Self-publishing these days. Everyone must talk the talk to prove they walk the walk, and they do it before they’ve done anything. That’s manifesting. I suppose I’ve never been good at it, perhaps because, from my early career, I’ve experienced the sting or boon of the critic’s pen.
Self-publishing is a journey that might begin with one step, but expect a few stumbles.
The great democracy of Self-publishing is a double-edged sword. If you can compartmentalise the process objectively, it can be a rich experience.
Writing was always private for me, a way to remember a sense of self at a particular time. And I’ve read a lot, so I do understand the value of good prose, and that’s a meaningful part in finding one’s voice in writing. Still, you can’t avoid the brass tacks. Dickens didn’t. He taught himself everything he might have gotten in school and it was arduous.
A friend asked me about the ins and outs of Self-publishing. I ain’t gonna lie. Self-publishing is not for the weak of spirit. A self-published book can easily tumble into the sinkhole of books that clutter the stage, but so too can books represented by publishers. You’ve seen the bargain table at Barnes and Noble.
Self-publishing why did I start?
I’m in a freefall…
I jumped a few years ago when my personal life and creative life crash-landed in a foreign country. I found myself in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This is a story about a reckless abandonment, a dive into storytelling and self-publishing and self-doubt.
When I finished the first incarnation of Mercury’s Wake — The Long Weekend, I shared it with a few friends.
“It makes me want to write a novel.”
Great…
Does everyone have a story they’re desperate to tell? Maybe. Will they write that book? Unlikely.
Self-publishing my first novel
Mercury’s Wake has endured many incarnations and forms in a conscious. And subconscious effort to nail a good story and to clarify the key elements which might sound obvious to some but aren’t always: who do we care about? What do we walk away with after reading the book? Who is our audience? Beyond all the obsessive aspects of the book (writing and editing), these questions are in some ways the most challenging.
Pursuing his train of thought, the man continued, “I was going to say that writing is the great release, but you’re a writer, so…you know that.”
“Do I?”
“Words are your peace.”
So you want to self-publish a novel
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