The Self-Publishing Petrie Dish

The Summerlark Elf at Create Space

The Summerlark Elf on Amazon

Here is a good friend's foray into self-publishing. Although he's in a different genre and has a different audience, our goals are the same.

He's self-publishing, and I'm going to be a keen observer of all the pitfalls and joys of that path.
A lot of writers these days get their big breaks in self-publishing first. It gives them an audience. It also gives them cred when pitching to a bigger publishing house.

As a Millennial and a library worker, self-publishing is a great equalizing tool. As a book snob, there's a miserable gollum-shaped hole in me that doesn't believe it could work. I ignore gollum-me most days.

Never-Never Land

So, this article is mostly about a specific genre within fiction. New Adult means nothing to me: I have a job (three of them) and my fairytale adventures are confined to boardgames and good books these days. However, a boatload of those books are self-published: by, for and about Millennials. This self-publishing thing clearly is gaining traction with the Under 30 set.

I hope The Summerlark Elf does well. It's my first object lesson in being brave and putting your work out there in the open market.