Self-Publishing

I have self published my first work. A simple short story and I do not expect it to do well. Well at least not for some time.  I am using it as a way to test the waters.  I have Dragon Chess up on Amazon. For now it is available for free on Kindle Unlimited but I doubt I will do Kindle Unlimited again.

I refuse to give anything away for free. I feel it devalues the work I have done. That does not mean I won’t make it cheap, but if a person at least pays ninety nine cents then they may be more likely to read it. As opposed to downloading it for free and forgetting hey have it, then it disappears form their kindle.

I have said before that I have nothing against traditional publishing, and that I would seek out that method if I didn’t suffer from numerous health problems that almost guarantee an end to my life much earlier than I would like.  No one is guaranteed to live an extended period of time, and yes you could get hit by a bus tomorrow and then lights out, but in all honesty you can expect that the average person will live a nice long life. I on the other hand get blood draws every two weeks to make sure that my body is not once again in the process of killing me through rapid and random cell growth and devouring of my bones. 

That being my current reality means that I don’t feel I can wait the months long turnaround times and the constant rejection.

I do believe that rejection is a good thing for a writer. It can make a writer reevaluate what they wrote and strive to become better writers. Look at how many times great writers have been rejected.  I will have to forgo that experience, and deal with the constant feeling of not being a legitimate writer. That is my personal hang up.

In some ways self publishing is harder than traditional. Both have to deal with doing massive amounts of marketing and promotion, but the self published author has to look into where and how to sell the book or short story.

That takes time, just as the marketing takes time, but at least I know what is happening with my story as opposed to having it sit in some sort of editorial limbo while an overworked staff tries to read s its way through a massive slush pile.

That is my newest change in my attempt at a professional life. If I even make a few sales of everything I plan on publishing (I have a list of over fifteen hundred stories, some just as ideas others as started) the I think I will be able to consider that a success. I will have reached someone. And that is really what I want. To reach someone, to share this idea I have in my head and managed to put down in paper.