Monday, April 2, 2012

Once Was Blind, But Now I See, by Melissa Clark

The term 'self-publishing' used to make me cringe. Now I cringe at the fact that I used to cringe at it. I was blind to the entrepreneurial side of it.

My first novel was published by Random House. Naturally, I assumed my second would be, too. But my editor got married and pregnant and - gasp - quit her job, leaving me at square one. I had faith. I had hope. The new book went out wide. I waited. And waited. And waited. My agent suggested this was one of the longest waiting periods she'd ever experienced - through Christmas and even Easter. It was nothing short of a nightmare. 

Finally, responses started trickling in. Editors loved it, were fighting for it at meetings, thought it was a 'page-turner', 'quirky', 'unlike anything they'd ever read' - BUT - BUT - BUT they couldn't get consensus within their company. A book about a person who purrs like a cat? Not everyone was on board. The first positive pass was painful. The second, even worse. Eventually, I stopped counting, but at one point I was praying for a flat-out rejection. Those came, too. We heard from all the A-list companies and then reorganized and sent to our plan B. It wasn't catching there, either. We were scheming ways to send out to our C-list when I suggested we stop the madness.

Around the same time, my friend Leena and I had lunch. Leena is an indie filmmaker and was excitedly talking about putting her movie online (Her film had a wide and successful run at many film festivals). Another friend, fellow girlfriend Maggie Marr, was talking about putting her latest novel online. I trusted both these women. I didn't find anything cringe-worthy about their decisions to 'self-publish'. My final decision came after reading the Steve Jobs biography. I loved reading about the passion he had for figuring out ways to sell the Mac computer - it just seemed so creative and fun. I finished the book and decided I was going to go that direction, too.
I edited my manuscript for the 435th time, reached out to friends and strangers for blurbs, hired a cover designer, a formatter, made postcards, filled out some paperwork and voila! On March 20, "Imperfect" launched as an e-book. 

I have never felt more in control in my life.

I think that this adventure is even more exciting than the first book's publication. AND it's selling. There's still lots of work to do in the marketing and promotions department, but that's what entrepreneurs do.
The publishing climate is changing, and I think the change is favoring authors. And that's certainly something to celebrate.

"Imperfect" is available on Kindle, Nook, and everything else. Melissa will be giving away one copy of her new book to someone who leaves a message here AND follows her on her blog, Connections Clark by Friday, April 6. Winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on my blog.

15 comments:

  1. Congrats, Melissa! I'm excited to read it. Sounds like a wonderful book and the cover is gorgeous. Hope it's a huge hit!

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  2. Great post, Melissa, and so happy that the book is selling. It's now on my to read list!

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  3. Things have shifted in publishing, haven't they? Earthquake doesn't begin to describe it. Love the cover! Good luck with the book. I'll look for it on my Kindle....

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  4. Melissa, you are so right. The publishing climate has changed permanently in so many exciting ways. Best of luck with the book. It sounds fabulous :)

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  5. Melissa
    Imperfect is a fabulous book. Great books find readers or maybe it's that readers find great books... Either way Imperfect will find (is finding!) an audience!
    xoMaggie

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  6. What an inspiring post, Melissa!! I hope you have tons of success with Imperfect! Love the cover. Who designed it?

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  8. Congratulations, Melissa, that is one great cover!

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  9. Kim Killion did the cover after I picked the egg image. I absolutely love it. Thanks for all your nice comments ;)

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  10. Congrats, Melissa, on the success of Imperfect!

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  11. All the best with the book! Sounds good adding it to my wishlist right now.

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  12. luv hearing this behind the scenes journey... well done!
    all the Best ;)

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  13. LOVE this! You go, doll. Even the blog post is terrific;>) p.s. Julia looked up your masters thesis in the library & enjoyed it! She wishes they still did that for the grad students, even if it's just for posterity. Now that's all online - still good, but it was fun for her to find you in the stacks...

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