The Hiatus

Hey, it's been a minute, huh? Well, the past few weeks have been a bit crazy. I've been working on my latest manuscript, been finding beta readers, celebrated a birthday, attending an online conference, researching like crazy and prepping for NaNoWriMo. So, you know, nothing too major. But really this has been a long and tiring month of thinking, learning, and making some decisions. Which is why the top question I have this week is this: Self-publishing, or traditional?

I'm not gonna lie. This feels very high stakes, guys . . . It's something that a lot of writer's tussle with and that I've gone back and forth about so many times. The decision between traditional and self-publishing is a tough one, but I think it's something that every author needs to assess for themselves. What works for me may not work for you. Heck! It may not even work for me forever. But it's something that I'm coming closer and closer to having to figure out for myself.

I've been pretty upfront about where I am in this process. I've talked about contests and submitting to publishers, but I've only glossed over the idea of self-publishing here. That's not really reflective of my reality. I've been researching, brainstorming, learning, and considering going for it since I first had a single manuscript completed. And while there may be instances and genres which aren't super conducive to self-publishing, poets have a long tradition of taking the circulation of their work into their own hands. So it's kinda always been the way I've been leaning.

But what's really almost sold me on the idea of taking this particular venture in hand was the conference I attended the weekend before last: Self Pub Con. While I'll admit there is so much I don't know about the industry and about the process, the conference made it all less scary and more manageable. This is something I always thought I could do, and there were so many tools and tips shared that I can't even explain how much my confidence (which may be my downfall, I'll admit) has been boosted.

So here's where I've landed (and I tell you this because that's kinda the point of this blog–to talk about my creative process and journey): I'm taking the rest of October to wait out the publishers to whom I've submitted. After that, I'm going to seriously start pursuing self-publishing, and I'm taking you along with me. So here we go, and here's to hoping for a great learning opportunity and at least a modicum of success!