Self Publishing Trudges Ahead

A darling friend sent me an article about an author who after numerous rejections, took it upon herself to self publish. A lot of us who toil away at this solitary career also squirm and toil away writing query letters and various forms of a synopsis. Those are not the only things I dread from time to time. With any sort of publishing comes the anonymous reviewers that can tear apart your book. Sure i have thick skin thanks to numerous rejection letters, but one does worry about sending out an imperfect product. Then again, I can just go over it once more, and roll with the punches. The point would be to get it out there, push for it to sell, even at a mere 99 cents, and hope it generates buzz like Darcie Chan's debut novel discussed in the article at Yahoo.

One of my favorite things about the article is Ms. Chan's description of her novel. "It didn't really fit any genre," Ms. Chan says. "It has elements of romance, suspense, mystery, but it falls into the catch-all category of literary fiction, and of course that's the most difficult to sell."

That has been the bane of my existence. My novel, while set in a dystopian world, has various elements which has made me struggle with pin pointing its genre. For my main characters there are key pieces at play such as troubled and sorrowful pasts and law enforcement jobs that require a cool detachment and a romance that brings about pivotal plot points. Literary Fiction or Fantasy Romance? This is my conundrum, but now that I read this article, I suddenly feel encouraged to throw myself to the lions.

And why not?

Take the chance and see what happens. Worse thing that can happen is no one buys the darn thing. As for poor write ups, well, I will have to take them with a grain of salt now won't I? Great write ups will make me giddy. And if this book does not go, well, I do have the other one in the hole don't I?

Off to the grind I go.

Cheers!

MissFifi