What It’s Really Like Being an Author Starting Out – at least for this one....

Everyone has dreams as their growing up. I know I did but being an author never crossed my mind. Once I realized I loved to write and wanted to focus part of my life on it, I realized my dreams changed. I want to be a successful author. By this I’m not meaning money wise. I want to be successful by always striving to get better and push myself to never stop learning. I can’t say how much I’ve learned with just writing my first book and having it published.

At first I didn’t think the word published would ever come out of my mouth. When I got to the point where I needed to begin thinking of it, I thought only the lucky authors got their books out there. That’s until I was introduced into the self publishing world. (This was also when it became the “thing” to do.) I didn’t hesitate to begin formatting my book and send it off to Lulu.com.

At this time I didn’t realize that it needed an editor. My mind was focused on one thing. When a reader (also an author) privately messaged me, they explained that my book could be a lot better if I pulled it and had it go through the editing stage. They felt my book could really make a stand out there if it had a good edit. So, it was pulled.

I put Silenced through the ringer (beta readers and an editor) then began my hunt again for a publisher. I got mixed up with the wrong publisher who presented themselves as a “great -don’t want to miss this opportunity- we’ll get your work out there to the big people” and they ended up being not so great. They destroyed my book and gave me a bunch of false hope. I eventually found out they are considered a “spam” publisher and begin fighting my way out of the contract. I found they were in breach and got the rights back to my book.

After the few months of battle, I had to put Silenced through formatting and editing again. This time I was careful. I did more research. I found an editor and sent off Silenced again. This time I felt sure it was going to be ready for the world. After several weeks of changes and emails with the editor, we felt Silenced was ready.

I went to Amazon and published it. I’m still finding out there are mistakes within the book and I plan on fixing those in the future. But for now I’m working on finishing Amber’s story for my fans.