Friday 7 October 2011

Scribe, describe, or imbibe?


Recently I have been ruminating on my writing career to date (in between sips of an excellent rioja!) Describe or imbibe? Or maybe it should be 'To scribe or not to scribe'?  Mmmmm....  That sounds a bit dramatic - or more likely rather silly!
No, I am not giving up putting words on paper ( or keyboard as it seems nowadays) but rather trying to evaluate on where I'm at and where I want to go in the future.

I have written four complete novels of which I am immensely proud and I have absolutely loads of articles and shorts on my computer as well as the skeletal beginnings of more novels - one of whcih is my current WIP. The issue is whether I want to give up on the dream of having my work published by a large traditional publishing house or not. I do believe ebooks are the way to go and my last published tome is, in fact, an ebook as well as a paper book.

This is perhaps, where I do a bit of a plug for this latest ebook - 'The Witcheye Gene' The back cover blurb is reproduced here to hopefully interest one or two to take a peek at it.

The Witcheye Gene
by P J Newcombe
The Witcheye Gene
Kendal MacIntyre has fought long and hard to overcome the emotional scars of an unhappy childhood to create the successful boutique business she now has. Having lost her husband to cancer she is driven by one thing only – to see her daughter April have all the advantages in life that she herself was denied. So when someone appears to be snooping, she is terrified that her shameful secret will wreck April’s chances in life and she stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the hereditary trait of ‘special’ sight. But when an evil killer threatens the very existence of her family, she knows she must face her demons if she is to save the one thing she cares about.
Available on amazon kindle - £2.29


My latest unpublished novel is doing the rounds of agents and publishers but I, like many others, am considering simply publishing it myself as an ebook.

So have you had similar thoughts about your own writing? Do you think ebooks are the way to go?

6 comments:

  1. I do think ebooks are the way to go, Pat. In an ideal world all books would be available in all formats but sadly we don't live in an ideal world.

    Without doubt, there are a lot of advantages to self publishing but I think it involves too much hard work for me. I love to write, but I like to leave the business side of it all to a publisher. Far easier for them to sort out cover design, formatting, getting it to to the retailers, etc. Having said that, several friends have self-published and are enjoying the buzz that comes from being in control.

    Good luck whatever you decide!

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  2. WEll, as you know, I'm in the process of self-publishing myself, and although it's been hard, it's also been very rewarding. Not monetarily (so far) but the fact that I am my own boss and can make my own decisions based on what I want rather than listen to the dictates of people I will never know in the publishing house.

    I gave up on getting an agent because I write such a niche genre, it wasn't worth the go-rounds for me anymore. I hate rejection, and why torture myself when so many others are gaining such success on the Kindle. Finally having made the decision, I couldn't be happier. And now that I DO know how to format and read HTML and all that other stuff, it's not so daunting.

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  3. This is a topic which I've seen cropping up loads lately. Personally, I've always been a bit sceptical about self-publishing - the idea that anyone, anywhere could publish anything they wanted filled me with dread. I always associated self-publishing with badly written or poorly edited stuff that couldn't get past an agent or traditional publisher.

    Now, I'm slowly coming around to a different way of thinking. The boom in e-books has opened up many options for those who want to publish their work. While I have still read some truly awful self-pubbed stuff, I have also come across writers who've produced very professional work, which they've managed to market with varying degrees of success.

    However, I'm still not sure whether it's a route I would go down. There's not only the editing/quality issues, but the vast amounts of time I'd have to spend publicising the book too. Never say never, I guess - but like you, I've always harboured dreams of that traditional publishing house too.

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  4. Ebooks are the future but not the present: most people don't have ereaders yet. A lot do, and more are getting them, but most still prefer printed books. Luckily, with print-on-demand companies like Createspace, it's relatively easy to offer your books in both formats.

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  5. I think ebooks are becoming the way to go. My husband has one of these gadgets! However some friends of mine are not convinced. So at the moment, I guess it's a 50/50 split.
    Drop by my blog and pick up your Friendly Blogger Award. - Cheers!!

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  6. Thanks so much for the comments folks! I do have a lot to think about and it is always useful to have other's opinions and advice.

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