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?

On Pubslush and Inkubate

So, the endless rounds of querying can get you down. Self-publishing is an option, but it's highly labour intensive and you have to do a lot of the work yourself. Yesterday I read an article in The Huffington Post talking about Inkubate and Pubslush.

Now these endeavours aren't new, I've read about them before. I'm not sure their methods are going to get that much traction. How many people would think a book premise was that good that they'd preorder it without being sure that they'd ever see the actual book in question. It might work for established authors, but maybe not so well for newbies.

What do you all think?

Sorry for the brevity of this post, I'm learning the art of typing with a baby on my shoulder. I'm sure I'll get better at it :)

Why You Should Never Compare Your Manuscript to a Published Book

Ok, well maybe never is a bit strong, but there are several good reasons why you should try not to compare your polished manuscript to a traditionally published novel. Most importantly: It. Will. Drive. You. Crazy.

Of course you should read widely, and reading in your genre can make you aware of certain tropes and issues such as pacing and tone. Reading books by good authors is inspiring, and can fire you up with enthusiasm for your current work in progress. But it can also make you want to throw it in the bin/set fire to it/use it to line your cat's litter tray. Why? Because most books have a team of people behind them, rather than just the author. Unless you have hired a multitude of publishing professionals to go over your manuscript with a fine tooth comb, it's not going to be in the same stratosphere.

Publishing companies hire commissioning editors, copy editors, fact checkers and it's not because they're trenchant socialists eager to give everyone a job. They hire just enough people to ensure that they can produce a quality product that will make consumers part with their cash. These people are necessary, and any self-publishing guide worth its salt will tell you that if you're going to forgo the traditional route you're going to need to hire at least some professional freelancers in to help polish your manuscript.

A team of professionals will point out weak points, repetition, inconsistencies, and points where the plot needs improvement. There's a reason why authors usually thank their editors in the acknowledgements section.That doesn't mean that you don't need to edit, though. Your book should be as polished as possible before you start querying. But if you're plagued with self doubt every time you pick up a good book, you should remember that you're just one person. And maybe you should cut yourself some slack.