Hi everyone! Hope you had a good weekend.
As many of your know, awhile back I was introduced to self-publishing and since have been studying the idea. I know how many of you feel about ebooks and I totally understand. There’s nothing like holding a paperback in your hands and I love collecting signed books. So why would I self-publish a book? For a variety of reasons.
The Ghost Hunter is a book I wrote 2-3 years ago. It’s a contemporary paranormal romance. Since then, a lot has happened; I sold two books, Wild Heart and Wild Desire. Being a published author, I thought it would be easy to get published again. Silly me. I sent The Ghost Hunter to a handful of agents. A lot liked it, all ended up rejecting it. But I’ve never been one to give up. After all, Wild Heart was rejected by everyone and their mother. So I sent The Ghost Hunter to editors. That was over a year ago and I’ve had quite a bit of interest; paranormal is big after all and everyone claims they want unique paranormals.
So why am I thinking of self-publishing The Ghost Hunter?
1) Self-publishing puts the power in the author’s hands. Wild Heart has had conflicting reviews. Those who don’t like the book often complain that my hero is too alpha/mean. The book actually had a prologue that my editor cut. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal. Now that I think about it, if that prologue would have been left in the book, I think readers would have understood my hero much better than they have.
Moving onto my next book…. Since I’ve sent The Ghost Hunter to editors, I’ve heard a variety conflicting comments. It’s too dark, it’s too light. My own editor at Kensington brushed it off when I pitched it to her because she said they can’t have anything to do with books that have ghosts in them. It doesn’t matter that the ghosts are secondary characters. Apparently ghosts don’t sell.
My friend H.P. Mallory (who I interviewed awhile back) self-published on Amazon Kindle. Since then she’s been doing amazingly well on two books that editors said were too funny for Urban Fantasy. Guess what? The funny aspect is what readers are praising.
By Self-publishing, authors can write their books the way they want to write them.
2) No waiting; the publishing world is very slow. I’ve made it clear that I’m annoyed that Wild Heart and Wild Desire are 16 months apart. That’s not good for anyone. It’s not good for sales, its certainly not good for an author who is trying to establish a name (little ole me). Even if I had sold another book right after I’d sold Wild Heart and Wild Desire, it still would have taken a year or more to get the book out on shelves. With self-publishing, obviously you can put the book up online whenever you’re ready.
In the 2-3 years since I wrote The Ghost Hunter, I’ve been waiting…waiting…waiting. Waiting months for agents to respond. Waiting months and even over a year for editors to decide if they want it or not. Honestly, I’m sick of sitting here waiting while friends of mine are making decent money on Amazon Kindle.
3) Show me the money. I’ve made no secret about how little money authors make. I signed my contract for Wild Heart almost two years ago. Know how much I’ve made on that book so far? $2,100. Imagine working for 6 months (which is how long it took me to write the book) and only making 2,000 dollars. It’s ridiculous, yet typical pay for debut authors at a smaller publisher. Even if a person wrote for a larger publisher they’d be lucky to make 15,000 a year. That’s before taxes. Meanwhile I’ve talked to author’s who have self-published on Amazon Kindle and they’re making anywhere from 1,000-2,000 a month! Why? Because on Amazon Kindle the author gets over 70% of the profits. Compare that to the 6% I get for Wild Heart. Or the even 8-10% that most authors get.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some negatives to self-publishing. But my goal has always been to make a living off of writing; doing something I love. Why not self-publish a book and make some money, especially when the book is just sitting on my computer?
I’m not at all against publishing with a great New York publisher. In fact, I’m waiting to hear back from one such publisher before I decide if I’m going to self-publish The Ghost Hunter.
I have every plan to keep sending to Print Publishers in New York. But no longer will I be settling. I am determined to succeed 🙂 I will certainly let you all know of my decision soon!
With that said….On Wednesday I’m interviewing self-published author Edie Ramer. If you have a cat, or have ever had a cat, her paranormal romance Cattitude is a must read! Very fun! She’ll be giving away 2 Ecopies of her book.