Should I Self-Publish My First Novel? I Confess, It's a Dilemma
This week I’m deep in the weeds of a course I’m taking through Sisters in Crime, the organization for female crime writers. It’s all about independently publishing vs. traditionally publishing.
With traditional publishing, the writer goes through a (usually lengthy) process of seeking an agent to represent her, then submitting queries to publishers hoping to find one willing to publish her book. When that happens, the publisher may offer the writer an advance payment, from which all later royalties will be deducted until they’ve recouped their investment. In return, they provide editing and other services, and actually print, publish and distribute the book.
With self-, or independent publishing, the writer’s in charge with no gatekeepers. Back in the day it was known, sneeringly, as “vanity” publishing and was very much frowned upon, but today it’s quite common and acceptable.
As an independent publisher, the author is responsible for everything from editing and proofreading to formatting, creating book covers, marketing, distributing, and so on.
If I go the self-publishing route, I won’t handle all those roles myself. It’s my firm belief that every writer needs a good editor, and I’d rather pay a professional for my cover design. Other tasks may be farmed out as well.
Given my age and the length of time it usually takes to find an agent and a publisher going the traditional route, I’m leaning toward self-publishing.
That’s why I’m taking the course. I’ll let you know how it goes.
What I’m Reading
The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen
This is the second book in The Martini Club mysteries. (First was The Spy Coast, which I reviewed here.)
As its name implies, this book zeroes in on the us vs. them sentiments of the summer visitors and the year-round residents. Among the summer people is one particular family who’ve been coming for years, and have made their cottage into the largest dwelling on the lake in Purity, Maine. Directly across from them, in a tumbledown shack, lives a man with a grudge.
Throw in some decades-old secrets, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. It takes Maggie and her ex-CIA buddies to help acting police chief Jo Thibodeau untangle the knotted threads of these multiple mysteries.
This Murder is Nacho Business by DC Owens
I received this as an ARC (advance review copy). As with all ARCs, there were some minor errors, which I expect. But nothing that spoiled my enjoyment.
It’s the 1980s and Josie Barbosa has lost her high-powered engineering job in Houston and retreated to the Texas hill country town of Andorra Springs, where she’s marking time by developing a pie recipe for her father’s cafe, and helping out in the business when she’s needed to fill in for someone.
Her dad’s current project is developing a ready-to-serve nacho recipe.
Then her dad and the next-door-neighbor on Main Street, who makes pickles, get into an argument during a local business meeting, and hours later the neighbor is found dead in his shop. Naturally, suspicion focuses on her father, but she knows he could have had nothing to do with it.
With the help of her best friend Liz, Josie works her way through layers of intrigue like the curious scientist she is.
Notable Quotes
You only get out of it what you put into it, his voice reprimanded her. He never seemed to say anything new these days—only things she’d heard him say a thousand times before. Death must put a damper on one’s creativity.
- Arsenic with Austen by Katherine Bolger Hyde
When we first meet the main character, Emily, she holds a lot of conversations with her dead husband. This is one of them. I love the sarcasm.
She hoped, very much, that Inspector Moulton was hiding his light under a bushel. But if, as she was beginning to suspect, he didn’t actually have a light to hide, she was in deep trouble. Deep trouble.
- The Winter Mystery by Faith Martin
Another healthy dollop of sarcasm here from the Traveling Cook herself.
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Wise Words
Last week I challenged you to choose the more appropriate word to fill in the blank in the quote:
“Yes,” he admitted reluctantly. “Although”—the doctor paused and tilted his head—“usually when someone is strangled to death, there are signs of a struggle. They fight back. Quite fiercely.” A ______ tore through me at his words.
- A Death on Corfu by Emily Sullivan
Your choices were (in alphabetical order) shudder or shutter. Sadly, there weren’t too many entries, but once again my readers proved their brilliance, choosing the better word consistently.
And that word is. . . drumroll please. . . shudder. Obviously I need to find more challenging puzzles.
We’ll have a new one next week, if I can come up with something suitably fiendish.
Good luck! The publishing business seems complicated and convoluted.
I love the idea of someone not having a light to hide under a bushel...