No, not take a picture of myself every other day and post it on social media type selfie, but should I self-publish? When I first finished my manuscript, I contacted a PR person and I made a list of all the things I would need to do to make my book a professional-looking product. In the end, I reasoned that it would be "easier" to get an agent and learn the ropes through their professionals. I wasn't delusional about the process, I knew that to get an agent would be a challenge and that it would test my patience.
So here I am one year after I sent out my first round of agent submissions and still no agent. I know it's only been a year and I've only submitted to under twenty agents but I tired of waiting for someone else to approve of my work. Plus once I got them, they would work with me on the manuscript and then shop it around to publishing houses. So it could easily take years to see this book in print. The question becomes should I do a few more rounds to agents but prepare to self-publish at the same time?
If yes, what would I need to do to self-publish?
The only thing I don't know I want to deal with is marketing. Just thinking about doing all of the marketing makes my head hurt. I don't mind blogging, tweeting, and Facebooking my info. Well, I guess I could also go to local book stores and talk with the people there if they would carry my book but I don't want to do much more than that. Call me lazy but I know that isn't where my strengths are.
It seems to me that I should prep for both because I want to share this work with the world. And if I keep looking at the manuscript over and over again, I think I may start to hate the work. It's been over two years since I started writing the manuscript, I've lost a good friend in the process and almost lost my mother to blood cancer so it's time I put a little joy and cheer back into my world and get this out there.
To sharing my work with the world,
The Writer says print. Go, Melissa, go!