My Journey in Publishing: Leslie Rasmussen

MY JOURNEY IN PUBLISHING 

Writing a novel is not an easy task, especially when you have no clue what you’re doing, but it’s nothing compared to actually getting the work published. My first novel took a lot of trial and error. I did everything to prepare before I actually started writing. I went to writing conferences and read lots of books on how to write a novel. I took a writing workshop, and I wrote constantly, hoping some of what I was inputting into my computer would stick. 

Four and a half years later, I had a completed manuscript and was ready for the publishing part of the journey. I had no idea how many different ways there were of getting your writing out in the world. I considered self-publishing, but as a newbie, it seemed scary and overwhelming, so the first thing I did was query agents and small publishers. I wanted someone to walk me through things.

I was sure that this masterpiece I created titled After Happily Ever After was going to have agents and publishers falling all over themselves to get ahold of it. Well, maybe I wasn’t positive about this, but I was hopeful. I got some rejections hours after I’d emailed the manuscript. So unless they’d taken Evelyn Wood’s speed-reading class, they’d rejected me without looking at it. In my heart, I knew they hadn’t rejected me as a person, but still it felt personal.  

Some of the other agents and publishers I contacted just never got back to me. I became that girl who convinced herself that the guy was interested in her and made-up excuses why he was ghosting her. Maybe he was just busy, maybe he was out of town, maybe he’d died. The more time that went by, the worse my imposter syndrome kicked in. I was getting incredibly discouraged. Wouldn’t he or she realize I was a perfect match. He or she, being an agent or publisher, match, being they couldn’t live without my debut novel. 

After a few months and impending carpal tunnel from typing out so many emails, I was beyond frustrated. I decided to try a hybrid publisher. A hybrid publisher is one where you give them a chunk of money and they take care of the details of getting your book out. I was going to invest in myself and keep the rights to my novel, so I could have all the control. Little did I know  how much that was really going to cost. Besides the initial fee, which was very high, paying for printing was astronomical. There were also many other costs I wasn’t aware of. Shipping was one of them, and every time a book is returned by a bookstore the publisher charged me, which would add up. 

My hybrid publisher had traditional distribution which I thought was a huge advantage, but the bookstores that they got my book into would mostly return the book, unlike the bookstores that I was able to get carry my book. And since it wasn’t POD (print on demand) after the first year after pub date, the books that had been printed had to be stored at a warehouse, and that was another monthly cost the publisher charged me. I was also responsible for all the promotion, as this hybrid didn’t do anything to promote the books, although I am aware that nowadays even the big publishers do little to promote your book.

Even though I sold a lot of books, with the amount of money I spent having a hybrid publish my book and having to give them a good cut of the profits, I wasn’t likely to come out ahead, or at least not for years.

When I finished my second book, The Stories We Cannot Tell, I chose to query again. This time I had four offers from publishers willing to publish my book, and being a second time author, I had my brand, my social media, and knew so much about promotion.

I went with a small traditional publisher. That experience was different from the first as I didn’t have to put out any money, and the editor was fantastic. I still had some control over certain aspects, like the cover, which I was very happy with. The thing I didn’t have control over was keeping my rights to anything other than television/film.

This publisher wasn’t going to pay to promote the novel, which didn’t shock me, although they did send it out to some review sites. I had learned so much on my last experience, so I was okay with that. My publisher did digital ARCS, but if I wanted physical ones, I needed to pay for them. Again, I was okay with that, also, because I still barely had to put out any money for the entire process. This second novel will be out July 11th of this year, and I’m thrilled that this time I could actually make money.

All in all, I’m not sure how I will publish my third book. I may try the self-publishing route. I have good friends who are self-publishing their books, and it doesn’t seem scary anymore. They will be making the most money from their books, and not putting out a lot. It isn’t costly to self-publish a book, you just need to find the right sources that will walk you through the process, and most of them are far less than using a hybrid publisher. All in all, I have been educated in the publishing business, and the good news is authors have so many choices, and each author needs to pick the right one that fits their needs.

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Leslie Rasmussen is the award-winning author of After Happily Ever After. Her second book The Stories We Cannot Tell is out now. To learn more about Leslie you can visit her website at https://www.lesliearasmussen.com. Or follow her on social media at:

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

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

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/leslierauthor

THE STORIES WE CANNOT TELL

There can come a point in life where you’ll always remember what came before and what came after.

Rachel is a thirty-year-old married Jewish woman who’s wanted a baby for a long time. Katie’s a thirty-two-year-old single, Catholic woman who has been trying to find a man who’ll stick around. We follow the women individually as they find themselves pregnant—Rachel happily, Katie, not. As they enter their second trimester, they’re shocked to hear that there’s something very wrong with the babies they’re carrying. Rachel and Katie meet in a support group and bond as they help each other through not only the excruciating decision they need to make but through the issues that come with making that decision. The Stories We Cannot Tell explores friendship, loss, love, hope, and family.

“. . . a fast-paced, beautifully written tribute to what we can and can’t control and who we love in the process. A true delight. This book is GOOD!”—Zibby Owens, author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature and host of Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books

BUY HERE

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