More "Why I's"...

Hey, it's me!!! Posting in my little portion of the humongous writing world. Posting just for YOU, whoever you are!!! I'm feeling particularly creative (in the sense of wordiness...) after being inspired by reading blogs, so I thought I would post for you, the sweet person who chanced (or deliberately visited) my crazy portion of the blogosphere.

I'm glad you stopped by!

When I started blogging over at the other half of the blogosphere, I really didn't know what I was getting in to. But I did know that maybe I could finally type out all the articles I wrote in my head but never wrote down. And here's one of the main thoughts that runs through my head when I talk to writers. It's called, "Why I Decided Not to Go the Mainline Publishing Route" (Lordwilling).

So here you go. I'm typing this out from my head, through my body, to my fingers, onto the keys, onto the screen. And eventually, once I click "publish", and once you click into this blog, onto your screen.

So here we go.

:O

I'm nervous now.

"Why I" #1: 
I've enjoyed writing for as long as I can remember. For nearly as long as I can remember, I'd also dreamed about publishing a book...publishing a book, that is, someday. I always wrote fiction - crazy, fun, and possibly outlandish tales of alternate worlds that I produced in large, but for the most part unfinished, quantities. When I was nine years old, right before and after moving to England, I wrote mainly about my magical world called Cunburra.

I didn't know there were two ways to publish, but I know now. There's Mainline Publishing, and Self-Publishing. Let me explain.

Mainline Publishing is the one you generally hear about - the publishers that require you to send your beloved story far, far away, only to most likely receive a rejection slip. You tend to hear about writers being rejected over and over again before finally being picked up by a publisher, who agrees to publish their work. Their writing becomes a bestseller, and everyone (publisher, writer, reader) is happy. Yayyy!

Self-Publishing is where the writer pays the publisher to publish the work. The publisher doesn't have to necessarily like their work, or have any particular interest in it. The books are "print on demand", which means when someone orders a book, it's printed and shipped out (instead of, say, 5,000 copies being printed - copies which the author then has to try to sell). 

This is the short, un-complicated explanation which may be lacking information you might consider important...and for that I apologise (the British way... the "s" instead of the "z"...). If you care to find out more about the differences between these two publishing methods, feel free to research them out...and let me know what you discover, if you feel so inclined!!! :)

I'd never heard of self-publishing. I'd imagined myself, as an adult, one day publishing my books with one of those mainline publishers. This all changed when, while being treated for cancer in England, I was asked if I had a dream I would liked fulfilled. The charity, Dreams Come True, existed to make the wishes of terminally or seriously ill children, come true. Although many kids requested Disneyland Paris, or swimming with dolphins (both of which are super cool!), I knew I only had one dream, and that was to get my book published.

We'd heard about a self-publisher through a hospital teacher who had become a friend of our family and was using the said publisher to publish her father's book. The publisher agreed to publish my book and even offered to do it for free! : ) That's how my first book, Tales of Cunburra and Other Stories was published. I am sooo thankful for the opportunity! : )

A while after I finished treatment for cancer, and while we were still living in England, I had finished another book (unrelated to Cunburra) which I hoped to have published. Mom and I researched Christian publishers (not self-publishers) and actually sent my story in to one of them. It was not accepted, but it was a good experience for us. At this time I was still learning the process of editing, learning how to write in an active (instead of passive) tense, etc. I continued writing, but we started looking at self-publishing options instead.

I wasn't planning for this to the story of how I got my books published, but that is how it is turning out. :p Well, that's the life of a writer, right? We occasionally end up being surprised by ourselves. :p

The main point I was planning to write in this post were the reasons why I chose not to publish the mainline way. So I guess I'll say them now.

1) I don't write in hopes to become the next bestseller. Although I sometimes dream about my stories becoming famous, being made into movies, etc., many bestsellers tend to be fads that are not based on a Biblical worldview anyway. Also, I don't write to be famous; I write for a different reason...

2) I write to glorify God and hopefully point others to Him. I don't think it's His will for me to mainline publish. I have now found there are even FREE self-publishing options. Many mainline publishers want to know that the author's plan for publicizing their book is. When you're a student (even a homeschooled one! :)), running around the country to market a book generally isn't very synonymous with finishing school. I want to impact those around me with my book(s), and as soon as possible (or rather, as soon as God wants me to). I don't want to wait until I'm old enough to travel and publicize my books. I want to share my books and my passions with people right now, and free self-publishing options, such as Lulu.com can make that possible for writers like you and me.

I guess this is turning out to be one of my typical "all over the place" posts. The words are coming out of my brain nearly as fast as my fingers can type them out!

I suppose I simply wanted to share with you my reasons for choosing to go the self-publishing route (how I ended up finding out about it, and my hopes and plans, if God wills, for future projects) and encourage you, a writer, that you can share your story - whether it be fiction or non-fiction, outlandish or serious ;) - with the world. You don't even have to wait until you're an adult or even wait until you've finished with school! Though I have not personally used Lulu.com yet, I know people who have and I believe their experiences with that publisher have been for the most part positive. Although this is something to discuss with the Lord, and of course your parents, I just wanted to encourage you, I guess.

Well, I've done enough rambling for tonight (or how about for the next five months? :p) so I'll leave you to think about all the information I've just dumped on you... :D

-- Klara C.