It's early in the year and I have already met some of my writing goals for the year. But this past month has had a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs.
On the up side:
My short story, THE MISSING CD, which was written for Sisters in Crime's racing anthology to be published next year, was edited and didn't need a lot of extra work by me.
THE DEATH OF ART is coming along nicely, although a little slower than I would like. If I keepmy head down and work hard, I could still finish in May.
I attended two mini-conferences and got a lot out of both.
I had my first pitch session with an editor and it went quite well, although she didn't request a mss. She liked the idea and my execution for as much as she could see from the synopsis. (And I learned how to spell synopsis. I don't have to look up the word anymore.) She just wasn't in the market for murder mysteries but she did take the synopsis (See! What'd I tell you?) back to New York with her and sent it to another editor who might be interested. Plus she passed along the name of another editor at Little, Brown and suggested I contact her. (There is a down side to this. See below.)
On the down side:
ABNA didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped and planned. I knew it was a crap shoot but I put a lot of emotional energy into it and I wasn't prepared for how badly I would feel for failing to make the quarterfinals.
I got three rejection letters and in another week or so I will conclude that another dozen unanswered queries -- those sent two months ago -- are also rejections.
I didn't get a writing fellowship for a two-day spring workshop. I was really hoping for that one.
Though she liked what she saw, the New York editor didn't take the mss and I haven't heard anything from anyone else at her company.
I got an e-mail this morning from a good friend in Virginia and it included a link to an article today on CNN. The article was on on-demanding publishing. And for the first time, I have seriously given thought to self-publishing. Or more specifically, going the print-on-demand route.
That presents several dilemmas.
Everyone in the publishing industry says a lot of good books by very good authors never make it to market through the traditional publishing route for a variety of reasons, and many of those reasons are outside the authors control. Many of those authors end up self-publishing. Thus, a self-published book isn't necessarily a poorly written book.
That having been said, there is still a stigma to self-publishing. You hear it, sense it, feel it inside the publishing industry and, to a lesser degree, in the reading public. Since anyone can write a book and get it published that way, industry insiders seem to contradict themselves and say that if a book were good enough to be published the traditional way, it would have been.
Another dilemma is the cost. The author bears most of the upfront costs. And while on-demand publishing is probably cheaper that self-publishing the old fashion way, it still isn't cheap and the costs come out of your own pockets.
But cost and stigma are not my major problem with going it alone. If I had the money, cost wouldn't be a problem and stigma can be overcome by writing a great book.
My problem, therefore, is one I would face whether I self-publish or go the traditional publishing route. The problem is marketing, promotions and publicity.
Books don't sell themselves. People, authors generally, sell them. And while I'm not very comfortable with self-promotion, I'd be willing to do it for the sake of the book. That has always been the case. Making calls to get publicity, working on a website, going on tour -- I would do all of that and more since that is what it would take.
If I go the traditional route, I would have some marketing help and probably some marketing money, if only a little. But with on-demand publishing, developing a marketing plan and implementing it would fall on me and I don't have the slightest idea where to start.
So that's what I am thinking about. I plan to discuss it with my wife, as well as with friends and a couple of fellow authors. But for now, it is an option and will remain only an option.
Thanks for reading and keep writing.
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