Well, lately I've experienced it more than once. Besides the normal things going on home, family, a yard that desperately needs tending, I'm preparing for a new business venture. Frankly, it's a little bit scary. I'm planning to *gasp* self-publish a book.
I know, I know. When I got my first book published I was offended every time someone asked me, "How much did it cost to get published?" I'd say something to the effect, "Not a damn thing. I submitted my work to a publisher, not a vanity press."
It really pissed me off that they would even ask. (Don't hit me, I'm only being honest.) For many years, I felt that self-publishing was the kiss of death. Basically, I thought it meant you sucked as a writer and couldn't get anyone to publish your work.
Needless to say, things have changed in the publishing industry and so have my opinions. One thing that really began to open my eyes was, I realized that a lot of what's out there in mass market sucks. Ha. Ha. Ha. Seriously, I've read some major crap with big publishing houses.
Not only that, I've read some really good stuff that was self-published. I've done hours of research (and continue to do research) on publishing with Amazon Kindle. I've also discovered that people aren't turning up their noses nearly as much at self-published authors.
Self-publishing used to bring to mind bad cover art and poorly edited books. Now, many authors are hiring artists or doing the work themselves, having writing partners (or a hired editor) look over their work, and releasing the books themselves. Some with raging success.
Do I expect to be a "raging success?" Of course I do! If you're going to dream, dream big. Do I think it will magically happen? No, and I don't want to trade any cows for beans. I work. I work HARD. I spend hours and hours (like 80 a week sometimes) learning how to market my books.
Besides that, I'm good at what I do. I don't say that full of pride or thinking that I'm "the shit." I take editor's opinions to heart and I learn from them. Same goes for readers. I pay attention and continue to improve my craft. Does that mean I'm perfect? Certainly not. But, every book I write gets better and better. Of that I'm certain. I look at my books as a product. It is my goal to reach as many readers as possible with a quality product. As stated above, I've read plenty of crap to recognize it when I see it. And my stuff isn't crap.
With all those things in mind, I'm currently working on a book that I plan to offer on Amazon Kindle very soon. I'm about halfway finished with the story. After that, I plan to thoroughly edit the work myself (I've gotten pretty good at that) before having my lovely and talented editing partner go over it too.
Am I nervous? Sure. But I figure, what have I got to lose? Uploading a book to Amazon Kindle (after it's properly formatted, of course) doesn't cost a thing.
I don't believe that "raging success" will happen over night. I've often heard that persistence trumps talent. Well, I'm hard working and I believe I have talent. I have no doubt that eventually, "success" will follow.
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