The Challenge of Self-Publishing

We have one more week until the end of the month, so 1 more post in the "Challenge" series, and I'll end with a giveaway. Hopefully this will draw more followers and comments.

So, yes, self-publishing has made its massive debut across the world a few years back and now it is an equal route for writers to have their novel in print. You have your free websites that provide self-publishing, such as LuLu and Wordclay, and then there is the god of all self-publishing providers who even in-house publishers trust, Lightning Source. I have good things about all three from a myriad of SP authors.

A recent writer/author who I had the pleasure of becoming friends with, David Douglas, used Lightning Source to its capacity and did his own typesetting, copyediting, proofing (via his wonderful mother who edited for free), and then finally to marketing. Dave and I met at the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (OWW for short), and there I read most of his manuscript before he even began sending it to Lightning Source. From here, Dave recruited me to do his cover art for his self-published novel and since this time, almost 1 year ago, Dave has secured an agent (in Germany, his home country) who is trying to re-release his book onto the market from having it already been self-published.

You might ask yourself how Dave was so fortunate to have an agent care about a self-published work to fight to bring it into mass paperback circulation. The key is amazing storytelling.

Dave's novel, Demon's Bane, is a powerful breakthrough novel of high fantasy. His magic system -- unique, and his characters -- unforgettable and can be compared to the memorable creations of David Eddings. Yes, big words for a big story.

So, self-publishing is out there. Of course it is, you know this. Some writers and future-author-hopefuls have a bias against the SP route, and I truthfully can say that I am one of them. There is a certain golden feeling about being published in the traditional way, but for the some million writers in the world just looking to be heard, know that the SP market is VERY strong and greater opportunities can arise from this route if you are dedicated enough to your craft, writing and yourself. Dave is the true life story.

One final thing before we sign off is another SP company that I failed to mention. I had the pleasure of being in contact with a SP rep, Carol Bowersock, who works for a company called Bookmasters, Inc. This is another company, grounded and not online, who does everything any other SP site does. However, with Bookmasters who also have the advanced opportunities of distribution, marketing, design, storage and web assistance. Sounds like a pitch, doesn't it?

That's all for now. Stick around for next week's post where I'll be setting up a giveway. I need at least five commenters/followers to help me along to get the giveaway off the ground. Help a new blogger out!

Bye for now!

JWP