The Publishing History of Me

Earlier, I did a brief history of myself—in short, an extended bio—and put off my publishing history for another post. There’s not much that’s very special about much of my publishing, which had the usual ups and downs for a beginner to the world of marketing and media. I had all the writing skills, but didn’t have the knowledge to navigate the industry as well as I needed to. That’s typical. The sheer number of people writing can be a shock to a new publisher, as well as the formatting, online marketing, social decisions, FB groups, this-thing-called-twitter, and scouting outlets for sales. And of course the not so nice people lurking in corners, the ones who always find the new kid.

I also had a low budget, literally shoestring at first—again, like so many authors. This created a bit of a vicious cycle for a while, since you need to put in money to get something started. Sometimes the covers weren’t the fanciest—sometimes I made connections with people I shouldn’t have because I was so eager for networking. Signing anything is a little quicksand of its own, since there are always people interested in it, but you do have to be careful. I’d spend hours a day learning the little logistics of formatting books—now it’s just a snap, since I’ve figured out what works—and over time, I learned. And learned. And learned. And learned.

People can often mistake a beginner publisher for a beginner author. This isn’t true. There are some hobbyists, and some people just trying to get across a message rather badly. But most people who start publishing have already achieved an acceptable level of craft. They’re beginners at zoning their work towards an audience and navigating the little alleys and side streets of getting to that audience. By now I have a lot of years with my stories out in the world instead of in drawers tucked with my dreams.

And there will be more updates.