Welcome to our very first Monday Coffee. Every Monday is set aside for musings and considerations around the Twinverse, the Tales, and the writing craft as a whole. We will occasionally discuss sources of inspiration for the Twinverse, share some text from existing or upcoming books, discuss the history of the Twinverse's development, and how roleplaying games have contributed to fleshing out the world. We may even look at some of the original documentation on the Twinverse, at its very beginning. So, let's dive in and have that coffee!
As our very first Monday Coffee, I would like to take advantage of this post to share some of my thoughts on the experience of self-publishing, keeping in mind that as of right now, I am still halfway through the process. That is, I have finished books, but I have to go through publishing and marketing activities.
When I first wrote North Star and Ghostblood, I didn't necessarily anticipate that they would be published. I wrote them because the ideas spoke to me, and I wanted to express them on the page, trying to capture as much of the emotion I felt as I plotted their course. I like to think I succeeded, because I was approached to publish North Star by Calderwood Books, a U.S.-based e-publisher, who also submitted the book to the EPPIE awards on my behalf.
I was elated to find out, in early 2009, that North Star had been selected as one of the finalists in the Fantasy category. You can imagine how I felt when I was notified it actually won! Even more than sales numbers, I was glad for the recognition, and a subsequent series of good reviews on Goodreads and other sites.
But the entire publishing process didn't require much work on my part (other than the editing, of course); I did some marketing work on the book, but I was younger and less familiar with digital marketing as a tool to boost your sales. On top of that, I changed careers shortly afterwards, moving to the United States in the process. The new environment and the new career meant I no longer had as much time to write as I had had in the past, and although I kept having ideas, I didn't have the time or patience to put everything on paper. Mostly, I was stuck on one idea that would not let me truly focus on others for too long. There was this book I wanted to write, but it demanded more than I was able to give at the time.
Years later, I was finally ready to let this idea out into the world. The result is Leaves, an upcoming book that has become a cypher for the rest of the Tales (and you may have a better idea of what I mean when it is released). In the meantime, however, Calderwood Books closed down, and North Star and Ghostblood went out of publication.
This led me to consider whether I should look for an agent and/or a publisher, or if I should attempt self-publishing as an indie author. The former would be difficult, but it could take a lot of work off my shoulders, while the latter would be potentially harder, and would require more work on my part. But in the end, I decided that self-publishing woudl give me a better chance to provide my readers with the experience I want them to have, so here we are. Even so, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome, especially the first time you self-publish. A social media presence, building buzz for your book, learning about all the different e-publishing and print-on-demand options, deciding which one is the best for you...
It's a learning experience, this is clear. It's a lot more work than I ever did for my books, but it has made me realize something. The fact that, despite the daunting pile of tasks before me, I want to do this, tells me that it really is time for my books to go out into the world, that I really feel passionate about what I have written, and want others to enjoy as well. Sometimes as writers, we get so bogged down in details, editing, planning the next story, trying to find plot holes and inconsistencies, that we forget the reason why we started writing was because of that passion, that fire. This entire process has made me rediscover it, however, and for this, I am grateful.
Now join me, and let's embark on this journey together...
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