The ABC's of Writing and Publishing: Why Choose Self-Publishing?

Wavin' atchya sweet writer friends!

I'm hard at work on finishing up the "textbook" for my ABC's of Writing and Publishing Classes. The book will be ready for you in October!

In the meantime, I'll share with you bits and pieces of my writing-for-publication journey.

Here’s a peek at my journey which shows you why I’ve embraced self-publishing and why I’m teaching you how to do the same…

From 1998 through July of 2009, I struggled, and I struggled hard trying to navigate my way through the traditional publishing world. After dozens of query letters and rejections, I’d landed a top agent, and I’d made it to the desk of many of New York City’s top editors and to their editorial meetings for final consideration. After each of those meetings, I re-wrote my manuscript, based on what they thought they wanted at that time. And I did this six times.

I was writing contemporary humorous romance and chick lit, but had been told that even though they really liked, and in several cases, loved what I’d originally written, the market demanded that I make it hotter, meaning more sex and hotter sex. After I turned in that version, they said, “Oops, no, never mind, go ahead and write it sweeter, with little or no sex. That’s what’s selling now.” Following the sweet version, I was told, “no, let’s go with something shorter. We think you’re more of a Harlequin writer.” After the shorter version, they said, “no, longer novels are better now. We want to break you into the contemporary single title market. Oh, and by the way make it more humorous, well, on second thought, make it less humorous. Chick lit is dead.”

I rode in this horse and pony show for three years, re-writing and re-writing and re-writing my original manuscript to include their countless demands of more-this and less-that. And, I was miserable. But then…it got a whole lot worse…

In July 2009, I managed to live through the experience I’m about to share with you, and it marked a major turning point in my writing-for-publication journey. I call it “My Triumph Over The Evil Editor Turd.”

This was the point at which I said “No way in hell am I continuing on the Traditional Publishing Route. It’s time for a detour...a detour onto the Self-Publishing Road to Publishing Oz.

For three years, I’d felt like I was Dorothy on a Yellow Brick Road that never ended. That’s how long the process of writing and re-writing that original manuscript had been, thanks to my agent and the traditional publishing editors. Three years! My Emerald City couldn’t be found in the smoky haze of the Wicked Witch gazing balls belonging to my agent and the traditional publishing editors she’d submitted my manuscript to.

Regardless of the dazzling poppy fields of rejection that they kept dropping me off in, I knew there was another way to keep my ruby shoes and continue skipping to Oz. Yes…I was that neurotic!

Psychology Professor Dr. C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University describes what it means to be neurotic in his paper “A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis.” He theorizes that neurosis may be rooted in ego defense mechanisms which are the ways in which we develop and maintain our consistent sense of self.

Bingo, Boeree! My neurotic ego defense mechanisms were about to be put to the test of all tests!

***Note: Before I take this story further, let me just say, that nothing I say in this book is in any way meant to make fun of or belittle any sort of mental illness. I have a BA from Purdue University, majoring in Psychology. I worked in the field for years, and I care very deeply about our society’s mental health issues. I’m using these terms in a sarcastic manner and as a parody of sorts of what our writing life is like.

Boeree’s theory notes that a neurotic individual suffers from the following symptoms:

“anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, irritability, mental confusion, low sense of self-worth ...avoidance, vigilance, impulsive and compulsive acts, lethargy...unpleasant or disturbing thoughts, repetition of thoughts and obsession, habitual fantasizing, negativity and cynicism...perfectionism, schizoid isolation, socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors...”

It wasn’t until my own personal Highway to Hell at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference 2009 in Washington, D.C that I put my neurosis in perspective for the first time. This was my defining neurotic moment and the ultimate turning point in my writing-for-publication journey.

Like any good neurotic, I’m subject to “impulsive compulsive acts.” At my agent’s suggestion, I submitted a one-page synopsis of my manuscript which was already in the merry-go-round of final consideration by several big publishers) to be cold read at the conference by another huge, HUGE editor.

Screw “avoidance.” I was evidently “habitually fantasizing” that my many times praised manuscript would no longer meet “negativity and cynicism.” I’d been there done that and seemed to be getting quite close to Publishing Oz.

