One of the things folks have mentioned to me when I tell them I've written a book is that they hope I get famous and fabulously wealthy. While I didn't set out to make a fortune when I started writing "Secrets", I did hope to make a decent living. Enough to pay a utility or two a month, and I'd be happy. I'm learning that this is a goal much easier said than done.
A big reason I decided to self-publish was control. When I learned that authors who sign with major publishers will usually only receive around 8-10% on sales, may not get to choose their own title, may not get to choose their own cover, and may have content removed from their books (including whole chapters at a time!), it didn't take much thinking for me to decide, as a control freak, that self-publishing was for me. That is when I made the discovery that I really wanted to write just to get the stories out there, not just to make money doing it. I could still send a manuscript to a major publisher, and there is always the off-chance that someone in the Hollywood know will pick up the book, love it and want to option it for a screenplay. Self-publishing doesn't rule those things out.
Something else I am learning as I venture down this path of discovery is that the more products an author has to offer, the more likely they are to succeed. I really, really don't want to be a one-hit wonder. I would rather see mediocre success on a larger scale than to crash and burn with just one book.
The second book, "Under The Moon's Shadow", is a tale that I have had inside me for many, many years. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do it justice. So far, it is still being stubborn, but I am sitting down today and writing it, no matter what. Unless the power goes off. That would kind of hinder me just a wee bit.
There are definite advantages to having your book published by a major publishing house, probably the foremost being the advertising they handle for you. As a self-published author, that burden is yours and yours alone. You fail or succeed on your on merit. How well you do rests entirely in your hands. If you produce a good product and promote it well, it will do well. If you fail at either of those endeavors, you won't do so well. When the book was first finished, I was freaking out over the shameless self-promotion I had to do. Now, I'm taking a more laid back approach, having realized that until I produce another book, I may see small success but probably nothing really to write home about. I'll build my following starting now, and I'll build relationships within the industry, and when book two is ready, it should be received with much fanfare. That's the plan, at least.
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