing etc etc etc is a minefield to navigate and figure out and utterly exhausting and, for all I know, I am doing it all wrong and will reap absolutely no results. Chat Gpt has been a friend to me through this, as has ALLi, Reddit and myriad Help pages and Bots. But I don't really want to do it anymore. I want to write the next one and read people's Substacks and books and ....have a life. So, after Monday, which is the official launch day (set by me) that is what I intend to do. I'll look forward to reading your book and hearing about your views on the company you are working with - and the results you get.
Thank you so much for letting me know where you are in this process, Jennifer! Oh, my, lordy, yes. Isn't self-publishing a land unto itself? I knew I did not have the patience or the technical knowledge to make a good job of it, so I hired a company to do it all for me. So far, I have been well pleased with them. I can't say, "Use Company X," just yet, as there are many more miles yet to go. But I felt being in the hands of people who had been doing this for 12 years would certainly suit me better than trying to figure it out myself. Hats off to you for your doing it! Like you, when I begrudge the money it is taking, I make myself look at it as a university course that yields a book at the end. Actually, I think university would have been a lot more expensive. But, anyway, I have had all the input I want with this and I'm happy to yield to someone else's ideas. I scanned 17 photos for the book, and that just about fried my brain til I figured out how to do it. Even now, (waiting over the weekend) I may have done it wrong. We'll see. Interesting that you should say you don't want to deal with the marketing. I'm keen as mustard to do the marketing. All new to me, and exciting. (Well, it is at this point, anyway.) Do tell us on Substack the name of your book and how one orders it. Cheers, Rose
It's great that you did your best to check out all the possibilities within your time frame. And you gave it your best shot with all the courses you did too. A lot of effort energy and time focused on this the end goal of getting published that's now in sight.
My only experience of self publishing was a poetry collection. It was good to have control and a say in its creation.
I had maybe 100 printed and the rest can be ordered and purchased on line.
What it required me to do after that was to pitch and promote it.
This I did for a few years with poetry events then I trailed off.
As I guess it was time for a new collection.
Good luck with planning your launch events around the UK and your following book that's in the pipeline. It will be a very exciting time. 😀 ❤️
Thank you so much Beverley! I've realised I should amend my post from self-publishing, to self-publishing with trainer wheels, as the company I am going with is doing all the heavy lifting for me. Formatting, cover, ISBN, marketing, etc. they seem to have all the bases covered. Not cheap, mind, but I would sooner have people who have done this before guiding me, rather than going for the cheap option of 100% DIY. I'm afraid it might have looked very DIY too! I don't know if I'm being overly optimistic that it might be ready (for public consumption) in April. If not then, May for sure! It doesn't really even seem possible at times. Like when you've waited for a train for what seems like hours and then you see it coming into the station!
I'm glad it was helpful Mimi. To be clear, my decision to go with self-publishing is actually a decision to go with a company who helps a person to become self-published. They do the formatting, book cover, ISBN, help with marketing, and they know the maze of places where your book can be found. None of this is free, or even particularly cheap, but I feel I am in good hands. At least, I feel that way so far! Their communication has been excellent up to this point. And they are so strong in marketing, that is what swayed me to go with them instead of the cheaper options. Without marketing, you might as well open a window, and shout, "I've written a book!"
Thought you might enjoy reading Q & A with Marta Molnar, the author of The Secret Life of Sunflowers. I loved the book. She has published 60 books the traditional way, but had to self-publish The Secret Life of Sunflowers because no one wanted it. Here's the link. Enjoy https://martamolnar.com/about-author
Had a look at the link, thanks Jan. Incredible story! Honestly, I think you have to have the stamina of a team of horses, plus unwavering self belief to "make it" in this world of publishing. And, perhaps the Hand of Fate as well, to push favourable winds your way!
Oh, thank you so much Jan! Yes, after 60 books, you'd think publishers would say, sure! (I guess not. ) They are becoming so risk adverse these days, and I can understand that too. Publishing has changed so much since the days of quill and ink!!
Thank you so much for your comment, Deborah. Will you self-publish next time? Or will you go with the same publisher? Such a lot of choices in the book world!
Book number 3... my first memoir: Pandora Learns to Sing was fully published (not hybrid) by a small house in 2014... my novel: The Sinking of the Leonardo da Vinci, was a hybrid publishing deal... and my 3rd -- (I have two books cooking, so not sure which will be finished first)... who knows???
Good to have a couple of irons in the fire, so to speak! Will you write about the Alexander Technique? Always good to have something on the back burner while your current book is out in the world!
Oh the naivety! Exactly. Thinking that writing the book was the hard part. I too decided the chances of hooking an agent were about the same as winning the lottery. I don’t have the smarts for entirely self-publishing so hybrid it is.
Oh, how wonderful to see your book next week!! Amazing! I wish I hadn't taken so long to come to my choice, but there it is. Maybe I needed to go through Hell first to realise that it wasn't a lovely place! With hybrid, you've had someone showing you the pitfalls and where you need to change things a bit. Tweak, in other words. I think ANYONE who says you should never pay for publishing is living in a world that existed a couple of decades ago. Even if I was traditionally published, I'm not sure I would have had the patience for it. All out of my control. At least with the route I've chosen, all prat-falls are down to me. You've got to publish the first book in order to publish more, I'd say. Thank you so much for your comment!
