Now, self publishing is not new to me but neither do I have a wealth of experience. Through my connections with Writers Abroad, I was responsible for pulling together and publishing, via Lulu, our first anthology. We made a small sum which we donated to charity and we're doing the same thing this year, but with a more robust marketing strategy.
Why did I chose Lulu? Well, I did look around and it seemed to be the most straight forward, had the option of a reasonably priced ISBN and we also had a member who had used it and could be my mentor - thanks Marit! And to my surprise I really enjoyed the process. It was not without its stresses and strains mind you, the deadline for publication fell slapbang in the middle of a family crisis when I had to return to the UK but hey, Self Publishing will travel.
So I was thinking of picking some of the more 'well thumbed' stories and compiling a book in the same way. I'm not after a shed load of money if you've started thinking along those lines, I'm a writer remember! But all of these stories (I think) have been critiqued, polished and carefully edited under the auspices of my WA crew and I'm pretty confident that they are not 'bad' stories. Just not winning competitions. And the markets for placing short stories are getting less and less, so why not just publish my own book, even if it may only be family (and the odd friend) who might purchase it out of purely charitable purposes (remember, the poor writer bit?).
My weekend dilemma then will be to publish or the stories damned to a bottom drawer.
Until later...
I say go for it. You've obviously had the pieces polished and you've researched what you're doing, so why not? As you say, the short story market is shrinking (certainly the paid market anyway) almost daily it seems. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah, I think I will!
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