Toronto author wins U.S. awards, then gets agent - here's what happened!

by Karen Black
(Toronto, Canada)

I wrote Moondance while working full-time as a communication consultant in the pension and benefit industry. After many years of work, rounds of edits, and incorporating feedback from objective sources, I was ready to send it out.

During this time, I read On Writing by Stephen King, The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes, The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman on editing, and Writing the Breakout Novel by agent Donald Maass. I also hired Viki King of California for feedback.

Then I began to research the publishing process and found Absolute Write and Jeff Herman's guide helpful. I created synopses, a log line, even query letters. During this phase, I didn't like what I was learning. I don't like how little money the author actually sees, plus the control they give up creatively and on the marketing side.

I also learned that signed authors often have to invest their own money and time in promotion and marketing anyway - yet there isn't much flexibility in the contract in recognition of this effort. After giving away complete control and profits, the vast majority of debut novels lose money-making the prospects of publishing a second novel with the same publisher grim.

Self-publishing non-fiction is commonplace. Self-publishing commercial fiction is not. Yet the more I weighed the pros and cons, the more self-publishing made sense for me.

I know myself - when it comes to business, I really like control. With my MBA and business background, I am accustomed to creating strategy and with my communication consulting background, I understand the publishing and production process. I knew I wanted input on the cover and layout design. I knew I'd want to be involved in the marketing. I began to wonder if the traditional route was the best way to go.

During this time, I met Arnold Gosewich, former President of MacMillan Canada, now an agent and publication consultant. After some discussions, he confirmed my suspicions. As the publisher - which is different from vanity publishing and print on demand publishing like Lulu or Trafford by the way - I control the entire process. Economically, I get to keep all of the profits, and have to sell fewer copies to break even. I also take all the risk. Yet early readers responded well to Moondance - I knew I had a great product. With the internet, I have global reach. Why not give it a shot?

I hired Arnold as a consultant to help me through the process, and among other things, he introduced me to cover designer Angel Guerra and layout artist Tannice Goddard. He could have also introduced me to publicists, and to editors, as well, if I had the need (read budget). Later, Arnold became my agent.

I reserved $25,000 of savings for this project, by the way -- for the design, layout, production and web site. I need to sell 950 copies to make back my investment.

Once the book was produced, I worked on my web site, using Robert Middleton's Web Site toolkit as a guide, and adapting it for fiction. I wanted it to be a content rich site, easy to read and optimize, with alot of personal information about me and it is. For my second site, I'll likely use SBI as I learned about it recently.

I also took a course in online marketing, and connected with some like-minded people who work together in a Mastermind group -- support at this stage was critical for me. I was completely new to the web, but I knew it would be an important component of my strategy. I've just launched my newsletter (into the second issues) and used Alexandria Brown's general formula. Considering a blog, also a sitesell site like this one.

I'm a member of Publishers Marketing Association - highly recommended.

I sell directly from my site. As I use Toronto as my backdrop, a few local restaurants / stores also carry Moondance, and I list them on my site.

I am reluctant to go on Amazon, or get into a major distribution system at the outset because of the hefty discounts (Amazon - 55%!). That's not to say I won't -- just not now.

Publicity is the most challenging aspect yet -- I also work as an independent consultant for pension and benefits industry, so I try to do something every week on the publicity front to keep it moving.

I've purchased "Self-publishing fiction" by Mainland Press and it's like Dan Poynter's book, but with a fiction slant. It's been helpful to identify U.S. reviewers, among other things, and I've begun querying and sending them out selectively, once I make contact. It's $10.70 every time I send a book out to the U.S. (Moondance is 392 pages) so I'm wary of that.

I'm innundated with publicity options -- am still sifting through them all. Mostly, I'm pitching stories individually, tailoring them to a particular publication. This makes it easy for the writers to edit and accept - I don't get the by-line, which is fine by me.

I've entered some awards and have won two so far - I highly recommend doing this. I just found them online. Moondance was awarded Winner for Visionary fiction, and Finalist for New Fiction at the 2008 National Indie Excellence awards in Hollywood, California. Moondance was also awarded third place Grand Prize for general fiction and Winner for New Age fiction at the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards in Chelsea, Michigan. A couple of others, I'm waiting to hear back. I'll also be entering the IPPY awards this year, and a few more. This is great fuel for my agent.

I'm on LinkedIn, and SelfGrowth, and from these contacts I've not only had a few sales, but have connected with people who have internet radio shows. I have three scheduled so far. I'm considering FaceBook now. Working out where to invest my time / return on investment is the biggest challenge.

I held a launch party -- mostly to celebrate a personal milestone and with trepidation, also invited media - put together my own list by going to the Reference Library. None showed up, but I did hear back from a few. Now I'm learning how to be my own publicist -- pitching stories locally first, and will be moving up from there. Just got my first press in The Bulletin, which is my local community paper in downtown Toronto. Slant was "Local author uses local references in novel, and is buoyed by U.S. support".

Once I produced the book, Arnold Gosewich and I entered into an agent contract for the U.S., international, television and film rights - at the moment, about twenty editors are reading Moondance - fingers crossed.

Yes, if there was a good fit, I would consider working with a commercial publisher. Ultimately, I want Moondance to reach as many people as possible. I also want to find the time to write the series, so it makes sense to join forces with a commercial publisher at some point. But I'm patient. Until I find a compatible partner, I'm content to create my own destiny with Ricochet Publishing.

Nice thing is, unlike non-fiction, fiction doesn't have an expiry date... and even with all the challenges, I know I've done the right thing. For all the hard work, I have really found the process satisfying. It'll take some time yet... but I am proud of Moondance, and know that I'm creating my own destiny.

Thanks for reading and sharing your stories. Warm wishes and best of luck to all.

Visit Karen's site. That's where you go to buy the book!