All Roads - some thoughts on self-publishing, and a giveaway!

I’ve just released All Roads Lead To You on All Romance eBooks, which kind of “completes the process” on my first FoxTales endeavour. The book is now available via Amazon Kindle, Smashwords and ARe, and because I have a whole new set of self-promo obligations, here are the buy links! :-D

Amazon Kindle - http://tinyurl.com/cfkjz2o

Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/171547

All Romance eBooks - http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-allroadsleadtoyou-857378-145.html

I’m proud – unnerved – hugely excited, and... well, generally still quite wide-eyed and overstimulated by the whole self-publishing experience, and I wanted to share a few thoughts – and, although I’m way too new at this game to be offering serious advice to anyone thinking of entering it themselves, maybe I can share with you what helped and hindered me!

Firstly, “self-publishing” was a bit of a misnomer for this Fox. “Published with the help of a small army of miracle-working friends” would be a better fit. I can safely say I went into this clueless. I know a fair amount now about what it takes to write a book and bring it to market, having gained priceless experience through working with publishers, and the combined voices of my publishing-house editors were in my head while I wrote All Roads. Plot, pacing, continuity, timelines! But of course there was no “official” editor waiting for me there at the end of the road, catcher’s mitt outstretched. So I was all the more determined to deliver a flawless product.

And did I? Of course not. This is where the army comes in. I was astonished at the different demands imposed by the restrictions of a short story. The fact is that I’d never actually written one for publication before. I’ve been used to stretch myself lazily out over the word-count of a novel. The first thing Major General Josh Lanyon said when he saw the All Roads outline was – “Too much! There’s just not room within your structure and your word-count limitation to do all the things you’re proposing to do here. Simplify.” Mrs H, also recruited at this point, immediately said, “This is the outline for a novella, not a short.” So before I started, I was already having to rethink my preconceptions, which really hurt because I was excited about hitting the road, getting another book out there, and – of course – generating some income from it. But once I’d reined in my ego and my wildly galloping plot-horses, I recognised what an enormous favour Josh and Jane had done me. Big thanks to you two, and I will pick up all the toys I chucked out of my pram at some point, honest.

That was just the beginning. I like to think that I give good first draft. Editors at publishing houses have told me I do. Before sending the completed story to Josh, to my proof-reader (and brilliant webmistress) Julia and to Antonella, who had kindly agreed to check the document for errors of Italian and English, believe me, I went through it with such nitpicking thoroughness that I was almost convinced I’d be passed clear through all checkpoints.

Er, no. Humbling Experience #2. I pride myself as a proofer but there were plenty of mistakes, many of them tiny but enough to catch a reader’s eye and prompt the response I wanted to avoid above all others: “That would never have got past an editor.” I can’t account for it, except that often when I’m reading through a document I see what I want to see, kind of expect something to be right and almost hypnotise myself into not noticing when it isn’t! Also, I was up too close. No matter how hard I tried to detach and just coldly proof, I was feeling my protags, their desires; hearing their voices – and, as a result, almost constantly distracted. I am certain there are authors out there who can outline, write, proof and publish on their own, but I am not one of them. I value my advisors and my beta readers more than I’ve been able to express to any of them. I’m really not taking an advisory role here but what I would say to self-pubbing authors is, if you can get people like that around you – wow. Use them. Cherish them. Pay them where possible, and where their guidance is offered freely, grab it and give thanks!

I believe that authors entering the market under their own imprint have a certain torch to carry. We’re working in an incredibly exciting new world where you actually can sit down, write a book and get it out there, in ebook or print format, with absolute minimum expense. It’s a recipe for total personal freedom – and, I think, total personal responsibility too. Each time one of us goes out there, we’re bearing with us on our tired authorial shoulders the reputation of the ebook industry, the reputation of self-published novelists everywhere. We have this massive opportunity right now to convince the reading world that indie writers care as much, work as hard, and are just as damn good as authors who have passed through a professional publishing process.  

Hmm. Despite my promises, there I am on my soapbox. What I really want to say is, thank you to all the people who helped All Roads Lead To You – and FoxTales – through the birth pangs. And thank you to the readers who have welcomed the book with open arms. It’s not my prime motivation – I’m a writer, so my prime motivation is simply that I need to write – but it is absolutely wonderful to see the story selling so well, and to know that by taking this step I’m considerably further along the road to my goal of being able to support myself and my family on a writer’s salary.

To celebrate earning, I’d like to give something away! If you’d like to win a free copy of any of my ebooks, including All Roads, just leave a comment here or on my Facebook. You can check out your choices here

http://www.harperfox.net

at my attractively revamped web page! (Thanks again to Julia.) I shall pick three lucky winners at the end of the week.