As many of you know, there was a hitch in the giddup of publishing Shadow Work in the print version, while the ebook version went live smoothly and as expected. I'm happy to announce that Shadow Work will be available in print at Barnes & Noble within the week! To be clear, this will be available for order online only for the time being (of course, you can go in-store to order/request it). Also, please allow a slight delay in delivery as COVID-19 is continuing to wreak havoc on every industry, the world of book printing being no exception.
What I Control/Don't Control: Insight for Fellow Writer Friends
I wanted to take a moment to pull back the curtain a bit and teach my fellow-authors about what the self-publishing process is like. There were quite a few things I did control during this process, such as:
-The content of the book. I made the final call during editing, I decided what to add and what to take away, etc. I wouldn't recommend keeping this kind of power for most projects, honestly. Editors and other members of traditional publishing teams are vital to producing a quality book on bigger scales, especially in fiction. However, for this specific project, it was helpful. My vision for what this book was changed a bit over time, and the freedom to make it whatever I needed it to be was important. Shadow Work actually started out only as a list of prompts meant to be more of a journal prompt product. The idea to include the narrative didn't dawn on me until I was almost uploading the files to publishers.
-The cover design. There is a meaning behind every color and font choice. Depending on your contract with traditional publishing, the decision for the cover will likely be made for you.
Other decisions I made was formats the book was available in and where my book is sold. I chose to have this book available in ebook and hardcover because I was thinking about ease of use. Electronics and hardcovers that stay open easier seemed like the most logical way to create this book. I didn't want paperbacks because in my experience, journaling or working with prompts from a book that doesn't stay open is a hassle.
Likewise, I'd originally planned only to publish the book through the big 3 vendors. After the hangup with the print version, I knew the next logical move was to expand where the book would be available. That said, for now I'm making the print version available only at Barnes & Noble. This decision was made after taking into account everything I know about amazon's operations, how they pay authors, and so on.
Because I'm publishing through stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. there were still things I couldn't control, such as:
-The price. There was a minimum price I could set my book to. The price for the book includes cost of production, distributor's cut, and my own royalties. For e-books, there's no manufacturing cost, which means I get a larger royalty, but can also keep the price lower. For the print books, there's more involved which means the price will of course naturally be higher. While I can have some say in the price, meaning I can increase it to get better royalties, I don't control the base price.
-Availability of the book. If I was selling from my own bookshop or online store, I'd always know this book was in stock. Through these other vendors, stock and ability to print is a little varied.
Let's Keep In Touch
Those of my readers who happen to be on my Facebook know I take long breaks from social media. I do this for so many reasons, from staying productive to avoiding the many torrents of internet misinformation and preserving my own mental health. If you haven't taken a vacation from social media yet, I recommend taking a week off (maybe taking some of that time to read Shadow Work!) soon.
I fully plan to swim away from Facebook et. al. and dive back into my next project as soon as I know that the print books are available for purchase and everything has settled into its place. However, I'll still be keeping up with my blog and the author-y parts of my job. I'll be posting here all updates for coming books and writing projects, articles relevant to reading, literature, and publishing, and any personal updates relevant to my work or our reader-author relationship.
Subscribing to this blog to receive emails of when I publish and following me on Goodreads will be the best way to keep up with me. Subscribing will bring you notifications to your email while Goodreads is one of the places my blog automatically uploads to! I will feature the bigger updates on my Instagram, and publishing countdowns (and probably not much else) will absolutely make their way to my Facebook.
I don't currently use twitter and I only use Snapchat for personal use.
Future Work
Shadow Work was a small-scale project focused on mental health and my best offering to the world as we try to make sense of our post-covid lives. It contained important pieces of my life's story and I did my best to keep it as accessible linguistically as well as cost-wise as I could while still meeting my own needs. That's why it was self-published. Most every part of the book-making process was done by me, including the promo and so on.
While that was fun (and exhausting. So much hard work was put into that process), going forward I will be working to be represented by a literary agent and dealing only with traditionally published fiction for the time being. I have 2 series and a collection of short stories in the works at the moment, which I am super excited for!
Of course, as suggested earlier, I still plan to blog, as well. Blogging is my favorite way to connect with readers and provides me all of the space I need to explore each note I want to cover as detailed as I care to go. It's still a question as to whether or not creative posts will be made here.
Ways to Support My Work
Some of you have asked how you can best support my writing. I would very much appreciate the following:
- Buy the books! Obviously, the books are my strongest source of income where writing is concerned. The more my books sell, the more they catch the eye of the market, the more readers I reach!
- Write reviews. Honest reviews help potential readers determine if the book is for them and gives me feedback as an author (if I see the review).
- Tell your friends about my work/Sharing posts on social media. Personally recommending my book to people you know would enjoy it and helping others to see the book and generate intrigue is a great way to bring new readers to my work.
- Reach out to me with your feedback! The world of literature tends to evolve with its readers. Hearing from you guys about what you think of the work helps me to keep in mind what I'm doing right, where I can still develop, and which aspects of my work my readers are connecting to the most.
I'll Never Stop Thanking My Readers
Another sincere thank-you to everyone who has and will be reading my work. Writing is all I care to do, and my readers make it possible for me to pursue that. I'm so grateful for everyone who takes me and my work seriously. You all are the best!
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