Self Publisher Success Story
AP Wire | 11/21/2005 | Writers turn to self-publishing: "Five years ago, author ReShonda Tate Billingsley had a story to tell and sent out a flood of query letters trying to interest the big publishers in her book, My Brother's Keeper.
'I tried to go the traditional route and sent out letters to agents,' she said. That didn't work. Billingsley, who was living in Oklahoma City at the time, began wondering why she was sitting around waiting for someone to validate her talent, she said.
So she turned to self-publishing, a way of getting a book out to the public by using nontraditional distribution channels. A year later, she had sold 15,000 copies, and Simon & Schuster was knocking at her door for a deal."
posted by Unknown @ 8:42 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Hi,
I also had a story to tell. I had many stories to tell -- stories from the coalfields of West Virginia and the mountains of Appalachia. I was a first time author and knew the road to traditiional publishing was long, hard and set up with rejections. I contacted only a couple of traditional publishers, waited and waited for the letters of rejection. It took so long to even hear from the would be publisher, I got fed up and went with self publishing.
It was hard work, very hard. Don't kid yourself into thinking it is going to be an easy road but if you want something, you can do it --- let me tell you, it can be done. I used self-publishing and the final product is wonderful. I love the fact you are in control of you manuscript -- you decide what is printed, what photos to use, etc. That is a wonderful feeling.
My first book, Appalachia: Spirit Triumphant by B. L. Dotson-Lewis made it online to amazon.com and barnes & noble in about 5-6 weeks. It was juried into Tamarack of Beckley, West Virginia within a couple of months. This is an oral history project. I was given the opportunity to tour Japan and talk to the people there how an individual can launch an individual history preservation project.
Now, I am almost ready to self-publish my second book, Sago Mine Disaster and other stories out of the Appalachian Coalfields. I don't have to wait to someone to validate or reject my stories.
You can view my first book by visiting my website www.AppalachiaCoal.com.
Take care,
B. L. Dotson-Lewis
Summersville, West Virginia
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