I so wanted to comment on this when it first popped into my inbox but....I was too busy self-publishing. It has been an absolute marathon. I started from the same place as you - just too old to wait for an agent, to make any changes they might want, then to wait for a publisher, and make more changes, then to wait for the book to appear. So I dove into self publishing and have done it all myself. Treated it like a job/school and have been enjoying in the process - some of it I loved... designing the cover and the interior of the book and learning about the mechanics of how it all works but the rest of it, the distribution, marketing etc etc etc is a minefield to navigate and figure out and utterly exhausting and, for all I know, I am doing it all wrong and will reap absolutely no results. Chat Gpt has been a friend to me through this, as has ALLi, Reddit and myriad Help pages and Bots. But I don't really want to do it anymore. I want to write the next one and read people's Substacks and books and ....have a life. So, after Monday, which is the official launch day (set by me) that is what I intend to do. I'll look forward to reading your book and hearing about your views on the company you are working with - and the results you get.
Thank you so much for letting me know where you are in this process, Jennifer! Oh, my, lordy, yes. Isn't self-publishing a land unto itself? I knew I did not have the patience or the technical knowledge to make a good job of it, so I hired a company to do it all for me. So far, I have been well pleased with them. I can't say, "Use Company X," just yet, as there are many more miles yet to go. But I felt being in the hands of people who had been doing this for 12 years would certainly suit me better than trying to figure it out myself. Hats off to you for your doing it! Like you, when I begrudge the money it is taking, I make myself look at it as a university course that yields a book at the end. Actually, I think university would have been a lot more expensive. But, anyway, I have had all the input I want with this and I'm happy to yield to someone else's ideas. I scanned 17 photos for the book, and that just about fried my brain til I figured out how to do it. Even now, (waiting over the weekend) I may have done it wrong. We'll see. Interesting that you should say you don't want to deal with the marketing. I'm keen as mustard to do the marketing. All new to me, and exciting. (Well, it is at this point, anyway.) Do tell us on Substack the name of your book and how one orders it. Cheers, Rose
It's great that you did your best to check out all the possibilities within your time frame. And you gave it your best shot with all the courses you did too. A lot of effort energy and time focused on this the end goal of getting published that's now in sight.
My only experience of self publishing was a poetry collection. It was good to have control and a say in its creation.
I had maybe 100 printed and the rest can be ordered and purchased on line.
What it required me to do after that was to pitch and promote it.
This I did for a few years with poetry events then I trailed off.
As I guess it was time for a new collection.
Good luck with planning your launch events around the UK and your following book that's in the pipeline. It will be a very exciting time. 😀 ❤️
Thank you so much Beverley! I've realised I should amend my post from self-publishing, to self-publishing with trainer wheels, as the company I am going with is doing all the heavy lifting for me. Formatting, cover, ISBN, marketing, etc. they seem to have all the bases covered. Not cheap, mind, but I would sooner have people who have done this before guiding me, rather than going for the cheap option of 100% DIY. I'm afraid it might have looked very DIY too! I don't know if I'm being overly optimistic that it might be ready (for public consumption) in April. If not then, May for sure! It doesn't really even seem possible at times. Like when you've waited for a train for what seems like hours and then you see it coming into the station!
This ia a helpful post. Thanks, Rose!
I'm glad it was helpful Mimi. To be clear, my decision to go with self-publishing is actually a decision to go with a company who helps a person to become self-published. They do the formatting, book cover, ISBN, help with marketing, and they know the maze of places where your book can be found. None of this is free, or even particularly cheap, but I feel I am in good hands. At least, I feel that way so far! Their communication has been excellent up to this point. And they are so strong in marketing, that is what swayed me to go with them instead of the cheaper options. Without marketing, you might as well open a window, and shout, "I've written a book!"
Thought you might enjoy reading Q & A with Marta Molnar, the author of The Secret Life of Sunflowers. I loved the book. She has published 60 books the traditional way, but had to self-publish The Secret Life of Sunflowers because no one wanted it. Here's the link. Enjoy https://martamolnar.com/about-author
Had a look at the link, thanks Jan. Incredible story! Honestly, I think you have to have the stamina of a team of horses, plus unwavering self belief to "make it" in this world of publishing. And, perhaps the Hand of Fate as well, to push favourable winds your way!
Oh, thank you so much Jan! Yes, after 60 books, you'd think publishers would say, sure! (I guess not. ) They are becoming so risk adverse these days, and I can understand that too. Publishing has changed so much since the days of quill and ink!!
Thank you for this post!
Thank you so much for your comment, Deborah. Will you self-publish next time? Or will you go with the same publisher? Such a lot of choices in the book world!
Neither -- I will try to get a traditional contract...let's see.
Good luck with it! Do you have Book Number 2 done? Nearly done? Do tell!
Book number 3... my first memoir: Pandora Learns to Sing was fully published (not hybrid) by a small house in 2014... my novel: The Sinking of the Leonardo da Vinci, was a hybrid publishing deal... and my 3rd -- (I have two books cooking, so not sure which will be finished first)... who knows???
Good to have a couple of irons in the fire, so to speak! Will you write about the Alexander Technique? Always good to have something on the back burner while your current book is out in the world!
Oh the naivety! Exactly. Thinking that writing the book was the hard part. I too decided the chances of hooking an agent were about the same as winning the lottery. I don’t have the smarts for entirely self-publishing so hybrid it is.
I should have my book in my hand next week
Can’t wait to see and yours, Rose.
Oh, how wonderful to see your book next week!! Amazing! I wish I hadn't taken so long to come to my choice, but there it is. Maybe I needed to go through Hell first to realise that it wasn't a lovely place! With hybrid, you've had someone showing you the pitfalls and where you need to change things a bit. Tweak, in other words. I think ANYONE who says you should never pay for publishing is living in a world that existed a couple of decades ago. Even if I was traditionally published, I'm not sure I would have had the patience for it. All out of my control. At least with the route I've chosen, all prat-falls are down to me. You've got to publish the first book in order to publish more, I'd say. Thank you so much for your comment!