I went to D.C., “obsessed” with my lucky break at being chosen to get the cold read from this top editor. And I made my Darling Husband (DH) miserable all week with my “repetition of thoughts” regarding what the esteemed editor would say about my work.

When 3:30 PM the Saturday afternoon of conference finally came around, I sat with my DH in the front row of one of the large hotel conference rooms with three hundred plus other writers and faced The Devil in Editor Form...ever “vigilant” of my career’s future.

Said editor cold read and critiqued all twenty or so of the submissions that had been chosen for her, finally getting to mine at the end of the session.

Then...she publicly annihilated my work (as recorded on the conference cd-rom). We’re not talking she politely stated that my chick-lit tone wasn’t her thing, she used my manuscript to mock the entire genre.

I’ll paraphrase her rant, although I could probably quote it as I will NEVER forget the exact words. She threw her hands up in the air making all kinds of flying monkey gestures and went-off, screeching:

“A tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy?! How heroic is that? How about a horse?! That’s what I want my hero riding not a tractor! And dancing?! Who finds dancing heroic?! I don’t know about you, but I’m always wondering about those men on Dancing with The Stars. I doubt they’re really interested in their dance partners, if you know what I mean. Again, give me a hero, not a tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy!!! C’mon! Tomatoes?!!!”

(Oh, and she laughed her ass off through all of this.)

Okay...yes, after said editor’s rampage, I was still breathing so I had lived through the nightmare...barely...thanks to my DH patting my leg. And not patting for comfort, rather caressing for control. He knew I was damn well capable of exhibiting a “socio-culturally inappropriate behavior!”

You bet your ass I was feeling “anger,” “irritability,” “low sense of self-worth” and an abundance of “unpleasant or disturbing thoughts.” Oh, yeah. I was having a hard-core neurotic attack!

Lol! Now I’m laughing. Trust me, or ask my husband, I wasn’t laughing then!

So...I got up and did what any well-practiced neurotic would do. After introducing myself and thanking Evil Editor for annihilating me, as any neurotic suffering from “mental confusion” would do, I ran to room as fast as my ridiculous spiked heels and tortured feet would allow, locked and dead-bolted myself in and practiced “schizoid isolation.”

I was “lethargic,” “sad” and “depressed”...and…I was mad as hell!!!

The Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders suggests you treat neurosis with psychotherapy, behavior therapy and drugs. Fuck that! I used pasta, Tanqueray, tiramisu, and some Buddhist Zen mantra bullshit.

Talk about anxiety issues!!! I was hurting bad...and I mean bad!

My Darling Husband, the Hero that he is, hugged and kissed me, told me he loved me, put on his C-pap mask and took a nap.

Smart guy!

You know, it wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate that my chick-lit voice wasn’t this editor’s thing. I’m perfectly okay with the fact that she thinks multi-headed aliens and Jack the Ripper-style heroes are more “heroic” than a bootscootin’, tomato-growin’ cowboy who’s tractor is sexy, who’s truck is big and bad, and who can sweep any girl off of her feet on a dance floor.

Really...I am okay with this. It took me a few years...so I guess, yeah, I admit, at the time, I really wasn’t okay with that part either.

What bothered me most...and still does...and always will...was how this editor showed no respect for someone else’s tastes. OTHER READERS’ TASTES. READERS WHO WOULD BUY A BOOK AND LOVE A BOOK WITH A DANCING COWBOY AND TOMATOES.

She also had no respect for the quality of my good neurotic “perfectionist” work. (Note: Mine was the only submission she didn’t pick apart for form or clarity...in fact, she requested partials based on synopses she read that day that she admitted she was confused by and were not well-written, with characters she didn’t get or find realistic...big problems she never once knocked my submission for containing any of these major problems.)

She had no respect either for the fact that she herself acknowledged that my writing was an easy read and that it was funny.

“You are funny...very funny...and you’re writing is good...it’s tight...,” she said.

