New release: Godspeed, Carry My Bullet (Post 2 of 2)
I promised a second post on my new release, Godspeed, Carry My Bullet. There was some explaining I needed to do for why I reversed my long-held stance that I would never self-publish. So here are my excuses.
I understand there's a stigma with self-publishing, though less so these days with the advent of the eBook. The ease by which an unknown writer can get his or her work in front of readers has never been easier. This is great for those authors whose work is legitimate but may not fit the mold of whatever the print industry says is the "next big thing." The downside is that anybody can publish whatever tripe they want, which has flooded the market with less than stellar prose.
The thought that I might fall into the latter category troubled me. I was adamant that I needed to be vetted by an agent and/or publisher. That would be proof positive that I wasn't a hack. I could honestly say I'd been published.
After releasing three novellas through an independent publisher (Untreed Reads), I felt legitimized in that sense, and was looking forward to my next release.
Then I wrote a book that (in my opinion) was the best thing I'd written, the most accessible thing I'd written, and the most relevant/timely thing I'd written. I thought for sure I'd have an easier time getting it published since this book was way more conventional than my novellas. However, I couldn't find a home for it.
Given our current political climate, I felt strongly that this book should be out there. Many people are disenchanted with politics whereas others still think they should be slinging mud. And even though I usually loathe anything that's politically charged (books, music, etc.), I wanted to make my point about it using the only soapbox I have: my writing.
I rationalized that I had proved myself three times over. I could write well enough to get published, and everything after that was subjective on the part of the editor/publisher. So my qualms about writing garbage were lessened.
There was also something to be said about my motivation for writing the book in the first place. If you remember from the first post, the genesis of the story was found in a joke among co-workers. The plot details, of course, are all me, but the premise wasn't something that I considered "official Ian Lewis canon." I wrote this for fun. So why not release it for fun?
The tipping point was my discovery of pronoun.com. The site is clean, modern, and easy to use. Pronoun gets you on all of the major eBook vendors including Amazon (no KDP program), provides sales analytics, aggregates your payments through PayPal on a monthly basis, and is FREE. They don't get a cut of anything. By taking the grunt work out of file conversion, obtaining an ISBN number, coordinating with different vendors, etc., Pronoun removed any excuses I had left.
With the election season upon us, I buckled down and worked on a second round of revisions. And a third. And a fourth. In the end, I cut out approximately four thousand words, tightened the narrative, and caught what I hope were the last few mechanical issues.
Now "Godspeed, Carry My Bullet" is in the world. I consider this a "semi-professional" release, but it's my strongest effort to date. I hope you as the reader enjoy every page of it.
I understand there's a stigma with self-publishing, though less so these days with the advent of the eBook. The ease by which an unknown writer can get his or her work in front of readers has never been easier. This is great for those authors whose work is legitimate but may not fit the mold of whatever the print industry says is the "next big thing." The downside is that anybody can publish whatever tripe they want, which has flooded the market with less than stellar prose.
The thought that I might fall into the latter category troubled me. I was adamant that I needed to be vetted by an agent and/or publisher. That would be proof positive that I wasn't a hack. I could honestly say I'd been published.
After releasing three novellas through an independent publisher (Untreed Reads), I felt legitimized in that sense, and was looking forward to my next release.
Then I wrote a book that (in my opinion) was the best thing I'd written, the most accessible thing I'd written, and the most relevant/timely thing I'd written. I thought for sure I'd have an easier time getting it published since this book was way more conventional than my novellas. However, I couldn't find a home for it.
Given our current political climate, I felt strongly that this book should be out there. Many people are disenchanted with politics whereas others still think they should be slinging mud. And even though I usually loathe anything that's politically charged (books, music, etc.), I wanted to make my point about it using the only soapbox I have: my writing.
I rationalized that I had proved myself three times over. I could write well enough to get published, and everything after that was subjective on the part of the editor/publisher. So my qualms about writing garbage were lessened.
There was also something to be said about my motivation for writing the book in the first place. If you remember from the first post, the genesis of the story was found in a joke among co-workers. The plot details, of course, are all me, but the premise wasn't something that I considered "official Ian Lewis canon." I wrote this for fun. So why not release it for fun?
The tipping point was my discovery of pronoun.com. The site is clean, modern, and easy to use. Pronoun gets you on all of the major eBook vendors including Amazon (no KDP program), provides sales analytics, aggregates your payments through PayPal on a monthly basis, and is FREE. They don't get a cut of anything. By taking the grunt work out of file conversion, obtaining an ISBN number, coordinating with different vendors, etc., Pronoun removed any excuses I had left.
With the election season upon us, I buckled down and worked on a second round of revisions. And a third. And a fourth. In the end, I cut out approximately four thousand words, tightened the narrative, and caught what I hope were the last few mechanical issues.
Now "Godspeed, Carry My Bullet" is in the world. I consider this a "semi-professional" release, but it's my strongest effort to date. I hope you as the reader enjoy every page of it.
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