The only excuse (not reason) that I can offer for not blogging in two months is that I haven’t really been focusing on writing or blogging, which means that I haven’t been thinking of things to blog about. At one point I was contemplating putting my writing/blogging aside while I focused on getting my financial house in order, but then I figured that was just an excuse, not a reason, to be lazy. A few days ago I actually starting thinking about things to blog about, so I have several posts for the next few weeks and I plan on thinking of more. So, onward The Soliloquy Suites goes once more!
I know at one point I had talked about wanting to self-publish my first novel (which I realize I haven’t actually blogged about yet) but I’ve decided that it might not be a bad idea to keep looking for an agent. I think what turned me off about traditional publishing were are all of the horror stories I’ve heard about massive changes being made to an author’s work that they didn’t approve of, authors having to give up certain privileges and rights with their work and authors having horrible book covers that they hate. It’s possible that I can have a similar experience with traditional publishing.
But it’s also possible that I can have a wonderful experience with traditional publishing.
Since I feel like my novel Furious can also work as a graphic novel, I think it would be wise if I could find an agent who represents both novels and graphic novels/comic books, or at least has connections in the graphic novel/comic book industry. I recently read a blog post from Rachelle Gardner where she wrote about how writers should be open to new and unexpected opportunities and not be so rigid about the path that they take for their career (number 3 on her list). Since I would like to write graphic novel scripts one day, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Furious was introduced to the world in the form of a graphic novel instead of a regular novel like I’d originally planned.
Another reason that I’ve decided to keep looking for an agent is that I know that it will take a while for me to save up money for an editor, cover design, e-book formatting and the like. In the meantime, I could still be sending queries out to agents to at least get an idea of how likely it is that my novel will be something that people gravitate toward. Even though I might get nothing but rejection letters, I can at least know what works with the novel and what doesn’t.
If I’m open and honest with myself and my agent (when/if I get one) about my fears and hesitations with the publishing process I’ll be much better off and will be better prepared to deal with the results, no matter how good or…unfortunate they might be. There are now so many paths to publication a writer can choose, both tested/traditional and untested/unconventional. At the end of the day all that matters is getting your work out there, doing the best that you can, and being happy with the results. I don’t want to waste any more time than I already have trying to decide which road to take when I can take them all at the same time and end up at the same destination.
So what are some of your fears and concerns with self-publishing and traditional publishing? Are you willing to take the risks and accept the consequences with either for the sake of your career?
Next Post: I’ll finally introduce you to my first novel, Furious.