In our series of
self-publishing
interviews, we are talking today to Cynthia Sally Haggard, whose first novel, Thwarted Queen, a fictionalized biography of Lady
Cecylee Neville (1415-1495), the mother of Richard III (whose bones were
recently found under a car-park in Leicester,) was shortlisted for many
awards, including the 2012 Eric Hoffer New Horizon Award for debut
authors. To date, sales have surpassed 38,000 copies.
Cynthia graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley
University, Cambridge MA, in June 2015. When she’s not annoying everyone
by insisting her fictional characters are more real than they are,
Cynthia likes to go for long walks, knit something glamorous, cook in
her wonderful kitchen, and play the piano.
You
self-published your latest book, Farewell My Life. Would you please tell
us why you chose the self-publishing route?
I realize that
not every book sells, but after the enormous effort put forth to actually get
140,000words down on paper, I really don’t want my work to disappear into a
black hole. If you publish with the big publishers in New York, you have to
sign a contract in which you give away all of your rights. That means that
if/when your book doesn’t sell in the 3-month window they give you, they will
pull your book and you can do nothing to get it back. In short, the reason why
I self-publish is because I get to keep all my rights.
Take us through
the process. You had an idea for your book, you wrote it, then you decided to
find a publisher. What were your experiences with that? Or did you decide to
self-publish without looking any farther?
I got into
self-publishing by accident. I finished writing my first novel Thwarted
Queen in the fall of 2009, and so I spent the whole of 2010 trying to find
an agent. I got 45 rejections. In early 2011 I learned that another novelist
was publishing a novel with Simon & Schuster which involved my protagonist.
I had a choice; let my manuscript molder in a drawer, or publish. The other
author published her novel in May 2011, and so I self-published mine in October.
Authors who go
the traditional route have an edge over self-published authors in regards to
distribution to bookstores. How did you handle that as a self-published author?
I give exclusive
distribution to Amazon, so I have all of the Amazon channels in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. As my first
novel Thwarted Queen sold over 38,000 copies, I really can’t complain!
On the other
hand, self-published authors have the edge over traditional books in the
regards that the author has all the control. I’d like to begin with your cover.
Did you make it or did you have someone else design it? If you had someone
else, can you tell us who it is?
That is what I
love about self-publishing is that you have total artistic control. I designed
the inside of the book, and yes, I did the cover. As I run a shoestring
operation, I am forced to keep things simple. I love the dark simplicity of my
cover, I think it fits the mood of the novel perfectly.
So where do you
see self-published authors making the biggest mistakes overall?
I think the issue
is quality. Self-published authors have the freedom to take as much time as
they like to write their novels, so they should take that time to produce
something that is really special.
What steps are
you taking to promote it?
- Indie prizes. Not to win, necessarily (although of course I’d love to:) but to get shortlisted and to get endorsements.
- Book Fairs. Have spent my money in getting my book before the New York Rights Fair, BookExpo/BookCon, ALA and the Frankfurt Book Fair.
- Blog Tours (such as this one.)
- I will be throwing a Facebook party in the fall to celebrate this novel.
Do you have any
advice you’d like to share with other self-published authors?
Approach writing
as a craft, and develop a meditation practice to help you deal with the
inevitable criticism you will encounter. I find that meditation helps me to
keep grounded and calm even when my feelings have been hurt by someone’s unkind
words.
If you would like to find out more about Cynthia Sally Haggard and
her books, take a look at her website
and follow her on Facebook
or Twitter.
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