Tag: self-publishing

On Rejection as a Writer

I recently received Alison Wearing’s Memoir Writing, Ink newsletter and she had this to say about rejection as a writer —

“Every year, I try to remind people that Every Writer Faces Rejection. Every. Single. Freaking. One. It’s not an anomaly, it’s not a measure of talent (or character), it’s part of the process that writers everywhere endure. So, rather than taking rejection as evidence that you are not a writer, it’s also possible to take it as evidence that you are.”

~Alison Wearing, Memoir Writing, Ink

“Louisa May Alcott was told to “Stick to your teaching.” Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ was deemed “unsalable and unpublishable.” One publisher found Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises’ “to be both tedious and offensive.”

By Mental Floss UK |Dec 1, 2023″

The list goes on. Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows; George Orwell, Animal Farm; H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds; Joseph Heller, Catch-22; Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, all received rejection letters when they first submitted their works.

Add authors Ursala K. Le Guin, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louisa May Alcott, John le Carré, Gertrude Stein and D. H. Lawrence to the list and I think you may be getting the picture.

Rejection is simply a part of life as a writer. You can’t please everybody. A thick skin helps but, whatever you do, don’t give up. In this day and age, there is always self-publication. Many authors who decided to self-publish after rejection by traditional publishers have gone on to be successful. Wildly successful. These include Margaret Atwood, Lisa Genova, EL James, E. E. Cummings, and Mark Twain. There are also many media sites out there to highlight your work and begin creating your own readers. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and blog sites are all public platforms to showcase your work. Literary magazines and newsletters are always looking for new material.

Whatever you do as a writer, DON’T GIVE UP. Keep writing, keep creating, keep dreaming.

Google Yourself – Be Surprised

Every once in a while, it pays to check yourself out on Google, especially if you are an author/writer. In 2015, I published my book “10 – A Story of Life, Loss, and Life” through Balboa Press, the self-publishing branch of Hay House Publishing. This week I checked my book out online and found that it was offered on many sites throughout the world.

You can order my book through Google Books, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon where it has a 4.6/5 rating. It’s available in Kindle, paperback, or hard cover versions. What surprised me the most was you can also order it through online companies around the world: Waterstones (England/Wales), Thrift Books (USA), Booktopia (Australia), adlibris.com (Sweden), libreriauniversitaria.it (an Italian company based in El Salvador), Rakuten Kobo (USA) and the French Friac.

That’s heartening to know that my book is still out there and available to so many people. It’s not making me rich but that wasn’t the reason I published it. This was a book to honour Tom, my deceased husband, and to offer hope and comfort to others who may be going through a great loss themselves.

Of course, you can always come out to Wellington County Museum & Archives this Saturday, June 10, 11 – 4, and buy a signed copy in person from me. Hope to see you there. https://www.wellington.ca/…/wellington-county-writers…

So You Want to Write a Book

I decided to write a book. I gathered up my journals, took out what I felt wasn’t needed, added some stories from the past, and had some friends read it and check it over for grammar and spelling and flow. I thought I was almost done.

Then I hired an editor for one last, final check. Little did I know that the hard work had just begun. Months later, with detailed revisions and editing, my manuscript was ready to send to Balboa Press. I thought I was almost done.

Week after week I worked with a new team member of the company setting up my manuscript for digital use, signing release papers for each step of the way, sending in a bio’, extra copy work for the front and back covers, keynotes (my book in one sentence), getting a professional author photo, getting copyright use for that photo, working with a design team through detailed revisions of my cover and interior of the book, reading and re-reading proofs in attentive detail, working with marketing consultants through detailed phone calls with checklists and ideas to self-promote my book. Once the release papers were sent off to the printer, I waited for weeks, and I thought I was almost done.

While I waited, I continued working on my social media platform, making a daily entry to my Facebook page, learning how to set up a blog and writing a weekly entry. I made phone calls, emails, met with people for interviews, approached book stores and libraries for exposure, and talked up my book everywhere I went. I had to buy packing materials, check postal fees, learn how to accept an e-transfer for money and make sure I am always carrying change in case someone wants to buy my book and pay with cash. I designed and ordered a business card and am learning how to build my blog into a website through YouTube tutorials. I am writing speeches for oral presentations on “Self-Publishing”, “Dealing With Loss”, and “Working Through Grief” for future oral presentations with small groups. I am beginning to realize that I am not almost done. The real work of marketing my book has only just begun.

Said by David Baldacci from Nov. interview in Writer’s Digest: “No one on earth is going to care more about your career than you. Not your agent, not your publisher, not friends in the industry. At the end of the day, you need to take responsibility for your career. And I know it’s hard when you’ve got your first book and you’re so excited that you’re like, ‘I’ll let other people take care of the royalties and all that—I’m just so excited, there’s my book on the shelf!’ But at the end of the day, everything matters.”

I have come to realize that “writing a book” isn’t just a matter of putting some words on a page and sending it off to a publisher. A whole new career has begun for me and it is my responsibility to care and put the energy into every facet of the business. But I believe in my book and its message. I am learning so much. I take courses, meet weekly with other writers and learn from pod casts, video tutorials and on-line articles and books on writing. I continue to write every day. And I read, read, read other author’s work. My life is busy but fulfilling. And I have come to accept that with writing and publishing, one is never done.