Storms in Teacups Release Date

I have been unbelievably flaky with this blog lately. I’m not even going to try to justify it (read: blaming it) on Polly Pocket, as I know loads of you juggle a ridiculous amount of things (two jobs, kids, charity work) and still manage to keep on top of social media, writing, editing, and social lives. I think I’ve adjusted to having a newborn in my house now, which is a good thing because I found out on Wednesday that she’ll be with us until at least February, which I’m really happy about.

I’m working on final editing for my novel that I’m self-publishing in December. One of the great things about self-publishing is that you can decide when you want to release your book, so I’m going to choose December 30 for my book, which is also my 25^th birthday. Kind of like a present to myself.

My new novel is going well too, even if it’s a little bit slower than I’d like. I’m hoping to have the first draft finished by Christmas.

Hope everyone is having a productive week J

In Which I Decide To Self-Publish

Yep, in December Storms in Teacups will be available for sale on Amazon. I'm a little bit scared about my decision, but I'm also kind of excited.

I made the decision after I received some 'good' rejections from agents. I got requests for pages, but was ultimately told that my genre (women's fiction/chick-lit) is a hard sell to publishers in the current economic climate, but that I should try again when the market improves. One mega agent told me they wished I'd submitted it a couple of years ago. Lots told me how much they liked it. So I don't think I'm completely deluding myself by thinking I should self-publish.

Am I prepared to wait until the market recovers? In a word: no. I don't know about other countries, but conservative estimates for Ireland's 'recovery' are ten years away. I have always wanted to be a writer, and holding out on a chance that it may happen sometime in the future doesn't really seem appealing to me. Self-publishing is a lot more realistic now than it ever was before, and it offers me a chance to make a living writing  in the near future.

Yes it's a gamble, and it's far from certain that it will be successful. But I'm not afraid of hard work, and as my husband has set up his own company I have some knowledge of that end of things.

I don't think traditional publishing is dead - far from it - but for me this seems to be the best decision right now.

What about ye? Any of you tempted?