One of the things most writers have in common is the rejection after rejection from agents and publishers. People may say, it is so hard to write a book, how do you do it?
But most writers will roll their eyes and say “writing was easy, now I have to sell it.”
And that’s the problem, yes we writers may get writers block from time to time. But we know what we want to write about, we put it on paper. We meticulously go over the work again and again. Thinking that this is something special, people will really love it. Then bam, you get your first rejection, second and third; so on, and so on.
You keep writing, hoping that someone will give you a chance. Hoping that someone will see the potential in your work. See that it is something special. But as time passes by, and more work is written, you can begin to wonder – will I ever sell it?
That’s when I looked for other options. I had two books written, but no one could see them. So I began to look at the idea of self-publishing. I came across Xlibris Publishing. I was a bit dubious at first. All writers would love to have a publisher actually buy their books, instead of them having to pay out for it to get published. But I was tired of just hoping that something would happen. So I took the first step and got my books self-published.
It was a great feeling to see my novels in paperback format. To actually be able to have friends and family read them. To hand out business cards and bookmarks.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. There are thousands of self-published authors alone, not including authors that have sold their books to publishers. Yes, it is now the tedious point of marketing. My self-publishers have lots of packages to choose from. They can do some of the marketing, like contacting book reviewers etc.
And I guess that is probably why I’m glad I took the first step. Yes, eventually I may have sold my manuscripts, but then again, I might not have. I think the greatest advantage of self-publishing is to have the written work in a format that book reviewers will review.
Because I have it in paperback and e-book, I’m able to contact book reviewers, radio stations etc. If I had chosen to wait and see, I could still be waiting, instead of having reviewers review my book.
Only time will tell how successful I will be, regardless if you are a self-published author or not, it will be hard work. But nothing bets the feeling of having your work being read and hopefully appreciated by other people.
Self-publishing does not need to be too expensive, you can choose what package you want. It can start anywhere from $1000, right up to the big numbers. Self-publishing is about taking your destiny as an author into your hands. Who knows what might happen once you do…
Writing, Health, and CBD 