Four Successful Authors' Views on Self-Publication

compiled by Dee Scully

This week on the Breathless blog we are fortunate enough to have four self-published authors talking with us about their adventures on the journey to publication, how they got there, and their thoughts on the whole process.


First up we have Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, and Young Adult author, Maree Anderson. Her Freaks of Greenfield High series has been optioned for a television series and her Liminal series was selected for inclusion in the iBooks Store Best Books category!

Maree Anderson

I was first published with a small press and, long story short, when my amazing editor left the company I paused to take stock of my writing career. After much soul-searching (and a heap of research!), I dived right in and indie-published my version of a “backlist”—a bunch of unpublished manuscripts in a variety of genres that I figured might not totally suck because they’d either won, placed or finalled in various contests. I didn’t have high expectations so imagine my delight when I started getting actual fan mail from readers!

Would I suggest self-publishing for others? Hell, yes! Some authors believe a traditional publishing contract “validates” them—i.e. confirms they’re “good enough”—but I’ve finally realized that for me, it’s kinda been the opposite. My second self-published book was a YA that’d been rejected because I didn’t have a “YA voice”. I put it up on Wattpad to get some feedback from my target market and was stunned when it was “discovered” there and optioned for TV. To date that book has over 2.2 million reads on Wattpad and thousands of comments from both teens and adults—male and female. Self-publishing also brought me to the attention of Apple iBooks, who gave one of my paranormal romances a huge amount of exposure, while another YA book was selected as an iBooks Best Book of the Month. Bottom line? My foray into self-publishing has given me the courage to continue writing what I love, and thrown a heap of amazing opportunities my way. Plus, having control of each part of the publishing process means I can quickly jump on these opportunities. I love having options and choices (turns out I’m ever-so-slightly a control-freak—who knew?), so for me Indie Publishing = Epic Win!

Historical Fiction and Fantasy author, Michelle Diener has worked on both sides of the publishing spectrum, having previously worked as a publisher and now as an independent author. Michelle is a master world-builder and pulls readers into her fictional worlds whether historical, as in A Dangerous Madness, or futuristic sci-fi like her upcoming Dark Horse (to be released June 15, 2015).

Michelle Diener

Thank you to Dee for inviting me to participate.

I am traditionally published with Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books imprint. However, I had a book, 'Daughter of the Sky', which my agent had sent out to a number of other publishers, and while most had come back with the feedback that it was a great book, none of them wanted to publish it because they thought the setting was too unusual and the period not popular enough with readers. (It is a Victorian-set historical, centred around the start of the Anglo-Zulu War in Zululand.) As a result, when it seemed all other avenues had been exhausted, I decided to self-publish. I wasn't expecting to prove the publishers wrong, in fact I accepted what they said was probably true, but I didn't need to worry about numbers very much if I self-published it, and I believed in the book. I had done an incredible amount of research for it, personally lived in the area where the battles took place, and felt very strongly about the novel seeing the light of day. Self-publishing allowed me to accomplish that.

It was a steep learning curve, but because a number of my friends in the US, in particular one of my critique partners, had already taken the self-publishing plunge almost a year before I did, I had a very good idea of the work involved. I looked on my first self-publishing project as my trial by fire. I wasn't in a rush. I did as much as possible myself in order to learn how things worked, even if I decided it would be better to contract out some of the tasks if I did it again. I also went in with a very clear idea of my limitations. I am not a graphic designer, and never intended to design my own cover. I had three things going for me. I had previously worked as a publisher for an academic publishing house, so I knew how things worked at the back end of publishing and the steps I would need to take. I was already published as a historical author with a large New York publishing house and had had to do the promo and marketing work on my other books. And I had a number of friends who were happy to help me when I had a question. I broke even on 'Daughter of the Sky' within six weeks of publishing it, and while it is by far the slowest seller of my self-published books (those publishers were right :)) I have never regretted self-publishing it and getting it out into the world. While it doesn't sell as many copies as my other books, it gets consistently wonderful reviews from those who do read it. :)
The enjoyment I get from self-publishing is immense. The control, the involvement in every aspect of the process (which makes it an artisan endeavour in my opinion), and the satisfaction when the project is complete, has made self-publishing a real factor to consider in my overall career arc. I would highly recommend it, with the caveat that you understand you are competing against major publishers with your work, and it needs to be professional, and the very, very best it can be.

Cathleen Ross has been around the world and back in her self-publication journey. After a trip to the USA, she joined together her love of writing with her knowledge of technology and started self-publishing. Probably best known for her self-published historical Highlander romance series, Cathleen has recently embarked on a more contemporary leg of her writing journey with Nella, a title in the Secret Confessions: Sydney Housewives series published by Escape.

Cathleen Ross

I went to the RWAmerica conference in 2011 and noticed there was a lot of excitement around self-publishing. I had several backlist short stories and a love of new technology so I put a whole day aside to read through the hundred-odd pages of rules of the Smashword’s 'How To' Guide. Bear in mind that I’d already read 'The Brain that Changes Itself', which proposes the theory that if we do totally new things we will have neural growth and stave off dementia. This was my 'something new'.

