|
The Huckster's Son: A Memoir of Fruit, Drugs, Rock and Roll is a raw and honest story of growing up in the '70s.   Why did you decide to self-publish? Did you have any doubts? I self-published on the recommendation of my editor. He thought with the publishing climate the way it was post-pandemic it would be the easiest thing. The suggestion brought me a dose of reality and freed me from the delusion of my book being on the New York Times best- seller list. In the end it was the right decision since I was mainly trying to get my story out. How long did it take? The process of writing my memoir took five years or more. It was an extended and slow morphing process but the progress and my attention to the work was very satisfying. What did you like best? I liked working with my coach and editor who gave me great direction and really helped streamline the work and move the process along. I couldn’t have done it without my coach Michelle and editor Nick. What was the hardest part? Revisiting painful moments in my life was not easy though very cathartic. It was difficult at times to keep up with the changes my editor suggested. I had to really surrender to the process. Getting to the finish line was not easy but very rewarding. Would you do it again? I hope to do it again and in the nebulous stages of a novel at the moment. We shall see! What advice do you have for authors just starting? To authors just starting I would advise to stay the course. Even if you only write or revise for ten minutes a day just do something. As long as you keep dedicated to the process you will see the progress. The feeling of completing a book, regardless of how it is received is without compare. Holding the finished product in your hands for the first time is incredible. Randy Bucksner lives in Lancaster, PA. When not writing, selling women’s apparel to small boutiques, or playing gigs with his horn, he loves spending time with his four granddaughters. This is his first book.
0 Comments
 Better Than This is a story about finding the strength to break free from old habits, to dream with purpose and to believe in happiness. Life, and love, doesn't have to be perfect but sometimes everything depends on knowing that it can be better than this...  Why did you decide to self-publish? Did you have any doubts? I publish through traditional presses as part of my job. Academic publishing isn’t designed to pay, so in that sense it is different from being a commercial author with a traditional press, but it does mean that I know quite a bit about how the editorial process works, pitching ideas etc. And it can be fun - I’m not against traditional publishing! But, because it is what I do for work, it feels like…work. And it is slow. It can take months or years to get even a 10,000 word article through the publication process. When I decided to publish my first novel I knew I wanted an experience that felt different from my day job, I wanted more control over the process, and I had done my research with respect to remuneration. It isn’t easy to make money publishing fiction whichever route you take, but the numbers seemed to stack up better for indie publishing for what I’m looking for (a steady, scalable income and lots of control about when and how I work). I’m naturally quite an indecisive person, so I spent quite a while looking into all of the options and asking advice. Once I’d made my choice, though, and was happy with my reasons, I got stuck in. When I choose a path, having the doubts before I start out means I don’t have to carry them with me! What did you like best? I absolutely love the writing process. My favourite stages are probably writing first chapters (often from the beginning and the end, then I work out what happens in the middle) and the editing process. I go over my drafts over and over, until I’m happy with every word, and I lose myself completely in the story. To my surprise, though, I also ended up loving the cover design process. My brain is definitely a word brain, so it always intimidated me and I had a bit of a false start with one designer, but then I found Jacqueline Abromeit at goodcoverdesigns.co.uk. I saw her portfolio and just knew she was the designer I wanted to work with, and when I saw her first draft of the cover of Better Than This it was incredible. My book suddenly seemed real, and Jacqueline brought out colours and shapes and textures that made me see different things in my own text. What was the hardest part? Coming up with a title! The manuscript had a working title throughout the writing process, but I always knew it wasn’t quite right. When it was done, I spent about a week throwing titles out to my partner. Mostly he winced and I knew it wasn’t quite right. He would suggest something and it wouldn’t feel right. It got quite frustrating. Then it appeared and I knew that Better Than This was the one I’d been looking for. (And he agreed!) The other very hard part of indie publishing, as I’m sure every indie author out there agrees, is marketing. I’ve never really done any marketing and I didn’t have any form of social media except LinkedIn until a few weeks before my book was released. Now I’m working with a professional marketing specialist and I still don’t feel like I’ve got it figured out, but it’s a skill, like any other, and I’m willing to give it time and effort. As my parents always taught me, that’s all we can ever do. Would you do it again? Absolutely. In fact, I will be indie publishing my second novel this Easter. The process has been complicated in places and I feel like I’m learning new things at every stage, but I’m looking forward to going through it the second time around and doing it better. It is also exciting building up some momentum. Control is one of the key things that drew me to indie publishing and I really enjoy the direct relationship between putting in work and seeing changes, whether that is in marketing, editing or creating new stories. What advice do you have for authors just starting? Start with your story. I did a lot of research while I was writing but whatever decision you make about how to publish, it all has to start with a story that is as good as you can make it and that you really believe in. All publishing involves putting a piece of yourself into the world. It is always scary. Indie publishing means that you don’t have a lot of the support and encouragement or the sense of a safety net that traditional publishing gives you. If you make a terrible decision about your cover or editing, nobody will necessarily be there with years of experience in the industry to tell you. That makes it even more imperative to trust in your own work and to know that you have made it the very best that you can. I also found The Creative Penn podcast by indie author Joanna Penn truly inspirational. The podcast has been going for over ten years so there are hours and hours of content, including interviews with authors, editors, designers, marketers, etc. as well as reflections on different kinds of publishing, genres and reader groups and building a fan community. There is so much information out there, and there are so many people offering advice. The Creative Penn has become my final checkpoint for everything. I read widely, but in the final analysis, if Joanna Penn says something is a good idea, then I trust that she knows what she is doing and has tried it out herself. Rebecca Darley is a full time historian, currently working at the University of Leeds. Her academic specialism is the world of the Western Indian Ocean in the first millennium CE. In 2022, she also began publishing fiction under the pen name Rose Marzin. As an indie (self-published) author, Rose Marzin writes contemporary and historical romance, with a focus on the emotional complexities of human relationships.
 When I started Bacon Press Books, I needed to re-issue a real book to make sure I knew how to do it. Judith Podell, wonderful writer, friend and neighbor generously agreed to let me use her book – Blues for Beginners: Stories and Obsessions - for my first trial. The title story –“Blues for Beginners” – had worked its way into national consciousness as a story so smart and familiar it seemed to have written itself. Nice for Judith that the story was so popular, not so great that she didn’t receive credit every time it appeared. Blues for Beginners was included in the humor anthologies Mirth of a Nation, and May Contain Nuts. Susie Essman recorded it for the CD.. Judith gave readings. Won coveted places at all the prestigious writing retreats. Got an MFA. Made friends around the world and then her small publisher went out of business. Her work was only available to the lucky few. So, yes, she was willing to let me learn the independent publishing ropes with her book. She even did the cover art. I made a few mistakes. Did a few things right. Still, we were both pleased with the results. I wanted to hear Judith’s thoughts 10 years later.  I knew Blues for Beginners: Stories and Obsessions deserved to stay in print, so when my original publisher, a well respected small press, went out of business,
I recognized that it would be up to me. I’d always envisioned myself as one of those cult favorite type writers, like Eve Babitz and Lucia Berlin, but didn’t want to wait to be rediscovered. Actuarilally speaking, time was running out. I’ve been thinking about the marketing and publicity angle and conclude that burden is always on the writer. Short story collections like mine do not receive the same kind of in-house support as self-help books written by celebrities and never did. I had the resources for a low-key l DIY campaign of readings in bookstores and writers conferences, namely a blog http://www.memphisearlene.com, 900d Facebook friends and lots of spare time. |