When I wrote my first novel, I was elated. It was in 1997 and I wrote it in less than four months. I always dreamed of writing a novel, but always found excuses not to sit down and just write it. After a life changing event, I reassessed my life and what I wanted to achieve. One thing I always wanted to do was write a novel. Actually, many novels. Becoming a writer when I retired was a long-time dream of mine, but I was forced to reevaluate that long-term goal. I told myself, “If I don’t write the novel now, I may never write it. Life is too short not to follow my dreams.” That launched my dream of writing my first novel.
I had some ideas for a novel, but one idea stayed in my mind for days after I made the decision to write the novel. I wanted to explore an abused woman and the complexities of love and betrayal that result from that abuse. I already had a character in mind that would be my protagonist. She was a tough, proud but angry and bitter woman, and she would endure some incredibly harrowing incidents in her life. I wanted to capture the spirit of her on paper and convey to the reader why she was a survivor.
When I decided on my lead, it wasn’t hard to sprinkle the novel with other colorful characters to bring the story to life. To create compelling characters, I drew on the characteristics of the people I knew, their personalities, their special annoyances, and their quirks to make the story interesting and believable. I wanted the characters to ring true with my readers. I wanted the readers to care about the characters. I wanted readers to want to meet the characters, enter their worlds, and feel their pain and sadness.
After finishing the novel, I felt that I had achieved my first goal as a writer: putting the work on paper. I did. I spent several more months fine-tuning the novel and making changes here and there until I felt like I had said all I could say about the characters at that point. My baby was finished.
It was time to see what others thought of my baby, my novel, so I submitted the manuscript to numerous book publishers only to receive rejection letters saying that my work was not what they were looking for at the time. My first rejection letter blew me away because I didn’t expect such a blatant negative response from the publisher. He expected some comments on why it didn’t fit, but that didn’t happen. So I protected the book for a few years.
I realized that there was a lot I didn’t know about the publishing industry, and before I jumped back into those waters, naked, I needed to learn a little more about a world I had planned to make a career in. I read, researched, and printed all kinds of articles from the internet about book publishing. When I came across self-publishing articles, it really hit me. At that time, in the late 1990s, desktop publishing required a large investment of money. To have a small print run, you would have to invest a large amount of money with no guarantee of a return on your investment. I put that idea on hold and decided to continue to focus on traditional book publishers to get my book into bookstores.
I waited another couple of years and continued my research. I also decided to write a couple more novels while I waited for the right time to release my books. I researched the types of books that were selling on the shelves and decided to write some short stories in those same genres. I could always go back and turn them into novels if the idea occurred to me.
In 2004 I found information about print on demand publishers and decided that this was the way to go. I could self-publish my novel without a huge investment and an inventory of books I couldn’t get out of my apartment’s spare room. I didn’t have that concern with POD editors. I printed only what I wanted to sell. There was no backlog of books, and no inventory that I had to be responsible for selling to recoup my initial investment. I could recover my initial investment with the sale of only 200 books. And I did it.
I researched POD publishers and settled on one outside of Canada, Trafford.com. I researched the website and the guidelines for submitting the novel for printing. I decided on the size of the book, 5″ x 9″ x 6″, and determined that I wanted it to be paperback. I checked Trafford.com’s prices and chose the package that would provide an ISBN number for my novel. “I would also keep all the book copyright. Through book distributors, I could place my novel in book wholesalers, chain stores, online bookstores, and independent bookstores. I was well on my way to publishing my book for the world to read.
However, I did make a few mistakes that first-time authors make. I didn’t get my book reviewed before it went to print, so getting the book to key markets was more difficult after the fact, and I didn’t get the sales I was hoping for. Nor did I plan a marketing strategy for my novel. I thought I would learn it as I go. Also, I didn’t promote my novel to the best of my ability, mainly because I didn’t think I would have to spend all my time promoting it. I just thought the money would fall from the sky.
What a wake up call! The money did not come rolling or falling from the sky, for that matter. I had to seriously rethink how I wanted to make this new writing career work. Being a writer wasn’t just about writing the book and publishing it. To be a successful writer, I had to promote my book to keep it in the minds of readers so they would want to go out and buy it.
I learned that the hardest part of being a writer is learning how to market myself. It takes hard work, perseverance, and most of all, dedication on the part of the author, that is, myself, to go out there and let the world know that I have a book that needs to be read.
So now I trudge on.
