TO SELF-PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF-PUBLISH: THAT IS THE QUESTION

Ek'abo Ebi! (Welcome Family!)

I am currently facing a conundrum.  When I started my journey with Amachi’s Hope, I was absolutely sure that my path would lead me to traditional publishing.  I queried agents and publishers with my mind set in that direction. But as time progressed, I began to re-evaluate my decision.  Is traditional publishing the right choice for me? Or should I consider self-publishing instead.  I know. I know. “A decision like that should be made before you start querying.”  But things can happen during that time that may affect or cause you to question your choice.

When I wrote my book, I placed it squarely under the category of YA fantasy.  But then I found out about other genres such as: speculative fiction and sword and soul (for those of you who are not familiar, sword and soul is African-inspired heroic fantasy) and I discovered that my book may also fall under one of those categories.  Not to mention how certain elements of my story (e.g. Yoruba deities etc.) influenced my book’s sub-genre.

I needed to decide which option would most benefit my book and me.  So I decided to sit down and review the pros and cons; self-publishing vs. traditional publishing.

SELF-PUBLISHING

There are a number of pros and cons for self-publishing but the ones that stood out for me were:

Pro:    You have control over the price of your book and the cover art

Con:   You are solely responsible for marketing your book

Pro:    Publication is instant

Con:   You are also financially responsible for professional editing and formatting

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING

Here are the options I found interesting for traditional publishing:

Pro:    Publisher is responsible for distribution and marketing

Con:   It can take months before your book is published

Pro:    Advance J

Con:   Difficult to break into the industry

Pro:    The publisher handles the editing and formatting

Con:   Your opinions/decisions in regards to your book don’t hold much weight (e.g. cover art)

A small-press publisher even informed me that if you self-publish, you can still pursue traditional publishing or a traditional publisher may consider your work. Goodness.  My hands were up in the air.  What choice was best for me?

Would my story draw a larger readership if I self-publish first? Would a publisher be able to reach out to more people than I can?  After some extensive research, I realized that there’s a market and following for my kind of book.  Not to mention, there are a number of publishers who handle fantasy based books influenced by cultures that are outside the norm.  So where does that leave me?

Regardless of my decision, I believe in me and my story.  Isn’t that all that really matters?  What direction have you decided to take? I would love to hear about your journey!

Mari e laipe!

See you soon!

S-

*****

Thanks for visiting ‘Amachi is Hope.’ If you were inspired or felt a connection with today’s blog (or any of my previous entries) please leave a comment. J

THE DREAM

Ek'abo Ebi! (Welcome Family!)

“We must learn to live together as brothers

or perish together as fools.” 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) 

As we celebrate Dr. King’s life, (this year will mark forty-six years since his assassination) it saddens me to know that the dream he had for us has taken on a greyish hue.  Dr. King wanted all races, all people to live in harmony.  I’ll admit that there have been improvements through the decades, but not enough. Just when you think there might be a chance that we’ll all find some equal footing, we are faced with more conflict, more tension and more ignorance.  Not just between blacks and whites, but between people of color.  Every day when you turn on the news, there is another report regarding black on black crime.  I believe we are failing Dr. King and failing the legacy that he left behind.  He wanted so much for us.  His vision for the future was a bright one.  We have yet to learn to live together as brothers and sisters.  Did Dr. King die in vain?  Will we ever be able to truly live in harmony? 

Dr. King, like Nelson Mandela was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  He was awarded it for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.  In addition to all his other honors, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously.  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1986. But it wasn’t observed by all 50 states until the year 2000.  In his short life, Dr. King was a civil rights activist, pastor, humanitarian, leader (as well as a husband and father).  

The purpose of the March on Washington (actually called The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom) in 1963, was to address a number of demands.  Among them were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation, removal of racial segregation in public schools, protection from police brutality and other important topics. 

This year will commemorate nineteen years since the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.  Its purpose was to help men of color (people of color at large) re-evaluate their purpose and responsibility in connection to their communities.  Both demonstrations resulted in changes in the way people looked at the issues with race and how it was (and is) more important than ever to unify as a people. 

Are we going to perish as fools, doomed to hatred, ignorance, and un-enlightenment?  What are your intentions for the future?  We can all (even in the smallest way) work towards the vision that Dr. King had for us.  Whether you are educating the youth (through writing or speaking), recognizing and respecting the differences in others or even appreciating the potential that we all share and how we can benefit one another, we can one day realize Dr. King’s dream. 

All we have to do is, “Take the first step in faith.  You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”  

Mari e laipe!

See you soon! 

