I left teaching after thirty years to focus solely on writing. Since school let out in May, I've written a number of feature articles for a newspaper, written and submitted more columns, written blog posts, scribbled down a bunch of ideas for future stories or books, typed more of the rough draft for what will be book number six most likely, and, as of yesterday, I finally got my third book published after spending the bulk of these past two months editing it. The following are screen shots from the email notifying me that the book is now live, so the quality isn't the best.
I've always wanted to be a writer, but I never imagined I'd go down the self-publishing path. Even now, it's not really the path I want to be on, but there are definite advantages to doing it this way. Let me tell you how and why I first did it.
As you may know, I write a column that comes out twice a month for the Norfolk Daily News out of Norfolk, Nebraska. I've been writing it for a number of years now, but about five years ago I asked the editor if he'd be open to serializing a novel I'd written years before that and which was basically languishing on my hard drive. I had tried a few times to get agents interested, but I hadn't had any luck, and the main publishers are closed to you without an agent. Since I was a full-time teacher, coach, and mom, it was always hard to find the time needed to really research and consistently send things out to agents, contests, small publishers, etc. I really believed that the book was darn good for a first novel, and I so wanted to have people read it to see if I was right.
The editor was a little skeptical, but the assistant editor agreed to read a few chapters, and then they'd decide from there. He read them and liked them, so they agreed to run a chapter a week on the online edition and see how things went. It took an entire year for The Clearwater House to be fully published for readers of the newspaper to see it, but over that year, many people read it and liked it and reached out to me asking where they could get a copy.
After the year was up, I went ahead and put it on the Kindle platform because that's a simple process to upload a book there. It doesn't take any special formatting for the most part. I only had to design a cover. A few people did buy the eBook edition of it, but others really wanted an actual physical book. I totally understand that because I seldom do any eBook reading myself; I much prefer to hold a book and turn the pages. So, I sat down at the computer one night and spent a long time figuring things out, but I finally managed to format The Clearwater House to run as a paperback, and I made a different cover that I liked better than the one I'd quickly created for the eBook.
There are things I'd do differently with it if I could go back, and maybe some day I'll reformat it and resubmit it, but overall I've been very pleased with how it turned out and the reception it has received. Most people who have read it have enjoyed it. That's all I want -- for people to read my books and enjoy them.
Three years ago in September, my best friend since college, Amy Vojtech Beran, passed away from cancer. She was only 50 years old and the sweetest person I've ever known. She was a huge champion of my writing, and she'd personally bought and given as gifts numerous copies of The Clearwater House. During the year and a half that she was battling and losing her fight to cancer, I sent her daily pick-me-up notes to provide whatever cheer I could to her from afar (she was living in Dallas). When I knew the end was near, I made her a promise in one of my final notes to her -- that my next book would be dedicated to her. A couple months after her death, my promise was weighing heavily upon me because I had no idea when I'd ever have another novel done -- I had many in the works and even complete, including Ticker Tape, but since I was also bogged down with teaching responsibilities, I knew it would be a long time before I could get the editing done or finish writing the others I'd begun.
So, I decided instead to take a novella, a lengthy short story, and two short stories that had won writing prizes and compile them into a collection in her honor. Those pieces were done and just sitting around waiting for me to do something with them. They are all feel-good pieces, and I realized that the best way for me to honor my friend who always made me feel good was to dedicated four feel-good stories to her. Thus, State of Georgia . . . and Other Writings was born. I also included four of my poems (yep, I write poetry, too) to sort of introduce the theme of each story. The state of Georgia is not the physical southern state, but rather it is the emotional and mental state in which the protagonist, Georgia, finds herself after her husband's sudden and unexpected death.
Speaking of unexpected deaths, the cover photo on this story collection was taken by my dear uncle, Paul Filsinger, who graciously gave it to me to use after I asked him if he had any sunset or sky photo with shades of blues and pinks in it because those were Amy's favorite colors (hence the color scheme of the cover). Paul died last October from covid-19. This book cover is very special to me.
I also used one of Paul's photos inside Ticker Tape. It's at the very end of the book, and it's of a United States' flag. I put it there to accompany a poem that I also included. It's a patriotic poem that I have dedicated to the memory of (my boyfriend) Kim's son, Trever Erickson, who died by suicide two years ago.
I plan to use another of Paul's photos for the cover of my next novel, called Twinges. That one is about a teacher who can sense things about her students. She doubts their veracity, but one day she learns that her power is real. She is very concerned because her most recent "twinge" told her that her student was going to grow up to be a serial killer. I will be editing that book next. Look for it to come out by Christmas, I hope. Maybe sooner. Who knows?
I also have two other novels that are about three-fourths complete, a story collection set in a comedy club that is perhaps half done, a smart-ass yet serious advice book for first-year teachers that is about half done, too, and many, many ideas floating around in various notebooks. I'm determined to be the writer I always wanted to be.
Let's get back to the self-publishing topic a bit, though. While I would still prefer to get a major book deal and get published my a big-name publisher, there are things about the self-publishing route that I really like.
One -- I get a bigger piece of the pie, financially. I don't have to split earnings with an agent, an editor, the publisher, etc. Yes, Amazon is getting richer (although only quite nominally so far) from my book sales, and I don't really like that, but it doesn't cost me a dime to publish through them, and since I'm now technically unemployed, I love that I can publish there for free. Also, since so many people do shop on Amazon, there is a better chance of me making some sales. I need those sales right now.
Two -- I enjoy the editing part of the process and having control of all the content. While I realize that a professional editor would probably polish my work better than I do, I also know that I've caught many typos and grammar mistakes in books that are professionally edited and published. After teaching a variety of English and Spanish classes for 30 years, I think I have a pretty solid grasp on language and how to use it correctly. Also, I like knowing that the story is 100 percent mine, that no agent or editor made a gazillion recommendations for changes that I had to do before it could be printed. I want the story to be completely in my voice. I am the author, after all.
Three -- I get to create the cover and make it both personally meaningful and also relevant to the story.
Four-- I am totally my own boss. Right now, I am sooooo loving that. I set my deadlines. I decide when and if I'm going to release a book. I'm not bound to a contract. I have complete freedom and make all the decisions.
Naturally, there are downsides to self-publishing. One of the big ones is that I am in this alone (even though that's also a positive). My book won't be found on the shelves of chain bookstores like B&N, but independent bookstores can stock it, so if you happen to be a proponent of indie bookstores (as I am), please go to your favorite one and order my books through them. Give them the business. I will get a very tiny royalty from that sale, but I will be thrilled to know that you are helping an independent bookstore thrive. Another major downside is that I don't have a marketing team behind me, so I will never sell the number of books I could through a traditional publisher, but I can (and will) continue to promote all my books, not just the newest, every time I make an author appearance at a library or every time I post on my author website or social media sites.
So, for now, I am very content to self-publish. After I publish Twinges, I will probably start reaching out to prospective agents in the hopes of landing a more financially lucrative deal for one of the books after that, but we'll see.
If you are interested in my books or other writings and want to follow my journey online, I have a Facebook page @TammyMarshallAuthor, and I have an author site on Instagram, too, #tammymarshallauthor. Here is the link for my website: https://tammymarshallauthor.wordpress.com
From there, you can find links to my Amazon page, you can read some of my columns, there are links to my two blogs, and you can even contact me.Thank you for reading this. I certainly hope you will consider reading my books, too.
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