She simply had a profound hate for my type of hero...enough to not request my partial plus enough disdain for the genre to make a mockery out of my work just to garner a room-full of laughs.

BUT...and here comes the proverbial silver lining...

My writing did make an entire room and one incredibly nasty editor laugh!

There-in is the key that got me back on my neurotic feet and marching my not-so-happy ass straight to my own Self-Publishing Oz.

I am a romantic comedy and humorous mystery writer. So making people laugh can’t be half-bad, right?

And how’s this for a wee bit extra justice served?

When I got home, my DH happened to be looking up our state fair schedule and what did he discover? Evidently, not everyone thinks like Evil Editor Turd...because there, in all its splendid glory, was a welcome to the 2009 Indiana State Fair poster announcing this year’s theme “The Year of the Tomato.” And there was their poster for the fair, including a bunch of tomatoes, tractors, a cowboy and a guitar.

Hmmm. I guess enough people like those ideas being as an entire state fair theme included them.” The darn poster could have been my debut book’s cover!!!

And yes...I sent this poster to my agent — before I fired her.

So maybe being a neurotic writer isn’t so bad...if you can find the courage to handle this type of very public rejection.

But what if this type of nastiness isn’t necessary for you to endure in order to publish a book?

You can refuse to be a part of the traditional publishing game and instead, chart your own course to Publishing Oz by Self-Publishing.

To summarize, before this life-changing experience, I used to stew about many of the anxiety-heavy, neurotic behaviors dogging me on the Yellow Brick Road to Publishing Oz... but not anymore.

In August 2010, after taking a year to learn everything that I could about Self-Publishing, I self-published my book using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform (known as KDP). I published the original manuscript, my way with my beloved cowboys and tomatoes, without including any of the changes my former agent and editors had me write, and re-write and then re-write again.

I’d finally figured out that writing-for-the-market, which was what they were having me do, wasn’t authentic, and it’s something that will never serve you well. The results of their forced rewrites weren’t the voice and the story that I had originally written for readers and the story that so many readers had already told me they loved, exactly the way it came off of my keyboard the first time.

Fourteen months later, on a cold, snowy December night in 2011, I was on the phone with my dad, and I was crying like a baby.

Why was I crying?

Because in the last 24 hours, I’d hit Amazon’s Top 100 Bestselling Books List and their Movers and Shakers List — for the second time. I’d hit Barnes & Noble’s Top 100 and Top 10 Bestselling Books List, and I’d become their #1 Bestselling Ebook.

Okay...yes...that’s over the moon fabulous, right?!

So, why the hell was I crying?!

Because my dad was crying too when he said:

“Congratulations, Pumpkin! You did it! And it only took you about 10 Years and 24 Hours to Succeed.”

Yep...thus the big tears flowed for both of us.

That night, the idea for my bestselling on-writing and publishing book — 10 YEARS AND 24 HOURS TO INDIE EPUBLISHING SUCCESS — was born. In that book, I shared the scoop behind my publishing success. We’ll cover a few of those tips in this book as well. But even more important, we’ll go into great detail as to how to achieve every step before, after and in between the points at which you’ll use my bestselling tips. In other words, we’re going to focus on the entire process of writing and publishing a book.

First, let’s put “success” into perspective as it means different things to different people. As you work your way through this book, define success as you see it regarding your writing-for-publication journey. There are no right and wrong answers, only answers that work for you.

For me, success means reaching millions of readers with great books for great prices and keeping those readers happy, laughing out loud and coming back for every book I publish. I’ve chosen to make writing-for-publication my career, my livelihood. My “job” is writing and publishing books and teaching others how to do the same.

That might end up being your definition of success, too. But, if it isn’t, if you simply wish to write the book of your heart, publish it and find a few readers, that’s perfectly fantastic and doable as well. Writing-for-publication doesn’t have to be your career goal. YOU DECIDE how this adventure fits into your life. I’m here to help you whatever your decision is.

How do I know if I’m successful by my standards?

The answer, for me, is my Book Sales.

Speaking of which, did you know that 95% of published authors sell less than 1,000 books?

