Am I immortal since a dozen now have my first book?
I am extremely proud of my daughter, who is 21, a store team lead while paying her way through college, bought a house, and just announced to me her engagement to her boyfriend.
She is one kick-ass young lady, and she landed a real winner for a fiance, a musical artist about her same rank but working at a competing chain. They are (at least in my mind) the Romeo and Juliet of retail in my neighborhood!
She had wanted one of my signed novels when it first came out. Day after she told me her news, she had gone to the hospital for a severe infection she is recovering from at home. I want to drop her book off at her house to entertain herself with. Of course it will be a gift!
My younger brother lives in DC, doing odd infotech jobs, and just told me he wanted to order a signed copy.
I also have someone in my county who is on vacation and wants one too.
So, that’s thirteen. A full baker’s dozen!
Have I become immortal, now that I've sent the story of my life, presented as interplanetary romance, to that many people?
So the advice I can glean from the above is as follows for the self publisher:
Train yourself on as many parts of independently publishing a book as you can. That will save on your costs.
Obey conventions in making your print on demand book look like something you are willing to grab at an airport store just to pass the time in flight, because those decisions are made in ten seconds or less.
Learn your limits. The most difficult parts for me are front cover illustration and blurb creation. Contract out as necessary, then incorporate that into the rest of your effort.
Do not trust marketers, agents, or publishers. They know as little about the actual market as you do. Build your own inner circle first, then sell at craft fairs, then at independent bookstores.
Everyone loves local authors. They can add color to an otherwise small and isolated town trying to grab tourism income.
Everyone especially loves local authors who write positively about their own community in thier novels. Don't write about a battle in the far beyond of space unless there is some link to it, however distant, to where the reader could have been born or raised or gone to school. Stories never happen in isolation.
Examine your reasons for writing. Is it to be a professional? I promise you that you will earn every penny. Is it as a hobby? Wonderful. Make certain it does not unbalance your life. Is it to deal with trauma? I think that's the very best reason. I suffer from PTSD and chronic unemployment and this helps me with a sense of daily purpose. I guarantee you not earn money this way, but at least you'll have a shot at other people recognizing your meaning in life even long after you are gone.
Quietly persist. An unfinished novel has meaning only in your own mind, and nobody else's. Even an hour a day, 5 days a week, can make an enormous difference.
Rely on kaizen, incremental improvement, to catapult you to triumph rather than wait for perfection. A standard rule in everyday life and business.
Do not alienate your family in a single minded quest for glory.
Alouette's Galaxy is a near future first contact novel about a Jewish family escaping persecution into the Milky Way, with two romcom story arcs.
It's always available at Barnes & Nobel .
I also have a few copies left I can sign. I had an author signing all set up but only one person came. Please contact me at i.am.extremely.useful@gmail.com if you want one.