As I approach the dizzying heights of thirty-five, I feel it necessary to celebrate by doing something bold. So, here goes.
All queries have been sent. Copious rewrites mean some agents have seen variations of this story two or three times. I'm not holding out much hope anymore, yet I refuse to give up on this story.
While it would be amazing to have the fairytale path to publication, the super supportive agent, the on-board publishing foundation along with a big, corporate cheering squad, I've decided to take another path. I will do things my way to my own timescale, and actually I'm so excited about it (as well as totally bricking it...)
So, while I'll still be checking my inbox for that fabled Full Request, I'm also now walking the path to publishing independently, clinging to the marketing budget I spent ages saving for.
I won't bait the pro's and cons of trad vs self publishing here, as hopefully we've come at least far enough to accept they're both equally valid methods of getting books in front of readers. But I do plan to blog each step of the process as I take them, from finding cover designers (How to choose? Who decides what bit?) to distribution (Ingram or KDP? Both? Bulk buy stock or print on demand?), marketing (What strategy really sells, and how do you get onto that hallowed bookshop shelf?) and all the bits in between.
I'm super lucky to already have an amazing group of writer friends, a brilliant editor lying in wait to chastise me about every single 'very' and 'just', and the superpower that is the WriteMentor community for all the wisdom and support a writer could ask for. Now, I just need to take the plunge.
There will be giveaway swag! (That one I'm determined about). There will be mistakes! If you hear distant screaming, it is most probably me wondering what the hell is going on and why I ever decided to do this myself in the first place.
Until then, I'll leave you with the a small hint of what's yet to come: