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Writing and publishing books is much different than it was when I first began dreaming of becoming an author. Like many writers of my generation, I dreamed of writing a fantastic story and submitting it to a publisher, who would love it so much, they’d publish it. I also dreamed that they would arrange book signings for me and get the word out about my book, and get it into bookstores. Yes, I dreamed of seeing a beautiful book cover with my book’s title and my name on the cover on a bookshelf in a cozy bookstore like Barnes & Noble.

My, how times have changed. Now, in the age where technology seems to rule–I mean, the vast majority of the population carries a phone with a computer everywhere they go. They can write or read on their phone. They can purchase books on their phone.

Enter the world of self-publishing. Yes, that is the road I have chosen to travel. “Why?” You might ask. There are several reasons:

1. I did, at first, at the encouragement of a bestselling author friend, submit a query to an agent. I had high hopes that this agent would be thrilled to represent me and help me get my first novel published. After all, my bestselling author friend was thrilled with the first three chapters she read, and so was her husband, who said I painted the scenes in his mind with the words I used. However, the agent wasn’t as thrilled. Oh, she didn’t turn me down, exactly, but she wanted me to make a lot of changes. You see, I don’t like to read, what is referred to as “formulaic” romance, but that’s what agents and publishers want because that is what they believe sells best because that’s what they’ve seen happen. Now, you may be asking, “what is ‘formulaic’ romance? That simply means that the woman is the main character and the man and woman have to meet within the first few pages. That wasn’t the way my story was written, and still isn’t. However, if I would’ve agreed to make the changes, this agent was willing to work with me because she did like my writing. I was not willing to make those changes.
2. Traditional publishing takes a long time. After submitting and having your manuscript accepted, it takes a year to eighteen months, sometimes longer, until your book is actually published.
3. Of course, there are smaller publishing companies as well. I also submitted to one of these. However, they wanted to make lots of changes, beginning with the title I had been using for my book. They also would’ve chosen my cover, and I already had an idea of what I wanted my cover to look like back then, as well.
4. Finally, my bestselling author friend contacted me after she wrote a book and submitted it to her publisher (a big name publisher). She told me that they had refused to accept her book because her prior book didn’t have the number of sales they had expected. So, she independently published that book and has decided that is the way she will go with future books. She said publishers are getting too picky and, if they are dropping bestselling authors, a new author would really have a battle trying to convince them to take a chance on her.

Now, I will admit, it took me a long time to publish my first book — a little over six years! Why? Because when I started writing my book, I was still homeschooling my sons. I was also still learning what publishers and agents look for, because even though I knew I was going to publish independently, I wanted my book written well. In addition to learning what publishers and agents look for, I studied the writing craft. I also had to do research because I write Historical Christian Romance, and I need to get the history right. In addition to research, learning, and writing, I met consistently with my critique partners and did a lot of editing, as well as a rather large rewrite.

Finally, after a little over six years, I believed my book was ready, and I was ready to release it to the world. Then I hit technology road blocks. I knew absolutely nothing about how to format my book for a paperback book or for an ebook.

Well, praise the Lord, who has a plan for this book! First, he brought a new friend into my life in church. She studied art and computer stuff, and she volunteered to create my cover. Then, God brought another writer into my life — someone who spent her life doing lots of technical and nonfiction writing, and had just been called by God, to write fiction. (She has retired from technical and nonfiction writing, for the most part.) She had already published a fiction book, so she had already figured out how to do the formatting, and how to get it up on Amazon.

Therefore, with my book cover downloaded onto my computer, and with the help of my friend, who knew how to format a book for paperback and ebook, my book was properly formatted, and I was able to publish it through Amazon KDP, which is actually very easy to walk through step by step.

So, my book is available on Amazon, and after it was on Amazon for nearly a month, I figured out how to get it up on Barnes & Noble as well.

Since I now know how to write a good quality story — one that holds the reader’s interest and has them asking if I’m already working on my next book, I don’t anticipate my next book taking nearly as long as this first one did. I am already working on my next book, and though, it might take a year, I’m hoping it won’t, but, ultimately, it’s in God’s hands and it will be published in His time. I just plan to devote as much time as possible working on it because I am building a fan base who are looking forward to it. I hope you’ll be interested in becoming one of them.

No, my first book is not on bookshelves in any bookstore(s), yet. I say “yet” because I haven’t given up that dream, and there are still a couple local bookstores in my area that I plan to approach. That’s part of marketing. I’ll talk about that next week.