I uploaded my backlist short stories and they sold immediately. I have a passion for 14th century Scotland and wanted to write a blend of romance with accurate history, so I went to Scotland last July with Alison Weir to follow the trail of Mary, Queen of Scots. My first Highlander story sold immediately, too. Next I wrote a Highlander novella and a book, uploaded it as a boxed set and it also sold immediately. It still does, especially as I made the first story free. People seem to enjoy the history, medieval Scottish knights and romance combination.

Then my life’s mission hit me, well one of them. I realised that I only used 5 short steps to upload to Smashwords and, being a trainer of some thirty years' experience, I could teach others to do so. I put 39 people through the OWL’s course and it’s so exciting to see them spread their wings and self-publish. I’m teaching the process of self-publishing through the Mosman Community College and recently, together with Kandy Shepherd, did the same for WriteFest.
Although I love writing for Harlequin, there are projects I want to do that may not suit my publisher and these I self-publish. I’ve found I’m making more money from self-publishing than I’ve ever made from publishers and I get paid every month. It’s incredibly freeing being in charge of my writing destiny.
I will come to writing groups and teach them how to self-publish as I’m determined to spread the word across Australia. S.E. Gilchrist organised for me to speak to the Hunter Group last year and they are now doing some really cool self-publishing.
My mission - to free authors - is spreading.

I first met Jenny Schwartz while coordinating RWA's 2013 The Claytons Conference when she had only just started on her self-publication journey. She's busted out of the beginner category since then with over 20 titles to her name. Jenny's not only self-published with titles such as Kiss Me, Quick, but also traditionally published with both Carina Press and Harlequin's Escape.

Jenny Schwartz

It was during the 2013 Romance Writers of Australia conference that the realisation slowly dawned on me that all the cool kids were experimenting with self-publishing. I’m not cool, so I filed that realisation under “later” and got on with life and writing. However, I started to follow people’s discussions regarding their experience of self-publishing and, a year and a bit later, I decided to experiment. I naturally write short, which can be difficult to sell to traditional publishers. However, Amazon’s lending library was at the time geared to favour shorter works. So I decided to accept Amazon’s exclusivity clause in exchange for getting my stories into its lending library, Kindle Unlimited. Sales trickled in, but what really changed for me was getting my hand on sales data – what was selling, where and when. That meant I could focus and improve my promotional activities.

The sales data that becomes available to you as a self-publisher is why I’d recommend people try self-publishing. But there are other advantages – you control deadlines, covers, blurbs, metadata, price points, everything! Of course, that means you have to organise and pay for all of this (downside) and take sole blame for failures (huge downside). With self-publishing, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s all you. Self-publishing is daunting and it’s no guarantee of success (in fact, with the avalanche of new books out there, discoverability is a major issue). However, if you’re willing to put in a ton of time and energy, self-publishing can be a master class in getting your books to readers. Just remember, learning is hard work, and sometimes the lessons hurt!


There you have it! Four self-published authors with varying journeys to self-publication, proving there is no one way to THE END!

Do you have a question for our self-published authors? Now's your chance to ask? Don't be shy!  

or

Have you read a self-published book lately? What was the title and who was the author?  

  
I love to love...my friends; they are beautiful in every way.


I love to laugh...at my dog; she knows just how to make me smile.

I love to learn...from self-published authors; they've learned heaps and aren't afraid to share their knowledge.

Self-Publishing: Is it for You? Part 2

An interview by Marilyn Forsyth

Catherine Lee

A big welcome back to Catherine Lee, indie author of 'Dark Heart' and the recently-released 'Dark Past', who is here to share more thoughts about her journey along the self-publishing route.

Marilyn: Hi Catherine. Can you fill us in on why you’ve opted for self-publishing again with your new Quinn and Cooper novel, Dark Past, rather than attempt traditional publishing this time around?

Catherine: Thanks, Marilyn. It’s great to be here again. Basically I’m committed to the self-publishing process as a long-term option for my career, so it wasn’t really a matter of deciding at this point. I made the decision back when I published Dark Heart that I would commit to this process for at least five books and re-assess once I’d had my marketing strategy implemented for a significant period of time (which hasn’t even started yet). So it’s still early days.

Marilyn: So you might consider going that route at a later stage?

Catherine: Traditional publishing would always be an option, down the road, but I’ll make that decision once I’ve seen how this route pans out. The biggest turn-off of traditional publishing for me is the fact that you have to sign your rights away to someone else. It doesn’t sit well with me, after all that effort, to put my work in the hands of a stranger. To have someone else decide its fate. I’d rather fail on my own terms than have no control over whether it lived or died.

Image courtesy of inkygirl.com

Marilyn: That makes a lot of sense. It also puts you in control of the quality of your product. How do you feel about the glut of indie authors who, unlike you, haven’t engaged an editor to ensure the quality of their work? Do you feel it affects your own credibility?

