Just posted on http://www.winnipegreview.com, an essay I wrote on my foray into self-publishing:

Mid-List Gone, E-Books Here, Time To Self-Pub?

By Rachael Preston

“Most TWUCers,” writes John Harris of The Writers’ Union of Canada’s members, “think self-publishing is demeaning, that it’s not much better than wanking, an activity associated with immaturity and best left behind once artistic consummation has been achieved.”

Too right. When I announced (mumbled) to my writer friends that I had decided to self-publish my third novel, they tried to talk me out of it. That’s crazy, one said. Another well-intentioned soul even booked an editor’s slot at TWUC’s recent Vancouver AGM and used it to pitch my book.

They didn’t understand. The truth was, when my agent couldn’t place The Fishers of Paradise with one of the larger publishing houses, she suggested I put it up myself on Amazon. It was her fault idea.

Not that it hadn’t crossed my mind several times during the years I spent procrastinating and wallowing in doubt writing. I’d even promised my husband that if nothing came of going the traditional route, I would put Fishers out as an e-book.

Read the rest here:

 

http://www.winnipegreview.com/wp/