Interesting events in the life of this self-published author

Okay, where to start?

I was asked to participate in an on-line panel discussion at the Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference, running from April 13 – the 17th to share my self-publishing experience.  Although I am not a pioneer nor an expert I felt it was important to share my experience.   The objective of the session was to discuss the viability of self-publishing, who is doing it and why?   There were four of us.  The  multiple award-winning, best selling  author, Delle Jacobs, moderator Terry Kate, Senior Marketing Manager, Julia Coblentz from Barnes and Nobles' Pubit which is their self-retailing platform for e-books and me.

Terry asked poignant questions of us for the audience of book bloggers and publisher and we discussed key points, such as:

Desiging eye-catching book covers.
Blogging.
Targeting your market.
The importance of using professional editing services before publishing your book.
The issue of book reviewers not willing to review self-published novels and how that might change.

The hour we spent discussing this vast topic passed in minutes and although Delle Jacobs and I had different reasons for self-publishing I learned much from her.  If the audience left our session with a clearer sense of what is involved in the self-publishing process, then we had done our job.

The publishing field is in the midst of great change and all of us: writers, bloggers, publishers, agents and readers are smack in the middle of it.  I find this rapid change exciting yet a bit scary, sort of like grabbing onto the tail of your kite as it takes off into the atmosphere and  trying to hang on. In some ways, this kite is a metaphor for my novel/career/reputation, for as it enters the online book community I try to guide it, yet I can never be sure where it will take me…. like to the opportunity to be on this panel!

I love being a part of this community and though I have faced some difficult challenges [and more will certainly come] I would not trade the gains from my experience for anything in this world.  As I read the mission statement of the Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference one sentence jumped out at me:  Authors are welcome as well to get involved and help improve communication between all book lovers online, strengthening the online book community. 

In some small way I hope I was able to do just that.