Laika in Lisan was published on Amazon Kindle on April 27, 2014. (The paperback version became available the following month.) So, one year later… What are my thoughts?

The good: What I love about self-publishing is the control and immediacy. I wrote the book I wanted to write, and it was made available to readers in an extremely short period of time. It was challenging to get reviews (in case you’re wondering, I never let family or friends review the book), but with persistent promotion I did get it into readers’ hands. And that was AWESOME, because the feedback I got from readers was generally positive. Right now, the book has a 4.12 rating on Goodreads (based on 42 user ratings) and a 4.2 rating on Amazon (based on 24 reviews). Of over 50 unique people who read and rated the book, only one person gave it less than 3-stars. Reader tastes vary greatly (even my own book tastes can be quite different from that of my friends, who are quite similar to me overall), but there were some readers who really seemed to love the book. How rewarding! I’m very fond of the characters and story, and it’s a pleasure to know some people feel the same. Also, unrelated to Laika in Lisan itself, I’ve met a few really incredible people via Goodreads in the process of promoting the book. That’s been awesome.

The bad: Man, distinguishing yourself through self-publishing is tough. The market is saturated with self-published books. The only time I made sales was when I actively promoted the book online, which was my main activity June-August 2014. I did receive multiple word-of-mouth purchases (e.g., someone who received the book for free and enjoyed it a lot told a friend about it, and the friend then purchased it), but active promotion was necessary for sales… and that took so much time! Between June and August 2014, I spent hours a day at the computer engaging in some form of promotion or networking (or reading about how to do that). Those are hours I didn’t spend writing another book. Marketing a published book is a lot easier than writing a new one… But when the summer ended, I regretted how I’d spent my time. I’m a university professor, so I have a bit more free time in the summer (in the summer I only do research, whereas I do research, teaching, and service during the academic year). Starting in September, I decided to dedicate the little free time I had to writing a new book instead of promoting Laika in Lisan. Sure enough, sales dropped precipitously. But, I was happier with how I spent my time. Ahhh, I just love my current book. I love it so much! It was worth it. I need to remember that: write write write! Writing has to come first.

The verdict: I’m not the type of person who does well self-publishing. That doesn’t mean Laika in Lisan isn’t too blame at all. It needs a more appealing cover, the title is terrible (why am I so bad at creating titles?), and my own writing could certainly use improvement. (The good news is I think it has improved. My latest book is much better written, in my opinion.) But the time necessary for promotion and marketing is a real challenge for me. In addition, I think the biggest markets for self-published books are romance and mystery/thrillers, and my weird fantasy-politics-morality-romance novel doesn’t fit. (Multiple readers–ones who enjoyed the book, I should add–said they had no idea which genre it really belongs to, and I agree! AHH!) So, I need help. As much as I like to think I’m a competent and self-sufficient person who can learn anything, I really can’t do this on my own.

The future: I want my recently-finished book to be published traditionally. I need the assistance of an agent and publisher. Plus, I think the audience for this novel is people who tend to read traditionally published books. (I think NPR listeners will enjoy it…) But what happens if I can’t find an agent and publisher? I started querying agents less than two weeks ago, so it’s early yet, but I know there’s a low probability I’ll be able to publish this book traditionally. Do I give up after X amount of time and self-publish instead? (After considerable revisions, of course.) I don’t know. This past year I’ve learned self-publishing is a struggle, and I’m not very good at it. But I also want to share my books with readers. For my latest novel, I’ll persist with the traditional route. That doesn’t mean I have no intention to self-publish again. If I finish the sequel to Laika in Lisan while still trying to find an agent and publisher for this one, I’ll self-publish that. I know probability is against me, but I’m persistent and I’m willing to wait this time. We’ll see how it goes.