Page 40 of More than Paper

Kim furrows her brow. “Rejection letters are an opinion of one person. Some of the biggest authors out there were rejected over and over and then got picked up by the traditional publishers only once they self-published and grew a large following. Did you stop writing?”

“No.”

“Good. Don’t.”

I tap my foot.

“Do you want to know how to self-publish?”

“I never considered it.”

“Can I ask why?”

Crap. What am I going to say to her? I can’t tell her the truth.

“Let me guess. Everyone you work with says that the indie community is for those who aren’t real authors?”

I wince.

“It’s okay. We’ve all heard it. Can I show you something?”

“Sure.”

She grabs an iPad from the table and brings up a screen. “This is the online community of authors I moderate. You are welcome to join. We discuss all kinds of topics, and everyone helps each other out.” She pulls up the member list and taps on a dozen names. “Do you know what these authors all have in common?”

“They self-publish.”

“Yes, but they also turned down major six or seven-figure publishing deals from traditional publishers.”

I gape. “Why would they do that?”

“They are already making that kind of income and can control the process and quality of their work. Instead of a traditional publisher telling them what they can and can’t do, they can get out to their readers what they want.”

Hmm. That makes sense.Based on my knowledge from my employment, I know what she is describing is accurate. I’d seen many books bought from authors only to see them shelved and never published.

“But there are a lot of moving pieces to a book.”

“There are. But once you publish a few books, you’ll get a process down. You’ll learn to streamline the different pieces. You can also hire things out.”

I snort. “I won’t be hiring anyone on my editor’s salary.”

“You can do that once your book income grows.”

Is this really something I should consider?

But your work isn’t good enough, Quinn.

“Have you ever had your novels beta read?” she asks me.

“No. No one has read them except the publishers I submitted my work to.”

“No one? Not even Piper?” Jamison asks.

I shake my head.

“I think you’ll find that if you get a few good beta readers, you’ll get a good grasp of what others think about your writing. You may find that your work is better than you think. I’m sure you know this from your current editor experience, but good beta readers know your genre and will give you constructive criticism so you can fix holes in your story before publishing.”

A man approaches us. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to start.”

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