So You Want to Publish What you Wrote

If you are looking for advice on how to go through this process there is a ton of it out there, from Amazon to Smashwords and countless other sources. You may already know self-publishing no longer holds the stigma it once did.

Here’s my personal journey. 

After enjoying the classic British mystery writers for years – and a few American ones thrown in – I wrote one of my own. The goal was simply to put my own ideas for a whodunit with an amateur sleuth on paper (okay in a word document) and let my family and friends read it. Period. But several of them urged me to look for a publisher, insisting it was good enough. 

I was flattered and began looking on the computer for a publisher, totally ignorant of the process and well aware of it. A vanity press read my submission, accepted it, and for a substantial fee published The Death of Amelia Marsh in soft cover form. Ah, the excitement of receiving a box of books that you personally wrote with your own name on the cover as the author! I got to work and put in some legwork, getting the local libraries and the local bookstore to carry my book. 

Friends and co-workers bought copies. There were a couple of book signings and some days spent going out of town to put into practice some of the other marketing techniques the publisher recommended. 

All of the effort met with some success, but there were issues. The book was poorly edited, which was huge. My contacts at the publishing company were always pleasant, but outside of promotion advice not very helpful. When the book went to their printer it came back full of errors in grammer and spelling. 

It was a huge learning experience. It still is.

Five years later with a second book in the series written, I sought a new publisher. David St. John with Elderberry Press guided me into the e-book market and gave me other guidance, including a short book by Mark Coker (think Smash Words) to read. Three words screamed out from the pages of Coker’s book: edit, edit, edit!

At about the same time a neighbor with years of experience in editing kindly pointed out how much further I had to go in this vital process. My eyes were opened.

All of the seven books in the Sally Nimitz Mysteries have gone through several edits – and re-edits. They aren’t pristine now, but without a big budget and with realistic goals the series has had modest success. The positive feedback indicates for those who enjoy the genre these have been a pleasure to read. 

This was my biggest lesson, but there others, including learning how to navigate  the world of books and publishing on-line, complete with all of the jargon.

Poetry? A life experience? Murder mystery? If you take the leap into publishing be prepared for your own adventure, and remember no adventure is free of complications.