Six Books in Three Years: An Indie Publishing Journey By Susan Cushman

The quickly changing world of book publishing can be a difficult terrain to traverse for a new writer. After spending a decade “prepping” for this leg of the journey by writing and publishing essays in various journals and magazines and building a platform on social media, I was finally ready to publish a book.

And then this happened: I published three in one year. And three more in the next two years. Here’s the kicker: these six books are published by six different independent publishers, and I don’t have a literary agent. I also don’t have a “brand.” 

 

How Important Is It For an Author to Have a Brand?

A lot has been written about the importance of having a “brand.” This article in HuffPost says that a writer should maintain continuity in genre and voice. My readers tell me that I have a distinctive voice that reaches across genres, but my six books include four genres: memoir, novel, short story collection, and three essay anthologies (for which I was editor).

I get that it would be nice for readers to hear my name and think, “Oh, yes, Susan Cushman writes upmarket women’s fiction, OR poignant memoir, OR confessional personal essays, OR character-driven southern short stories.” Or even to be known as a consistent editor of anthologies, which is my most probable reputation at this point.  But I didn’t set out to do this—to write and publish in so many different genres. I think my journey is a reflection of my personality and life experiences. I love more than one kind of art and music, and I read in many genres. 

Where to Start

In the beginning, I spent six years writing a novel before I queried over 100 literary agents for Cherry Bomb (Dogwood Press, August 2017). This process took over six months, as I carefully researched and found agents who represented “comparative titles,” or so I thought. But twenty-four of the twenty-five agents who asked to read the full manuscript responded with similar praise for the prose but confusion about where to market the book.

Is it southern literary fiction or narrative upmarket fiction? Could it work in the YA market? Finally, agent #100 fell in love with the book, or so she said. But after working with her and her editors for over a year, I parted ways with them.

It became clear that we had different visions for the book, and I wasn’t willing to turn it into commercial fiction like Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which the agent suggested that I read in order to learn how to make my protagonist more “hard-ass.” Nothing wrong with Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by the way, but it wasn’t the type of book I was writing.

Cherry Bomb has strong spiritual elements, is set in the south in the 1970s and 80s, and is full of art and religious imagery. So I walked away from hopes for a book deal with a large publisher and found a small press in Mississippi that shared my vision for the book.

Am I happy with my decision? Yes, in that this publisher preserved the integrity of the work. But I always recommend that new writers try to query literary agents—the gatekeepers to the large houses—and then turn to indie presses if that doesn’t work out. (I am still considering querying agents for my next book.)

The Pros and Cons of Being an Indie Writer

Since I was working without an agent, I was free to pursue different publishers for my other books, which were unfolding at the same time as the novel. When I found a small press for my memoir Tangles and Plaques: A Mother and Daughter Face Alzheimer’s (eLectio Publishing, January 2017), they weren’t aware that my novel was also coming out in 2017.

Neither was the university press who offered me a contract for my first anthology, A Second Blooming: Becoming the Women We Are Meant To Be (Mercer University Press, March 2017.). Of course it was exciting to have three books published in 2017, but it was also a bit of a marketing challenge. Fortunately many bookstores welcomed me for events for all three books, and the crowds varied because of the different types of books being offered. 

Doing What You Love

As those first three books were in various stages of pre-production, publication, and marketing, I came to realize that what I was enjoying the most was editing the anthology. So I decided to do another one. I pitched Southern Writers on Writing (University Press of Mississippi, May 2018) to a fourth publisher, and they immediately offered me a contract. Working with twenty-six southern authors was an editor’s dream. The book was well-received, and my reputation as an editor was being noticed.

One Project Leads to Another

In 2017 I went on a “library book tour” to speak at libraries in ten small towns in my home state of Mississippi. I was touring for my novel and my memoir, but I wasn’t expecting what happened next. The towns themselves and the people who came to the library events inspired me to write a collection of linked short stories titled—what else?—Friends of the Library, which was published in August by Koehler Books.

I was a newbie to the genre, and I experienced something many of my author friends have described as I wrote the stories in three short months. William Faulkner said it well: “It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.” Writing those stories was so much fun and so much easier than the novel. I’m visiting 24 libraries in seven southern states on my current book tour, so I’m considering a sequel: More Friends of the Library. But I haven’t given up on writing another novel. 

Back to What You Love

In the midst of finishing edits for Friends of the Library, I was contacted by Kathy L. Murphy, 

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation, which has over 750 book clubs. I had been a participating author at the annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend several times, and she was planning a big celebration in 2020, which would mark the 20th anniversary of her organization. Kathy wanted an anthology with essays by authors and book club members to commemorate the anniversary, and she asked me to edit it. Of course I immediately said yes, and The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years! releases in December from a sixth independent publisher, Brother Mockingbird. 

Another Genre in My Future?

I have a collection of personal essays I’m considering shopping out in 2020. Working title is Pilgrim Interrupted. Most of the essays have been previously published in journals, anthologies, and on my personal blog, and I haven’t queried any agents or publishers for this one yet. For now, I’m holding onto these while looking for a protagonist for another novel and continuing my library tour. It’s important to keep our options open in this business. 

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A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Susan Cushman has led writing workshops throughout the south. She was co-director of the 2013 and 2010 Creative Nonfiction Conferences in Oxford, Mississippi, and director of the 2011 Creative Nonfiction Workshop in Memphis, where she has lived since 1988. Cushman is a member of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and will be a panel moderator at the 2020 AWP Conference in San Antonio.

Website: https://susancushman.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5388776.Susan_Cushman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjcushman

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjcushman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SusanCushman

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips