It has been a wild end to summer around here. I managed to take a few days of vacation after sending Trust off to the editor. We traveled over to the thumb of Michigan, having never visited there before. I don't mean to spoil it for you, but there isn't much there other than farmland and the shore of Lake Huron. In this case, that was fine with me as I really needed some time off from life to recharge. I spent most of my vacation buried in a book, which I haven't done in quite some time. That burst of reading cascaded into three more books and now I have four more on order that should be here in a few days. Not that my TBR stacks are running dry by any stretch of the imagination, but I found a new series to binge on: J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood.
I also have a new (and very unplanned) exchange student. That's whole long story, but suffice it to say, we're only an interim host family and this is the straw that sent me off on a need for a reading binge to recharge my creative juices and vacation.
Onward into the reason for this post...
This month's question is: What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?
I've done both a small press and self publishing with novels. For short stories, I prefer the more traditional route of anthologies and magazines.
As far as novels, for my first one, I wanted to get my feet wet in a more structured way so I went though the whole query letter and rejection loop until I got accepted by a small press. As it turns out that was a whole learning experience and I'm glad I took the time to do it rather than rushing off into self publishing. However, having figured out the strengths and weaknesses of small press publishing and how they aligned with my goals, I opted for self publishing my next three novels. My upcoming series, The Narvan, is back with the same small press. I find doing both gives me more options and yet a bit of credibility for those who don't hold self publishing in high regard.
Ah, the last minute, end of summer vacation. I enjoyed mine much more thoroughly than the one a few weeks earlier that we had actually planned. Enjoy the reading binge! I'm long overdue for one myself...
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad that I went with a small press for my first time publishing, and I ended up staying with them for years, while learning the ins and outs. Later, I will be sending them the last of my series they've published, but after that I will go elsewhere. Small presses are great, but there's only so much they can do.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explored the multiple options and ended up hybrid with a small press.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear the unplanned exchange student has driven you to escape, but yay for binge reading! That's always nice.
Hi Jean - you obviously needed to recharge and am glad you got that opportunity. Well done for finishing Trust and getting it to the editor. It's interesting reading everyone's approach to publishing ... but you learn as you go - enjoy your other books and being back to writing more - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteOur camping trip turned out to involve a lot of reading too, this year. Without our daughter (now working) the rest of us are all bookworms and spent hours sitting around the pitch with heads buried in books. Bliss :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Jean. I found you! It has been a busy summer for you. And will be a busier fall. Here's hoping you have great success--and some of it rubs off on me, esp. when we're sharing a table at book events. :)
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