Writing in thin air

The view from my living room on an unusual foggy morning. I began writing in 1992. By 2014 I had over a dozen  manuscripts and a thousand rejections to show for my work. Some editors and agents said they loved the characters but not the plots. Others loved the plots but not the characters. Some suggested that historical fiction wasn't selling, and if I would add some supernatural elements - a ghost, or time travel, or perhaps a werewolf, then they would reconsider by submissions.

In 2014 I decided that the definition of insanity - doing the same thing
and expecting a different result - was probably right. It was time for me to do something different.

I began self publishing my books in 2014. That first year I released Code: Elephants on the Moon, a midgrade novel set in Normandy just before D-Day, and The Bent Reed, a midgrade novel featuring a family living in Gettysburg at the time of the Civil War battle.  2015 saw On Fledgling Wings,  a midgrade coming of age story set in 13th century England, added to my list. 

But self publishing is difficult. Not only did I have to write my books, I had to edit and format them, and advertise and market them. I quickly realized that it's easier to write a book than sell it. When a group of my author friends said that they were banding together to form a publishing house because it was easier to market and sell books that had a publishing house associated with them, I decided to try it myself, and Thin Air Books was born.
Thin Air Books now has 7 books on its list, and still features just one author: me. Has it helped sales? It's hard to know, but I doubt it. No independent book sellers have offered to put my books on their shelves because they come from a publishing house, and no editors or agents have decided that I'm a better prospect because of my self publishing and marketing efforts. I continue to slog along, happy to be producing and sharing my work with the world, although my sales are almost as thin as the mountain air I breathe.