Writers are constantly asking the same question, “How do I get published?” You read, you research, and you ask questions, and yet none of it really answers the question. Things change and what was news yesterday is yesterday’s news. The question itself is usually answered with another question – do you want to go traditional or self? Traditional is more prestigious because of all the barriers in the way (said barriers are supposed to ensure only the best get through – yeah, lol!). Used to be, too, that traditional publishers would handle promotion. Well, like I said, yesterday’s news.
I had all the same questions and more and told myself it was okay to not know because my book, The Troubles, wasn’t finished yet. I’d cross the bridge when I came to it. In the meantime I also had a file drawer loaded with my mom’s poetry and stories. In 2004 I put together a tribute to my deceased parents that included all of these and more, but I wanted to do something more proper, something fitting. I discovered Lightning Source, a book printer that could create books on demand (POD – print on demand). All I had to do really was format my manuscript correctly, upload it, give them the ISBN, pay the setup fees, and once everything was accepted the book would become available for order through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and even me. Yes there’s a bit more to it than that but I’ll talk about that some other time. For now I wanted to share what a POD book looks like (and this is just the proof) so that’s what you’re looking at in the picture.
This is actually an excellent test run. In publishing “Helle” this way Mom gets what she wanted all those years ago – a real book, and I now know the ins and outs of this particular avenue so when I am ready to publish The Troubles I’ll at least know what lies in store for me should I decide to pursue the self-publishing route.
