So I'm blogging now...

Several years after everyone's started a blog, here I am. Blogging. Yay ^_^;

Well, I've heard from numerous sources that starting a blog is a great thing to do when you're self-publishing. Which, it just so happens, is what I'm doing. So, let the shameless self-promotion begin!

Anyway, I'm a writer, and I'm self-publishing a novel, Solstice, that's scheduled for an October 2007 release. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about this crazy, but wonderfully fulfilling, process that's called "self-publishing."

Solstice
First off, if you want to know more about the actual novel, you can visit my web site at www.verytragicalmirth.com. It’s primarily apocalyptic fiction, a speculative fiction (i.e., involving science fiction and fantasy elements) book about people called Scribes who have the power to make anything they write come true. The story centers on one Scribe, Nadie, who decides to use her powers to punish humanity for its crimes. It’s a thriller incorporating elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. The first three chapters are available for download.

Why Self-publishing?
What made me go the self-publishing route, even knowing it's a labor-intensive, and reasonably expensive, process? There were actually a few reasons:

One: I’m too much of a control freak. Like anyone who’s written a novel, I’m very attached to my work. The thought of having someone else tell me to change the title, change the names, and change the characters’ ethnicities (my main protagonist, for example, is a Mexican-Japanese woman named Io) didn’t appeal to me. I also heard major publishers don’t really let their authors (especially first-timers like me) provide feedback and/or suggestions for the cover art, and I had some definite ideas on what I wanted the cover to be. So self-publishing seemed like an ideal solution to appease my control-freakish ways.

Two: I tried doing the agent thing in 2006, but after about 15 mailings, all I had to show for my efforts were a stack of form letters that told me nothing about why my novel wasn’t their thing. And it’s not like I even sent unsolicited manuscripts. I followed all the rules, including looking up each agent and sending them only what they asked for (e.g., query letters, first three chapters). So it got kind of disheartening that, despite all the effort that goes into crafting individualized letters, packages, and sending it all off, the most you could hope to get was a photocopied piece of torn-off paper telling you they have no interest in your project. Had I gotten any kind of actual feedback (e.g., “your novel is no good to us because, well, your story actually sucks!”), at least I could have worked on improving my weak points. But how can you improve when no one tells you anything about what you need to improve?

So I came to a decision: if I’m going to invest that much time, and money, into securing an agent, I may as well redirect my efforts towards self-publishing. I’m happy with my decision, no matter how it turns out in October. My book will be done, and I don’t have to spend all these months waiting around for agent replies that might never even come.

Three: My parents. You see, I used to be a grad student at the University of Michigan. But after five frustrating years of feeling significantly dumber than everyone around me, I came to a long-belated conclusion: academia and I didn’t mix. So I ended my graduate career without attaining that Ph.D. my parents really wanted me to get. I left grad school because I knew I wanted to be a writer of fiction. So, in a way, my novel is my dissertation, my gift to my family, and my way of saying, “hey, it’s not a Ph.D., but I hope it makes you proud.”

This gave me all the more reason to want to speed things up. Rather than waiting the (at least) two-year cycle from finding an agent to having your book published by a major publisher, I decided to just skim ahead and do it myself. I made this decision in January: the book’s coming out this October. That’s less than 10 months to get my book printed. I’d say that’s reasonably quicker than 2+ years ^_^

What’s going on now
The novel is actually set to go to print next month, so I’m in the middle of prepping and finalizing the files for that. But the next few weeks will be critical. After all, I plan to launch my marketing blitz in July. Part of this blitz is a book trailer, which I’m currently working on. Book trailers, I think, are a great way to promote a novel because they provide a visual element to something that’s strictly literary. And because my novel is primarily a thriller, I’m incorporating the kind of structural and thematic elements that we’re used to seeing at theaters. At least, that’s my hope ^_^

And, well, I’m also finalizing a lot of the marketing support materials that will go out with the review packets in June. That includes press releases, a bio on yours truly, a flier, and some additional artwork. Most of this stuff I’ve had to do myself because I’m on a shoestring budget. But hey, so far, everything’s going according to plan ^_^;

Anyway, now that I’ve started yammering on and on, I better stop now. So for now, I hope you’ll stop by at www.verytragicalmirth.com. Thanks for reading!