Tag: traditional publishing

Dream or Let Go?

Sometimes I still dream of success.

To me, success in writing looks like:

  1. Finding an agent
  2. Getting a publishing contract
  3. Having a readership and modest sales
  4. Interacting with others on my blog

Given that I haven’t achieved the first yet, and given that the other goals are probably dependent on that first goal. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there.

This is why I’m considering self-publishing, but I have so many questions about it, such as:

  1. If you self-publish, will people always put a figurative asterisk by the word “author” after your name?
  2. How do you get the word out about your novel?
  3. If my novel doesn’t get accepted by agents, is there really a chance that readers will gravitate to it in self-published format?
  4. Can one get famous (ok, somewhat well-known) self-publishing?
  5. Will I have to spend all my time promoting my book instead of writing?

These questions may be proof that I’m still dreaming and doing a lot of assuming. I’m assuming that my books are good enough to find a following rather than languishing on a virtual shelf somewhere, which is a lot to assume even if I get traditionally published.

My affirmation cards keep saying that I have great ideas, the time is not right, let go of expectations, to the point that the same cards keep showing up in readings.

Our American society says that we should hold on to our dreams. Buddhism, on the other hand, suggests attachment — even to a dream — causes unhappiness. Which shall I do — hold on or let go?

reconsidering

Yesterday, the theme seemed to be “find a different path to publishing”.

A colleague of mine who is working on a career as a motivational speaker stopped by my office to chat. She’s been following my laments on Facebook as some of you have, and she said to me, “You really need to find a different way to publish.”

“No kidding?” I responded. “I hear some of these agents are getting upward of 500 queries a day. How does one even stand out with that kind of load?”

So I am trying to mastermind how to go for indie/self-publishing and have people actually find my stuff to read.

The idea seems to be something like this:

1) Find a platform to publish on
2) Publish
3) Find friends willing to read and put reviews on the page
4) Publicize?

I’m still thinking about it. It’s certainly tempting after all the troubles I’ve had being noticed by agents. My writing seems to fit a niche that isn’t being regarded by mainstream agents. It’s not the only thing I’m contemplating — I am going to try traditional publishing until I run out of options there.

I’ll keep you posted. You let me know if you want to review a book, ok?