Catherine: Professional editing is a must for anyone who wants to put out a quality product which readers will enjoy, engage with, and seek out more of. Those who choose to skip this step and publish a sub-standard product will quickly find out that readers are not stupid. They’ll slam a book in the reviews section if it’s not up to standard, and eventually those types of writers will be weeded out.

I don’t think they affect my credibility, as such, but it probably does still affect the perception of self-publishing in a lot of minds. It’s still very early days for this type of publishing. Once people realise it’s not the way to make a quick buck that they first thought, they’ll move on and, hopefully, only those of us who are serious about putting out quality products and building a career will remain.

Marilyn: How about a teaser for your latest book, Dark Past.

Catherine: It’s the story of Beth Fisher, a corporate lawyer who struggles to cope with the murder of her sister. She tries to keep her sister’s memory alive by finishing the family history research Jill started, but the project quickly becomes an all-encompassing quest to uncover the secret past someone is willing to kill to protect.

Marilyn: Sounds intriguing! I really enjoyed Dark Heart. Dark Past is on my Kindle and I can’t wait to read it.

Have you self-published? Did you find it a worthwhile experience? Do you believe the perception of self-publishing is changing?

Image courtesy of bbc.co.uk

To finish, let’s find out a little more about the main character from 'Dark Past', Beth Fisher...

Beth loves to love working as a lawyer for Fisher & Co., her family’s shipping business.

She loves to laugh at the antics of her two young children, Emily and Jacob.
She’d love to learn the truth about her family’s history, their business dealings and why people are being killed to keep these under wraps.

Self-Publishing - Is It For You? (Part One)

Catherine Lee

This week we interview Catherine Lee, self-published author of Dark Heart, a race-against-time thriller, and an exploration of cellular memory - can transplanted organs bring with them the memories of the donor?

Marilyn: Thanks for joining us, Catherine. Why did you decide to take the self-publishing route with your debut novel?

Catherine: I sent Dark Heart to an agent because I wanted to try traditional publishing. A rejection letter is a rite of passage and I wanted mine. It took five months before I finally got my rejection letter. The way I saw it, I could stick with that process and wait years to see my book in print, or I could do it myself in days. I wanted this book out in the world so I could move onto the next one. For me it was no contest.

Marilyn: How long did it take you to get Dark Heart to market?


Catherine: Self-publishing means you control everything yourself, so once you’ve had your manuscript professionally edited, you need to have your file in a format Amazon (or wherever you’re uploading it) will accept. It’s not hard: there are plenty who’ve done it and posted instructions on their blog. There are also programs that do it for you e.g. Scrivener (highly recommended). Next, get your cover design. To maintain a professional look, find a graphic artist and go through the design process.

Once you have those two things ready, the actual process of putting your finished product up for sale only takes a day or so.

source: dpaperwall

Marilyn: What about cost?

Catherine: By far the biggest investment is editing. For Dark Heart, I had a professional manuscript assessment done. This, together with feedback from fellow writers, suggested my manuscript was in good shape structurally. I finished with a copy edit by a professional. The other upfront cost is cover design. Mine uses a stock photo, which the designer changed slightly using blurring and angles, with text over the top. It’s simple, but effective, and was cheap. Depending on the design, you can pay from $25 up into the hundreds. Apparently romance covers are the easiest and cheapest to produce.


Here’s the breakdown of costs for Dark Heart:

• Manuscript assessment $500 
• Copy edit $550 
• Cover design $45 
• Print version cover design $45 
• Proof copy $30 

I’ll be using the same editor for both structural and copy edits for my next book, Dark Past, and expect editing costs to be around $1500. From what I’ve read, anywhere between $1000 and $2000 is what you should expect to pay for good, professional editing services.



Marilyn: Thanks, Catherine. But before you go, can you finish off these sentences?

I love to love...Getting caught up in the world I’ve imagined for my characters.


I love to laugh...With friends. They’re essential to well-being, and I’m glad I have a great bunch of friends.

I love to learn...Things I never thought I needed to know. For instance, from Ninety Percent of Everything by Rose George, I’ve just learned that more than 2 ships are lost at sea every week, yet we don’t hear about it. I find that amazing.



Do you have any questions for Catherine? Ask away!



In Part Two of this interview, Catherine talks about marketing your self-published novel. Stay tuned.


Dark Heart is available via Amazon.

Could you live with the heart of a killer?

Fraser Grant was a kidnapper, a vile, murdering sociopath. Now he’s dead. Murdered in his own home, the women of Sydney can breathe easy again. All but one. His final victim is still missing — chained up, running out of time, and awaiting a captor who will never return.

Detective Sergeant Charlie Cooper is desperate to find the missing woman alive. On the verge of quitting Homicide after a decade chasing the brutal killer, this is his last chance to atone for all the victims he failed.

After a life-saving heart transplant, Eva Matthews just wants things to get back to normal. But when she learns she has the heart of the serial killer, will nothing stop the nightmares that plague her?

Dark Heart is a detective story, a race against time to save a life. But it’s also an exploration of cellular memory, the intriguing medical phenomenon of patients receiving more than just an organ from their donor. The terrifying serial killer may be dead, but that is just the beginning…