Self Publishing - My Story So Far

Self Publishing- My Story So Far.

One

On the 28th of April 2012 my debut novel Wizards One:  The Search for the Seer became available on Amazon.  I had previously tried to have this book published through main stream publishing and had not been able to secure a deal for the book.  I got close, sitting down with Anna Valdinger, commissioning editor for Harper Collins.  She loved my book and called it “Wizards Fun!”  But she said it wasn’t quite ready to be published yet and gave me some very good feedback on what she thought were the strengths and weakness’s in the manuscript.  I rewrote, polished, edited and revised and submitted to Allen and Unwin and more literary agents then you can poke a stick at.

They all gave me the same response.  “Thanks, but no thanks.”  Tired of endless rejection letters and getting sick of rewriting this first manuscript, I decided that I would try self publishing instead.  I mean why not?  That’s how Mathew Riley got discovered wasn’t it?  And my dream had always been to hold a copy of that first book in my hand by my 42nd birthday.  I decided that the only way I was going to achieve that result was through self publishing.  So I gave it a go.

The book did not do well, for reasons that I will go into later.  But I learned a shed load about myself and the publishing business in the process.  I have thought of rewriting that first novel and re-releasing it but right now I’m too busy doing bigger and better things, like trying to get my second work, Half Breed in front of mainstream publishers.

One thing is for certain though.  If I deicide to go down the self publishing route with any of my future works I will do things differently.  I’m sure I will make a fresh batch of mistakes.  But I will certainly turn out a better product next time.

Anyway, in this short little book I will tell you all about my first experience with my wizards and self publishing using Amazon KDP and Createspace.

First up:  Choices