Self-Publishing: One Author's Experience

I grew up knowing I wanted to be a writer. In high school I subscribed to Writer's Digest, which I believed to be the Bible for Those Who Would Be Published. In college I took every writing class and workshop offered, and began to send out my first tentative submissions. With each manuscript I sent out, my collection of rejection slips grew. I told myself I was 'on my way.'

After college, I used the Internet to connect with other like-minded folk interested in publishing their written words. I discovered a variety of genres I never knew existed, including M/M fiction. I was floored to find that not only did other writers like these sorts of stories, but people actually liked to read them! Without further thought I leapt head-first into slash fan fiction, sure I had found my true calling.

Unfortunately, fan fiction is not a paying market. So I began to explore original gay fiction, but there was nothing in the Writer's Market to point me to where I could publish this stuff. I knew nothing of e-publishing at the time, except that there was a big to-do made when Stephen King published Riding the Bullet as an e-book. I bought it, being a fan, and promptly never read it. So I didn't think that e-publishing had much of a shelf life. If I couldn't even be bothered to read a story by my favorite author, who would care to read anything of mine?

So I chose the self-publishing route. I told myself it was the best way to go -- my first novel was science fiction and I didn't want to be pigeonholed into that genre; also, none of the sci-fi publishing houses listed gay fiction as a genre they considered, and my first novel definitely had plenty of hot gay sex in it. I had heard horror stories of the 'slush pile' and didn't relish the thought of my manuscript languishing for years only to find out it wouldn't work for the publisher. I had other stories to write, and I wanted to move on. With no options seemingly available to me, I scraped my money together and released Operation Starseed through iUniverse.

Then came the marketing.