My Journey into Self Publishing

It's often said that everyone has a book in them. All it takes is the writing. Well, three days out from self publishing my very first work of fiction I'd have to say that actually writing the book is the easy part! My journey began on 3rd January this year when I got it into my head to write a novel. You see I had been doing a lot of reading and writing in the area of self development over the last ten years and I came to the point where I had a question that just would not go away. The question was,

“Why do we have so much mental capacity that we seem unable to access?” That was the start of a very interesting and at times challenging journey into the world of fiction that has led me to this point.

I had read how I needed to set out a detailed framework for my story line etc etc etc. I did all that and after three days was very pleased with what I accomplished. Then came the time to actually start writing. Let me say that after the first hour I threw away my outline and just kept right on. It flowed freely and at times when I read back over a passage I thought to myself “where the heck did that come from?”

I remember well how I was really struggling with the ending. The one I had planned just wasn't going to fit. It was the 26th January. We were going out for dinner. As I got into the car it suddenly came to me how I was to end the book. I couldn't wait to get home and back onto the computer. I started at about 10:30 that night and by 4 o'clock the next morning I had the book complete. Then came the interesting part!

The result of my inquiries regarding publishing led my to the understanding that unless your name is Wilbur Smith or Stephen King (or Paris Hilton) none of the major publishing houses were interested in looking at your work. Alternatively if I paid some exorbitant fee I could get some of the vanity publishing houses to print my work for me, but I would be expected to do all the promotion. Forget it. I chose the path of self publishing, in particular e-book format for a number of reasons.

The the main reason was cost. Nobody in Australia was interested in printing my work. I found a place in the US who would print on demand, but the cost of freight to get them to Australia meant I would have to charge an arm and a leg for each copy just to cover costs.

Second was the logistics of distribution. Living as I do in what most of the world consider to be the boon docks, if I got the physical copy sent to me, then had to send them on to my customers it would mean additional time and expense. Going down the e-book path anyone anywhere can download the book anytime it suits them.

So here I am, six months down the track, a little older and a (hopefully) little wiser. Would I do it again? Absolutely! In fact my one book that explored that original question has turned into a trilogy and I am just about to start the fourth book in what is becoming a series. The first novel will be officially launched on July 13th (Yes I know it's a Friday) and best part is it can be downloaded for free! Books two and three will be launched on 26th Sept and 26th October respectively. If you choose to read my work my hope is that you will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

G.J. Pemberson is the nom-de-plume of Graham Hunt who has written three novels soon to be available from a website specifically set up for the purpose at www.awakeningtrilogy.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=G.J._Pemberson