Female Thriller Author Ditches Traditional Pub Track

In October, 2002, I stood across the street from the old HarperCollins Building at 10 East 53rd Street in midtown Manhattan and pointed it out to my traveling companions.

“Someday,” I intoned tearfully, “Someday my novels will be published there.”

“Great,” my husband said pointing at our cranky three-year-old in her stroller. “I think Layla needs a new Pull-up.” He was probably thinking, And someday, I shall pilot the space shuttle.

The odds of either happening, we both knew, were about equal.

I’d taken a six-year hiatus from writing, and when I say hiatus, what I really mean is pout. I spent three years trying to get my Delacorte Press First Young Adult Novel contest finalist published, to no avail, so I took my toys and went home.

Then 9/11 happened, and I realized that if the world were to end (it seemed like it might in the weeks and months afterward), I would have never fulfilled my life’s purpose. So I started writing again, and thirteen years after standing in midtown Manhattan and proclaiming my ultimate destiny, the HarperCollins Witness Impulse imprint offered me a three-book deal based on my debut thriller, THE DROWNING GAME.

It was a dream come true. Not only did THE DROWNING GAME become a USA Today bestseller, it was translated into eight languages, and I was the first imprint author to be a finalist in the International Thriller Writers Thriller Awards for Best First Novel. (I didn’t win. But it’s an honor just to be nominated. Right?) I’m confident that none of this would have happened without the clout, prestige, and talent behind a Big 5 house.

My contract was for three books with an option for a fourth. After my third came out, my agent became very ill and was unable to help me. Consequently, that fourth manuscript didn’t get to the publisher until five months after it should have. And then…they passed on the manuscript because it had a male protagonist instead of my usual female MC. They wanted to keep working with me, but they only wanted women characters.

No one was buying male protags in thrillers, so I’d need to go back to females.

But I believed in the manuscript. Plus I knew it would be a while before I completed another novel, and I had one in my hand, a good one. I wanted to keep my career momentum going.

So I decided to indie publish it.

It wasn’t an easy decision. It was terrifying, after having been cocooned in the safe, warm arms of a monster mama like HarperCollins. But my gut told me this novel needed to be out in the world, and I made the leap. I formed an LLC, The Vanishing Point Press Ltd., and did all the business stuff. It was exhausting, frustrating, scary, and time-consuming, when I’d rather be writing.

I had to do a ton of research. I had to hire an editor, a publicist, cover designer, proofreader. I had to learn how to publish, and about distribution, pricing, and promotion. For the first time, I had to write my own back-cover blurb and come up with a title, which the marketing team at HC had always done after rejecting my original titles. Now I wished they were around to reject them!

Did I make the right decisions? Time will tell, but early signs are beyond positive. I kicked off my pre-order just yesterday, and my rankings are better than I could have hoped for.

Would I go indie all over again? I think so. But if you’re agonizing over whether to go this route yourself, let me be candid: I’d have never gone indie if I didn’t have three solid traditionally published novels under my belt with total sales approaching 100K, USA Today bestseller status, and a prestigious award nomination.

Thanks to my HarperCollins track record, Bookbub has selected my forthcoming novel as a Featured New Release on my release date, January 22, 2019. I couldn’t have done that all by myself.

This is not to say that no one should do it without all these factors in play. I have two friends, Wendy and Jenny, who started out as indies, and they both have done it brilliantly and to amazing success. But I have to say that both of them are way smarter than me, and I know I couldn’t have pulled off what they did.

The reality is that the publishing industry is evolving with more opportunities for success than ever before. There’s enough of it out there for all of us, so go out there and grab it however you can.
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LS Hawker is the author of the thrillers “The Drowning Game,” “Body and Bone,” and “End of the Road,” all published by HarperCollins Witness Impulse. “The Drowning Game” was a USA Today bestseller and a finalist in the ITW Thriller Awards’ “Best First Novel” category. Her books have been translated into eight languages.

Hawker grew up in suburban Denver and wrote her first novel at 14. After receiving her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas, she started a radio show called “People Are So Stupid,” edited a trade magazine, and worked as a traveling Kmart portrait photographer, but never lost her passion for fiction writing. For more information visit LS Hawker at LSHawker.com.

About THE THROWAWAYS

Just because everyone thinks you’re nothing doesn’t mean you’ve got nothing to lose.

George Engle’s lived in the long shadow of his superstar twin brothers since they died in a freak accident when he was thirteen. Now, in the spring of 1986, George and his childhood friends are living lives they never wanted. It’s easy to sleepwalk through insignificance, until a second freak accident jolts them awake—only it’s no accident.

One night, George regains consciousness just in time to watch an unfamiliar house explode, and finds evidence of the crime he didn’t commit planted on his back seat. He narrowly eludes what may or may not be police and subsequently learns the explosion was a cover-up for three baffling execution-style murders. George was supposed to take the fall, and now the killers are hunting him.

George’s friends reunite to probe the mysterious deaths, a murderous drug cartel, and their own self-deception. But in the process, they’ll discover they can trust no one and nothing—not even their own memories.

 

Tags: featured, self-publishing, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips, On Publishing