Measuring Success

As I've begun a self-publishing experiment, and started slowly to make connection on Twitter and Facebook and the like, I've been amazed at how many people are out there trying to do the same thing. The internet gives writers and other artists a great platform for delivering their material to an audience, but the sheer volume of sites and artists and other diversions makes "success" in conventional terms a tough thing to realize. As I've watched the sales numbers climb on Amazon and B&N (7 copies sold--impressive, huh?) I've asked myself what kind of success I need to feel satisfied. Is it enough to have my book finished and out there for people to read (friends and family so far)? Can I be satisfied with that? If not, then what is the magic number? A thousand readers? Ten thousand? A million? More? Artists want an audience, there is no denying that. But what is the measure of success?

On Inspiration

"How Poetry Comes to Me", by Gary Snyder

It comes blundering over the Boulders at night, it stays Frightened outside the Range of my campfire I go to meet it at the Edge of the light

The Journey Begins

It’s official: I’m no longer a non-blogging, non-twittering, old school kind of guy. I made the leap into self publishing a few days ago by listing my middle grade fantasy/adventure Legends and Heroes on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook. The story itself has gone through a bunch of versions over the years, and I have no idea how many query letters I’ve sent out. There has been a lot of promise, with many agents and editors requesting additional materials. I had one agent at Ashley Grayson read the whole MS (to an earlier version) and love it so much that she wanted to represent it. But first she had to check with Ashley himself. He said no. That agent doesn’t work there anymore.

Anyway, long story short: I used Sigil and Calibre to convert my Word document into an ebook, and now Legends and Heroes is available for purchase. And so begins the long journey of building a readership. For years, the story has been in my brain and in the brains of a few people that I’ve shared the MSs with. This blog is one step in bringin Legends and Heroes and its characters: Eli, Mira, Gavin, the Georgia Peach, Big Paw, and others to a world of (hopefully) welcoming readers.

If you have any thoughts on self-publishing, I’d love to hear them.

J.D.