S- 

*****

Thanks for visiting ‘Amachi is Hope.’ If you were inspired or felt a connection with today’s blog (or any of my previous entries) please leave a comment. J

STANDING IN YOUR WAY

Ek'abo Ebi! (Welcome Family!)

Meet Angela.

I remember the day clearly. It was bright and sunny out; sixty-four degrees and a week before my twenty-eighth birthday.  I was trying to decide if I felt like going to my co-worker’s baby shower.  The last thing I wanted to do was be around a bunch of “Oooing and Ahhing” females.  I spent more time with them at work than I did with my own family.  Don’t get me wrong, I love babies (and my co-workers are cool) but I’d rather be oooing and ahhing over my own.  My biological clock was ticking away and getting louder by the minute.  But that’s a discussion for another time.

Beres Hammond was belting out one of my favorite tunes from a mixed CD that was playing on the stereo.

“Ooh ooh he’s standing in my way.”

“Standing in my way hey yeah, yeah…”

Odd as it was, those two lines in the song seemed to mirror the words that my roommate was bellowing through my bathroom door.  Even with the faucet running on full blast (intentional on my part) I could still hear her loud and clear.

“Angela!  The only person who is standing in your way is you!” Michaela yelled.

It was 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday and I was suffering through another lecture from my sometimes irritating but well-intentioned roommate Michaela. Michaela was exactly where she wanted to be in her career and her life. Swiftly moving up the corporate ladder as a sport’s agent, she just received a major promotion at her firm.  Not to mention, she is engaged to an awesome guy.  (I shivered at the thought of having to hunt for a new roommate.  There were just too many crazies out there!)

As far as Michaela was concerned, the idea that one of her closest friends (she could count them on one hand, she says) is struggling in their career, in life, is just, “Well . . . troubling.”  And it was her duty to remedy it.  Dr. Michaela planned to find the cure. I know. I know.  I was being mean-spirited, but I was tired of hearing about what I already knew. 

“Angela’s stuck at life’s intersection!”

I literally felt like I was running in place. I had no clue whether I should move forward or backwards.

As a tenured professor at my university, I guess you could say I was also doing well in my career.  But whenever I stood in front of my students, I felt like I was missing something. I lacked the energy, the enthusiasm, an interest in what I was doing.  I realized that something was wrong.  And it forced me to question, “Did I make the wrong choice in my career?”

When I was in high school and college, I just knew that I was going to be an accomplished writer.  Full of ideas and vigor, I wrote for the school paper and I was a member of the Caribbean Writers of America organization at college. But then life stepped in and changed all that.  I was faced with the responsibility of caring for an ailing parent and I knew that writing was going to be a pipe dream.  As far as I was concerned, there was no real or immediate money in writing.  I had no choice but to stand back and watch my dreams for the future pass me by.

Now at almost twenty-eight, I was hiding out behind a closed bathroom door and a running faucet, trying to avoid having this discussion with Michaela. Again.

Ripping open the bathroom door, Angela stormed out.  “Enough already! I get it! I get it!” “Do you Angela?” Michaela asked.  “Since we were in college, you have been sitting on a manuscript that I believe would have led you to an incredible career.” Angela threw her a sour look. “I know. I know. Your mom was sick and you had to care for her.  I know that you needed income to do that.  But it hurts my heart when I think about what you lost!” Michaela shouted.  Grabbing Angela’s hand when she tried to move past, Michaela continued.  “Angela,” she whispered.  “Your mom has been gone for four years now. You have no children and you are only responsible for yourself. What’s holding you back?”

***

It has been a month since we had that conversation.  I’m sitting at my kitchen table looking down at a dusty copy of my manuscript.  It has been sitting in a box at the back of my closet for a long time.  I finally found the courage to take it out.  It’s a story about my mother’s childhood in Jamaica.  When I read it again, it brought back so many memories of my mother and all that she shared with me when I was creating the book.  It was painful but it also gave me closure.  And I realized that having this book published would bring her close to me once more. All of a sudden, I felt renewed.  I knew what I wanted to do.  A story had begun to materialize in my head.  I had to write.

Reaching out for her laptop, Angela pulled up a blank page, and started a new chapter in her life. She decided that it was time to stop standing in her own way.

***

What stops you from writing?  Are you blocking your own path? Too fearful to take that first step?  Or perhaps, you are just afraid to start again? Start a new chapter in your life.  Begin writing the book that you’ve always wanted to. There’s a Yoruba proverb that says:

“The man who waits for a perfect opportunity, will wait a life-time.”

This is your opportunity. Don’t waste it.

Mari e laipe!

See you soon!

