Self-Publishing Sunday {Week 1}

Welcome one and all to the first of a series of posts called Self-Publishing Sunday. I will be posting every other Sunday with tips, tricks, and information about what goes on when you’re a self-published author. I’m not going to talk about what it takes to write a book, but if there is interest, I might be persuaded to write a post or two about that.

One thing that sets me apart from most people and bloggers is that I am a 22 -year-old published author. Before we get started, let me give you my credentials. I wrote my novel Aureole my senior year of high school. After a lot of unsuccessful attempts to get a literary agent, I turned to self publishing my junior year of college. What made me believe it was possible was meeting Maria Murnane when she came to speak to my sorority, since she is an alumna of Delta Gamma and was conveniently in town. I had a lot of preconceived notions about self publishing and the people who self published, and she didn’t fit into any of them. That was what made it seem plausible to me.

Aureole came out in July 2012, and I’m now working on two more books. One is a book of short stories, and the other is another novel. I’m aiming for the novel to be out by October 2016 at the absolute latest. I’m hoping to provide the same encouragement to other prospective self-published authors that Maria Murnane gave me.

I started by writing a guest post for The “Florkens” introducing this series with some myths busting. Today’s post includes some information from that, as well as new myths/facts.

Whether you’re an author or a reader, you should know these things about self-publishing. If you have any questions about these myths/facts, or you want to include your own, shoot me a blog comment, tweet, or Facebook comment.


(1) Myth: Only authors who are so bad no one wants them self publish.

Fact: It is so ridiculously hard to get a literary agent, and then to get a publisher, than many authors are turning to self publishing first. Would I love for my primary career to be writing and to get advances from publishing companies and big fat royalty checks on a regular basis? Yes. But I really just want to be published. It is more important to me that my writing get out and I make a little bit of extra money a year than I be in Barnes and Noble. (Although I wouldn’t turn that down.)

(2) Myth: Self-published books have poor editing.

Fact: There are some books that need some extra editing. But most self-published authors have spent hours and hours and hours and hours editing their books. Some even hire professional editors.

(3) Myth: Self-published books have poor/little plot.

Fact: I can’t deny that there are some self-published books like that. But can’t you agree that there are some traditionally-published books like that?

(4) Myth: Self-published books are all romance novels.

Fact: No. Just … no.

(5) Myth: I’m not a real writer if I self publish.

Fact: Have you written something? Is it published? Can you earn money from it? Congratulations, you’re a real writer.

Also – do you consider yourself a writer? Congratulations, you’re a writer.

(6) Myth: Self-publishing is too complicated. I can’t do it.

Fact: No! You can! There’s a lot that goes into it, but there would be a lot if you were publishing with a publishing company. There’s a lot that goes into writing and publishing a book no matter what.

Questions, comments, concerns? Don’t hesitate to let me know! Come back in 2 weeks (or every day; I don’t mind) for more information about self-publishing. Oh, and if you’re interested in this becoming a link-up, definitely let me know!