It is a long, but not lonesome, road ...

Hello Humans,

I have been weighing up the options in my head. I have compiled a kind of "to-do" list for both options. Self-publishing and traditional publishing.

Self-publishing

• Finish book. (der)
• Submit my book to a structural & copy editor. (a must. Anyone thinking of bypassing this step when they are going to self-publish is silly. Rethink. Save up for it.)
• Create a cover image. A GOOD cover image. People judge books by their covers. I know I do.
• Self-publish on as many platforms as possible. (Kindle, Smashwords, ACX, etc.)
• Market the crap out of my book. Tastefully. It is not a dick, I don't want to ram it down people's throats.
• Collect up to 70% of royalties. 
• Continue to work my ass off. 

Traditional

• Finish book.
• Slog my book to literary agents and pray that one of them gets my weirdness.
• If that happens, pray that my agent finds a publisher willing to take on my weird little book.
• Pray that my book does not get torn apart in the editing room.
• Pray that it get given a good cover.
• Market the crap out of my book. Once again, tastefully.
• Collect 10% of royalties after the advance has cleared its mark.
• Continue to work my ass off.

If you are reading this and trying to decide which way to go, hopefully I have shed some light for you. There are lots of us out in the void trying to do the same thing. 

I have had a hang up about self-publishing for years. I didn't think that it was "real" publishing. But I am coming to realize that, these days, a self-pub author has just as much chance of getting themselves out there as a traditional one.

Go into a book store (if you can find one of these rare and endangered beasts) and have a look at the names of the authors that have done all of the traditional list above and still you have never heard of them.

It makes me sad. 

Writing is such a personal thing. And we put ourselves out there, strip ourselves naked to the world, tear our flesh from our bones to bare our mind and soul. Show our scars to the void and for what? For the hope that someone out there in that void will look out and catch a glimpse of something familiar in your scars. And there will be a connection made. 

What if there is no one out there?

But there is ... There are lots of us out here, shouting into the void. Do yourself a favor and check out this amazing woman. Jenna Moreci is a wonderful writer and vlogger that you MUST watch. NOW. She will make you laugh and give you amazing tips. 

It is a long road, the one us writers trudge, but we need not do it alone. We are a community. A weird one, but a community none the less.

Hugs

AMC xxx