S-

*****

Thanks for visiting ‘Amachi is Hope.’ If you were inspired or felt a connection with today’s blog (or any of my previous entries) please leave a comment. J

5 “W’s” OF WRITING

Ek'abo Ebi! (Welcome Family!)

Since I’ve begun writing, I’ve discovered what I believe are the five “W’s” of writing.  LOL! They are Will, Wisdom, Wit, Worry and Wishes.

WILL:

Do you have the will of fire?  A fire within that burns to create, develop and execute a book of literature?  Does the fire continue to burn even when you question (in the smallest part of your subconscious; the only place that you would ever admit it to yourself) if this is really what you want to do? Even when the “negatives” (you know those people, the ones that never have anything positive to say) imply that you may want to rethink your choices.  How do you keep your will of fire burning?

At the beginning of my journey, the will within me, my fire, burned bright.  There wasn’t anything that was going to stop me from reaching my goal.  I was full of energy and I believed that the end of the tunnel was just within my grasp.  As time progressed and the bigger picture began to materialize, my goal and expectations were a bit more realistic.  The more knowledge I gained about the writing process, the more I came to realize how much work (another W word LOL) and time it would take to reach the end of my tunnel. Sometimes reality throws a wrench in your plans and turns your inferno of will and energy into embers just struggling to survive.  But once I finished my book I could feel my embers revive once again.  I found myself following a new course. One that will lead me to publication and the will and determination to see it done.

WISDOM:

What wisdom have you gained during your writing journey?  As I mentioned above I soon realized how much work truly went into the creation of a book.  I’m not sure what your experiences were like when you were a new writer, but I must say that I had no idea that months would turn into years before my book was finally finished.  During that time I learned that writing the book was just the beginning.  There’s marketing (websites, blogs, word of mouth etc.).  There’s communication with editors, agents and publishers. The personal effect writing has on your person and those around you.  The list goes on and on.  And at this point of the game, I am still learning.  Wisdom especially in the world of publishing is never ending.

WIT:

As serious as the writing process can be, the last thing you want to do is lose your wit or lose the ability to create or see the amusement or pleasure you gain while writing your story. When writing becomes a task or a means to an end; when it loses its flavor, its joie de vivre, its zest, its enjoyment, you my friend have a problem.  You are now standing at a crossroads.  Do you step back from writing until the embers of your will have ignited once more?  Or do you admit to yourself that this may not be for you.  If you’ve been writing for years, that is a hell of a thing to admit to.  But writing should be something you enjoy.

I understand that the writing of some non-fiction stories require the telling of a serious tale.  And wit, amusement or comedy has no place in it.  For some, writing is like a purge, a writer’s therapy if you will.  But afterwards, you may once again discover writing for the joy of it.

WORRY:

You have finished your book, received your share of “don’t give up’s” and rejections and you are looking at three years since you wrote the last period at the end of the last paragraph of your book. Worry has now set in.  So much so, that you have yet to start writing your next book.  So much so, that doubt has returned in an attempt to douse the will of fire that you have worked so hard to cultivate.  So much so, that you are not sure which direction to turn at the crossroads.

Thankfully I have not reached such a point in my writing but there are those out there who have.  My suggestion to you . . . Start That New Book; even if it’s just brainstorming or developing an outline.  Get out of that rut that you’ve found yourself in.  Create those new characters, discover those faraway places, and re-discover the joy that you get from starting anew.  Shake off that doubt (easier said than done, I know) but do it anyway.  The doubt will only hinder you and stop you from moving forward.

WISHES:

You all know where I’m going with this.  I wish that publisher would call me.  If only that agent would reach out to me. If only I was on the New York Times bestseller list! I wish I could win the lottery so I can freely dedicate my time to writing! LOL!

The number of wishes we send out to the universe could fill millions of books.  But I believe that, the universe will not help you if you don’t help yourself. There are things that we have no control over and others that we do.  I believe that putting your best work forward will get you one step closer to “getting that call”.  Even with the rejections I’ve received so far, I still believe that. Sure there’s a possibility that an agent or publisher may ask you to make some changes to your story (to help you reach out to a certain audience or make your story even tighter) but isn’t that expected?  It’s hard to relinquish control of your “baby” to another.  But if your wish has come true, then the agent or publisher of your book, will share in your vision.

What are your 5 “W’s” of writing?  Drop me a line or two. I would love to hear about them! 

Mari e laipe!

See you soon!

 

S-

 

*****

 

Thanks for visiting ‘Amachi is Hope.’ If you were inspired or felt a connection with today’s blog (or any of my previous entries) please leave a comment. J