Publish

I have decided to self-publish Fatal Score, the first book in my Mayfield-Napolitani series, this November.  It has been a difficult decision, a long time coming.  I have sent many queries to agents, mostly unanswered. I’ve queried a handful of small publishers, mostly answered but no takers (though one expressed interest for a 2020 release).

As I toted up the rejections and ignores, I kept thinking the way we hopeful writers do, “Maybe next time. It’s not that my book isn’t good; it’s just that I haven’t found the right match at the right time.” Underneath it all, though, believing that to self-publish would be to admit failure.

A couple of years ago, a thought began whining in my ear like a Minnesota mosquito: maybe the traditional way of getting published is not for me.

And now I’ve decided: I’ll self-publish through my micro-publisher, Gotuit LLC, and release in November.

I am going to reorient this blog to track progress with weekly or bi-weekly comments on the many moving parts of the process.  Mark Twain called the exercise of writing about writing “chloroform in print.” I am grateful to the 250 readers who have been thus anesthetized over the several years of me reporting on my learning experience. I hope the process of publishing will be a little more interesting. If that proves true for you and you have not already done so, I hope you will sign up for e-mails (right margin).

Most important, I will look forward to your comments.

Next week:  The industry

Author: John Rogers

I have thought of myself as a writer for most of my adult life. In 2011, I became a fiction writer full time. I studied creative writing as an English major in college. Then came family and career. I worked in finance and biotech and did a wonderful stint in Vienna. Now, I have the opportunity to use those experiences as the substrate for my stories. My first novel takes on the world of Big Data and the very timely issue of cyber war. The second uses the manipulation of financial derivatives as impetus for attempted murder during a trip from Vienna to Budapest on the Danube. I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis. I am finding writers’ groups to be very helpful as concept editors, as well as practical advice from the published authors. I am in three such groups. I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis. View all posts by John Rogers