This statistic is an industry-wide estimate, meaning it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re traditionally published (by one of the big publishers – Harper Collins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan, Random House, St. Martin’s Press or Harlequin) or if you’re, like me, and you’re self-published.

Ninety-five percent of published authors sell less than 1,000 books.

What does this mean?

It means that you have the opportunity to sell just as many books, actually I would argue you’ll be able to sell more books, if you self-publish than if you publish traditionally.

Here is a snapshot of my book sales so you can get a feel for the amazing opportunities you have as a self-published author…

Six years since my debut release BOOTSCOOTIN’ BLAHNIKS hit cyber shelves the world over (August 2010), I’ve sold over 400,000 books. And that debut book, which was Free for several years (much more on that later), has been downloaded, on its own, over 650,000 times. That means over one million readers are reading my books.

My books have appeared over 300 times on International Bestseller Lists, including:

***Three times on Amazon’s Top 100 Bestselling Books List

***Once as the #1 Free Book on Amazon

***Four times on Amazon’s Movers and Shakers List

***Multiple times on Barnes & Noble’s Top 100 Bestselling Books List

***Once on Barnes & Noble’s Top 10 Bestselling Books List

***Once as Barnes & Noble’s #1 PubIt Book

***Hundreds of Bestsellers List within Genres (for example, dozens of times on Amazon’s Top 100 Bestselling Humor List, right up there with Tina Fey and Shirley MacClaine)

***Numerous appearances as both Amazon and B&N Hot New Releases in Humor and Mystery

***Dozens of appearances on Apple’s International Bestseller Lists for Romance and Mystery

Now, I’m not sharing my “success” with you to brag. Not at all. I’m sharing it with you to inspire you to continue with your writing-for-publication journey no matter where you’re at on that journey.

You see...here’s the thing...

My “overnight success” took me over a decade to achieve! That’s right...10+ years!!!

Fast forward to today, and I’ve been working my ass off for almost twenty years. Almost twenty years of writing and publishing thirty-five books. Almost twenty years of learning everything I can about the publishing industry. Almost twenty years of networking with industry professionals.

I’m a huge believer in the adage “You create your own luck.” If you want your stars to align, all you’ve got to do is toss them up into the sky! The greatest part is you’re not alone in your star-tossing adventures. In fact, throughout this book, I’m going to help you find and/or create your stars, then, together, we’ll toss them up into your publishing journey sky.

I didn’t build my constellations of success by myself. I had a lot of help along the way. So, I’m thrilled to be able to share what I’ve learned with you.

My motto is:

Nothing Beats Writers Helping Writers Reach Readers

I know how to successfully reach readers and build quality, very-rewarding, long-term relationships with them. And in this book, I’ll share my secrets to doing just that.

I’ll also share with you every step you need to take to write and publish books that readers are waiting for you to produce for them. And books that they’ll be so glad that they read.

So, that said, get comfy and open your mind and heart — because it takes both of those in this business to succeed. And let’s begin to build your publishing empire.

The good news is that with my tips it probably won’t take you over ten years to write and publish your book. But that said, if it does, who cares? This is your journey, and however fast or slow you take it is totally up to you.

Remember, too, as we discussed, YOU define what success is in your writing-for-publication adventure. You don’t have to sell hundreds of thousands of books, and you don’t have to have millions of books being downloaded by readers. Again, most authors sell less than 1,000 books. So wherever you’re at in sales numbers is perfectly wonderful and is perfectly in line with wherever you want to be.

In the Golden Age of Publishing, anything is possible. All you have to do is believe in yourself and try the techniques I’m sharing with you. And don’t worry if you don’t already believe in yourself, because I believe in you, and I’ll teach you the tools that you can use to create and build your own confidence.

Now then…here’s the really-really good news. If you follow my tips, tricks and tidbits, you’ll also have a fantastic time getting to where you want to be. And isn’t that what life is about?

Enjoying the journey is the journey. It’s not just about the results. It’s about loving every minute of the adventure. And in today’s Golden Age of Publishing, there truly is a lot to love about the process of writing and publishing a book.

Happy Writing and Publishing --- DD