Going Indie

I decided to publish with a mentor publisher without even really querying any traditional publishers (just one). I'm not sure why but I was convinced pretty early on that the traditional route for publishing wouldn't be a wise choice for Lost Edens. There are a few factors that played into the decision, the biggest of which is that it's a short book. It's less than 50,000 words, the industry standard for books. I had one agent tell me she liked what she read but it was too short. She suggested smaller presses, which is what eventually brought me to Beaver's Pond Press.

I'm just now starting to feel the consequences of that decision. As a mentor publisher, we went through all the same stages as we would have with a smaller press from editing to design, to proofreading. Now, though, the placement and sales of the book is all on me. I have terrific help in Stephanie Barko, a book publicist who as been my guide through the whole marketing of the book, but as the audience is slowly broadening it's become pretty apparent that book sales will be me hand selling each book. Which, I admit, is in part what I wanted. I'm really interested in a grassroots effort where Lost Edens is handed from person to person and conversations around the book are started and continued. It will be really interesting to see if this is possible.

The good news is that I've completely busted through the average sales for a first book (75 copies), which is terrific. The bad news is that I have a few thousand to go before I have respectable enough sales to be able to call this project successful. I think I'm going to need to get over my "oh, you really don't need to read it" reaction when people ask. It really is a shame it's so sad but hopefully there's enough hope in the ending to make the read worthwhile. I keep saying it but truly, my next book will be funny. Or about something really cool like...travel or running or jokes grammar geeks tell. Very cool.