It feels CRAZY to finally be making this announcement…
But the debut novel of the Martyr Series is finally being released!
For the last fifteen years, this book has been my passion. It’s gone through four iterations, survived my getting married and having children, and it’s grown and adapted so much I hardly recognize it today from where it started a decade and a half ago.
It’s a totally new story – stronger, darker, and more striking than ever.
So what exactly is this launch going to look like?
I’m pursuing a self-publishing route.
One of the things that has slowed me down over the years is the debate on whether or not I should self or traditionally publish this work.
There are benefits and drawbacks to each option, as with pretty much every choice we make in life. Traditional publishing feels safer – you have a contract, a large company who will (or may) put money toward marketing you, and the “quality control” of having some outside entity validate your work.
Seems great, right?
The issue with traditional publishing, in my opinion, is that it is so extraordinarily limited. I’ve heard of amazing stories getting shelved because the publisher just doesn’t think it’s going to sell. They want what’s hot on the market, not necessarily the new and novel ideas out there. On top of that, typically you write away your rights to your work in your contract.
Self-publishing obviously has its own set of problems. You’re 100% responsible for doing all the marketing and promoting of your work, on top of editing, graphic design, and a whole other host of things that go into publishing a book.
But you’re also in control of the entire process – from start to finish.
I decided to go with self over traditional publishing ultimately because of that control – not just over the artistic license, but of my own future. I’m done letting other people decide my work is worthy of the world. I don’t care about becoming a millionaire – I just want to share my work. Self publishing allows ME to decide that I can do that – not some other company focused on nothing more than turning a profit.
When will the book come out, exactly?
Hold tight with me on this one. I don’t have an exact date yet. Self publishing isn’t as easy as people make it out to be. There are a lot of little things I need to get done, including…
- Doing a Trademark/Copyright registration for artwork used in my novel
- Creating an LLC to separate my assets from the assets of the book
- Getting the novel professional edited and proofed
- Formatting for both print and digital release
Right now, I’m just at the beginning of all of this.
My goal is to publish before July, but we’ll see what happens the closer we get there!
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