A Self-Publishing Summer

When I first started writing for more than fun, I knew I wanted to be published. I had such optimism. Of course I'll get a publishing contract. Who doesn't want this fantastic romance novel I wrote? 

Turns out over 60 agents didn't want that fantastic romance novel. And that meant that the romance novel publishing companies never even saw it. 

Oh, but I tried Harlequin. Did you know that during their publishing contests they give you one paragraph and if the one reader doesn't like that one paragraph you're done? Yeah. That's how that works. 

So I'm doing it. I'm self-publishing. 

There's this stigma surrounding self-publishing for authors. That if you self-publish, you're somehow not very good or you're unprofessional. But that's not true at all. Some wonderful authors have self-published, and some even have regular publishing contracts and choose to self-publish other works on the side. 

Self-publishing gives you complete control of your own work, something you won't get with an agent and an editor, who basically own you. Sure, you have to do your own business and marketing, but I'm ready for that. 

And as I was driving around in my car, listening to my New Kids on the Block playlist, I realized that some of my favorite songs were actually "self-published." 

Joey McIntyre self-published solo CDs six times: Stay the Same, One Too Many, 8:09, Here We Go Again, Come Home For Christmas and Talk to Me. The title track from Stay the Same was #10 on Billboard . 

Jordan Knight did it twice, too: Love Songs and Unfinished. The latter, which hit #8 on the Billboard Independent charts, also hit #48 on the overall charts. 

In fact, the latest New Kids on the Block CD is from their own label called The Block, and not a "traditional" music label. 

Musicians have been "self-publishing" for years with no stigma. Their songs are still played on the radio, still purchased by fans. Let's do the same for authors. And let's start with me! 

Pink Diamonds is in the editing phase and will be published through Smashwords in the summer of 2013. 

This post originally appeared on: daniellemastersonbooks.com.