Self Publishing – How and
Why I took the Plunge by Ellyn
Oaksmith
My journey to self publishing
happened because 1) I met Oprah. 2) My neighbor worked for Amazon. 3) I was
super frustrated with writing into the void. 4) I have no other marketable skills.
In other words, failure was not an option.
Maybe I would have self
published if I hadn’t met Oprah. It’s hard to say because I did. For those of
you sick of this story, skip this paragraph and just know that I am going to
tell it for the rest of my life. I was one of 10 women to fly to Chicago and
interview Oprah over the course of 3 hours at Harpo studios for O Magazine’s 10th
Anniversary issue. During the preliminary session someone interviewing me asked
if I was “living my best life.” Suffice it to say that my best life didn’t
include sitting on a manuscript that I’d written 2 years prior, venting to my
long-suffering husband and feeling like a huge loser when people asked what I
did at cocktail parties. My peers were reaping the benefits of decades of hard
work. I had an unread manuscript.
A chance conversation with my
neighbor during which I offered my stumbling, long-winded, abashed answer to
“what do you do?” led to him telling me all about Amazon’s self publishing
program. His friend was now living off the proceeds of his science fiction
series. Despite the fact that I envisioned his friend living in a cardboard
box, eating corn out a can, I polished my manuscript, had friends read it and
was utterly shocked and overjoyed when they loved it. They really loved it.
They loved it to the point that the editing suffered. But that’s another story.
And one fine day, that I will
never forget, I logged onto Amazon.com and clicked publish. Cue chorus of
angels. What light years we’ve come from the printing press. Our words are now
available to anyone in the world with a computer and a credit card. I mean
someone in Vatican City ordered my book. Think about that. God bless Jeff
Bezos.
My novel started out life
called Knockers. It grew in popularity until an agent came calling and sold it
to Harper Collin’s Avon imprint. I tried that route and have to say that there
are some advantages. The staff at Avon are incredible. You couldn’t find a more
enthusiastic bunch of people who had the book looking spiffier than I could
have imagined. They changed the cover and the title to Adventures with Max and
Louise. They published it 3 years to the day of me sitting down with Oprah. It
was a great experience.
And yet, here I am self
publishing. Because of what it has to offer: more control, more money, more
immediacy with my readers. Power and money: I’m pretty sure those are the two
things driving all of human development. You do the math.
You have absolute power over
what you produce and honestly, it isn’t a whole lot more work. Of course,
having the paperback delivered to your doorstep by UPS isn’t anything like
slaving away over the proofs, promising yourself a scoop of cookie dough if you
correct one more chapter that you have read probably 7 times in the last 4
months. I have learned so much from
publishing Divine Moves. It’s going to get easier and easier. (Sure Ellyn, you
tell yourself that.) I am doing just as much marketing as I did with Harper
Collins. Yes, it’s different not having a team on my side but eventually that
team moves onto other books. I’m the team and I never stop working on a book.
Self publishing offers the
incredible feeling of being a small business owner. You have the power to work
as hard as you want, to reach out to as many bloggers as you have time. You are
as big as your dreams. (Yes, I know that sounds cheesy but it’s real.) You
aren’t in anyone’s pipelines and you don’t have to wait for anyone to read or
sign off on anything. You go as fast as you want. A supremely successful and
kind author named Hugh Howie, who wrote series that started with Wool, told me,
via e-mail, that although I had the interest of smaller publishers with Divine
Moves, self publishing is really so much more empowering and offers so much
more financial incentive. He helped me decide to go back to self publishing and
I haven’t regretted it one second.
At the end of the day, there
is only the work. I have a burning need to write. I did it for years when no
one was reading and it makes watching my readership grow all the sweeter. I
love looking on Facebook as the likes add up and my Tumblr readership blossoms
and as people follow my Pinterest posts. You can look at all the social media
as extra work or you can become an extrovert and embrace the new order. Sure
it’s hard to fit it all in but never have readers had this much access to a
writer nor writers to their audience. It’s breaking down some huge walls. And
there are days when an e-mail or Facebook comment from a reader can have me
charging back to work with new energy and enthusiasm.
This is a terribly exciting
time to be a writer and publishing is in a little bit of a Wild West phase.
Sure it’s a scramble for everyone and sometimes the ride is a little bit bumpy
but the future, from where I sit, looks very bright indeed.
Thank you for reading!
Divine
Moves
By: Ellyn Oaksmith
Blurb
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Seventeen years of
loving is a hard habit to break…
Meryl thought
things couldn’t get any worse. She’s caught her husband in bed with the
neighbor. She just found out she’s broke. Then her outrageous mother, Faye,
shows up.
Faye wants to be a grandmother and has money to loan so it’s hard to say no. But what Meryl doesn’t know is that Faye, a former stripper and born again Christian, plans on opening an exotic dance and women's fitness studio in Meryl’s affluent suburban community.
When Meryl’s book
club gets roped into promoting the studio by dancing at a charity tea, they
discover that their laced up ‘burb isn’t as proper as they think. As her
husband fights to win her back, Meryl grows increasingly attracted to a
handsome sheriff, recovering from his own loss. As a crisis looms, Meryl must
face her demons from the past. But first she has to get through Christmas.
Funny, sad and
sweet, Divine Moves reveals the forces that derail our lives and the sometimes
divine intervention that keeps us on track.
Buy Links
Link
to Follow Tour: http://tastybooktours.blogspot.com/2013/12/now-booking-tasty-virtual-book-tour-for_14.html
Author Info
I've been hooked on
writing since 4th grade when my story of an alley cat was read in class as an
example of a good scene setting. I just about fell off the chair in utter joy.
I was a total goner when a film I'd written while at the American Film
Institute was screened and people laughed. At the right places!
At Smith College I
gave my professor a heart attack when I compared Tess of the D'Urbervilles, the
book, to the movie.
I write every day
from 10-2 although while editing, it's much longer. I live in Seattle
Washington with my family and my shelter dog who is my workout partner. I
love to interact with readers on https://www.facebook.com/EllynOaksmith and http://ellynoaksmith.tumblr
Author Links
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DIVINE MOVES)
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