It’s official. My books are now published by S & H Publishing. If you take a look at the S & H website, you’ll see that they’re a small publisher, so why did I agree to let them publish my books—didn’t I have all that together already? Yes and no.
I had my books out, but I felt I was swimming upstream, trying to sell the damn things. It’s really nice to know that now someone else is trying to help me do it. I never set out to self-publish, and I only did so because after my agent and I parted ways, I’d been waiting for two years and I couldn’t be bothered going through the whole thing again with the smaller publishers—the query letters, the rejection letters, the months waiting, and for what? Maybe for nothing. And I wanted to see how it would go. I’m glad I did publish myself because I learned enough to be able to help others publish their books, but I felt alone in the big bad world of book marketing.
Not anymore.
Will I sell more books? I hope so, but even if not, just knowing that I have the support of someone else, someone who has invested in my books and is doing some marketing for me feels great.
And, of course, I’m not self-published anymore. Frankly, the stigma of self-publishing really got me down. I had a big agent. I nearly scored a deal with the major Australia publisher, but when I applied for reviews, or spoke to my local bookstore, I was treated with disdain. The assumption was that my books were as bad as the worst self-published books. It was an insult, and yet, I understood it. There are a lot of terrible self-published books. Why should anyone assume mine are any better? For all the work I do to help others improve their writing, I was still labelled with what to many is a dirty word. No more. I shall be applying to all these review sites that say they don’t review self-published books now.
Why S & H Publishing? Because the lovely lady who runs it, Dixiane Hallaj, approached me with the idea. I’d read some of her books and knew she produced quality, and our paths had crossed already, so I knew she was an ethical, conscientious and trustworthy person. She wanted to expand the number of titles for S & H and offered me a really good deal. So here I am, proudly published by S & H Publishing!
Who is this publisher? It’s one of the new breed of indie publishers, small, but able and willing to be more flexible with authors than the big guns. S & H aims to publish twenty books a year, and run four big promotions that I’ll be part of and won’t have to pay for because S & H never asks for any money from their authors. (Always check if someone offers you a deal; they may be a vanity press—not S & H Publishing; they’re the real deal.)
I wouldn’t have gone out chasing a small publisher, but when Dixiane came to me, I leapt at the chance to throw off the shackles of the self-published author. Yes, shackles; self-publishing is freedom in one sense, but you’re still shackled by prejudice and lack of resources—at least I was. Now, I’m with someone who is actually interested in selling my books. She has a financial investment in them. That’s how much she believes in them, and her belief is good for my soul.
Congratulations! This is awesome. I’ve read the first two of your books and know that they certainly shouldn’t be associated with the stigma of self-publishing, but there are so many reviewers/bloggers/people who immediately hate the idea of anything self-published. Now they’ll see what they’ve been missing out on!
Thanks Kayla. I’m having a series blog tour in Novemeber – run by smeone else this time, thank goodness – so if you’re interested in reading the other two (which are MUCH better than the first two) follow and sign up.
Well done and congrats. I hope your books sell like crazy. I know they’re good because I’ve read one, plus you gave me tremendous input when you appraised my manuscript.
Thanks Yolanda, I appreciate your support. I hope you read more of them!
The debate about the good and bad in any publishing system is futile. There are millions of fantastic writers in the English language alone, all of which deserve an opportunity to be read. Whether one is lucky enough, and I do mean lucky, to be published by a major publisher who then actually tries to sell your books, or alternatively one does everything alone through the likes of CreateSpace, your work is equally entitled to success.
H & S provides another avenue, another chance to open the magical door and so free your work to take its chances in the great sea of cleverly bound together words. H & S gives support and direction to your vision without having to play an impossibly low odds lottery with the leviathans of the old industry. H & S, a small independent publisher, is also right for the independent minded writer who wishes to avoid the other extreme of swimming unaided in the rough oceans of self-publishing. H & S provides a great opportunity for both first-time and long-established writers, so why not give them a try?
Thank you, Richard. Yes, why not give us a try (and please remember it’s S & H, not the other way around 🙂
Well said, Richard. Thanks for your comment.
Congratulations and I hope it works out well !!
Thanks Debra. So far, so good. S&H is running a Goodreads give-away now, ending in September, and they’re getting more interest for it than I ever did doing it myself. It’s possible that people pay more attention when it’s someone else talking about your book.
Tahlia,
It is a privilege to be able to publish your wonderful books.
We do try to give our authors as many of the advantages of traditional publishing as possible while still allowing much of the freedom that makes self-publishing attractive.
Thank you for your kind words.
You’re a lovely person to work with and that makes a huge difference to me.
Wonderful news! Congratulations to one of the most perseverant and deserving authors I know.
This is the Monkey in disguise, by the way, just in case the pen name doesn’t ring familiar. While I haven’t been very active in the blogosphere for quite some time, I’ve been quietly following your self-publishing journey and found it so interesting, as I’m still considering that option for my first manuscript–it doesn’t have enough romance for my second book’s publisher, and while I’m still revising it to ready it for another round of querying, I very well may hire an editor to help me ready it for self-publication. Time and queries will tell. I don’t look forward to entering that process again, but I agree with you on the merits of smaller publishers, and that’s all I will consider for their generally greater open-mindedness and flexibility. I think indie publishers have gotten the big guys’ notice as real contenders in the industry, providing authors with services not entirely dictated by the bottom line. It’s refreshing, and I wish you and S&H much success!
Thanks. It’s lovely to hear from you again. Authors certainly have many options these days. There’s something to suit everyone, I think. Self-publishing is a huge amount of work and frankly I don’t recommend it for everyone. If you can find a small publisher to do it all for you, why not?
Congrats, Tahlia! Good story. This publisher seems perfect for your books. I look forward to reading how it goes.
Thanks Jackie. I’ll let you know of any developments, but already my book is in a Goodreads giveaway run by the publisher that resulted in 800+ people opting in. When I did one myself, I had 30 which was pretty depressing. Granted it wasn’t for the same book, but…