Holy Guacamole! I’ve Written and Published a Book! Here’s How - Part I

 

Patrice Lefebvre, Author and Publisher of
Saying Yes: An International Love Story

A year ago, I finished writing my immigration story. Who would have guessed? Certainly not I.

It took over five years and would never have happened without the help of my writing group partners and beloved friends. But I did it! 

Typing out the final words of the last draft of the epilogue… 

 

… I turned my mind to the puzzling question:  What to do with this now?

A quick aside and a few things you may not know about this author:

• I am not one who is driven to write. Rather I consider myself an avid reader and occasional writer, someone who adores the written word and loves playing with language.
• I never dreamed of seeing a book I’d penned on a bestseller’s list.
• I enjoy the “work” of writing, the editorial process, re-writing and clarifying, integrating feedback, tweaking until just the right word or phrase is found. I think of it as painting with words: finding the perfect shades and shapes to help readers see and feel what’s in my head and heart.

 The motivation for writing my immigration story was two-fold:

1. to capture my memories of our journey (with a few embellishments; it is, after all, creative non-fiction) and
2. to improve my writing skills.

But now that the story was coming to an end, the decision loomed: to publish or not?

If so, what would my first steps be? What format would I choose? Would I self-publish or attempt a traditional route?

And if not, what would I do with this manuscript – tuck it into a digital shoebox and let it languish in the cloud? 

My intuition gave a shout: Share it with a few more trusted friends.

Which is what I did. I asked seven powerful and sensitive people whether they would be willing to give feedback on my mostly finished story. All seven said YES! The ideas they shared brought the quality up another notch. Ah, the value of extra sets of eyes! 

Every one of them enjoyed it and again said “Yes!” Yes, they thought I should publish it. Yes, they thought people would find inspiration in it. A couple were convinced it would sell a million copies and Oprah would be promoting it. (Aren’t friends awesome?)  

I found myself getting excited about the prospect. It was time to do something scary, once again.

But first came the research, which is always my go-to before diving in the deep end.

I knew the publishing business had changed significantly over the previous couple of decades. But what had it become?

The first things I learned were about traditional publishing:

 

1.  Getting an agent who would pitch and eventually (hopefully) sell my book to a traditional publishing company was a long shot. Especially since it was my debut, and doubly so since it didn’t fit in the most popular categories:
   • romantic fiction
   • mystery
   • science fiction/superhero/fantasty ... and/or
   • the first in a series.
2. Major publishing houses rarely accept manuscripts (or excerpts) directly from authors. Authors go through agents. (See point 1.)

And then there’s “self” publishing…

There are now  hundreds of small “indie” publishing companies. Sometimes disparagingly referred to as “vanity press,” these companies charge authors to publish their work and are often in intense competition for writers’ business.

Packages offered, prices charged, expertise, and reputations vary widely between these companies.

Only the luxury priced ones offer post-production marketing services.

Bottom line: I’d be looking at costs between $900 and $3000 USD / $1200 - $4000 Canadian.

 

Not only was it pricey, but most required that I give up the rights to my book, in addition to the classic practice of being paid a small portion of the selling price -- a royalty -- on each book sold. 

Call me crazy, but my thought process was something along the lines of…

“Hold on a minute. This makes NO sense!”

I’m not going to pay someone to edit a book (whose chapters have already gone through three to five drafts) to upload it to some website, then sit back and collect on what is now, essentially, their book. Meanwhile, I would have to figure out how to find buyers for it! 

The likelihood that I’d ever break even would be close to nil!

So I kept searching.

Like a complex Celtic knot, every unwound line brought me back to truly publishing it myself. Yes, it could be done... with a substantial initial learning curve.

That journey, which I’ll share with you in my next few posts, included a few dozen hours of meticulous study …

• reading blogs, books, and newsletters (links to come at the end of this series)
• watching YouTube videos (ditto)
• asking questions
• finding answers to questions I didn’t even know to ask
• and creating a book-length document full of notes!

Opinions abound on which is the best publishing platform, but the majority of self-publishing experts chanted the name of the Goliath… the giant, monopolizing, multi-layered, constantly-growing distribution company: 

 

In this series, I’ll introduce you to that 5,000-pound gorilla, its subsidiaries, and a few of its competitors. I’ll share with you the highlights of my research and clarify the paths I chose.

If you’re not looking to publish a book, I hope you’ll still find this interesting. If you are considering producing one and putting it out into the world, my wish is that some of this will help make your decisions easier.

Until next time… :)