GPS FOR WRITING
(I wrote this
article in 2009 after a road trip to California .
Since then, self-publishing has forged a new direction for many of us. I’ve
updated this to reflect the changes, but the basic message is the same: start
with a road map even if you decide to take a detour. Another update: after that
trip we bought a GPS, and more recently, we bought a new car that has a
navigation system. If we travel anywhere now where we need to rent a car, we
bring our GPS. I also now have a Smartphone and am learning how to use the
navigation APP on that. I don’t anticipate we’ll get lost much, but then, maybe
we will, and maybe we’ll discover another hidden gem.)
Do you have a GPS
in your car or as an APP on your phone? It seems everyone nowadays has a GPS in
some form or another. Before our 2009 trip up the California coast, I decided we should buy a
GPS and take it with us. My husband disagreed, saying the maps we got from AAA
would be enough to guide us. When we picked up the rental car, we turned down the
rental company’s GPS because we didn’t want to pay $140 when we could buy one
for about $50 more at home. Big, big mistake.
We got lost a lot
on that trip. A lot. My husband becomes unglued when he gets lost. At one point
I was writing a story in my head titled, “A GPS Would Have Saved My Marriage.”
We finally calmed down and resigned ourselves to getting lost at times. We
missed many of the sights we’d wanted to see, partly because the state of California doesn’t
believe in signs, partly because we didn’t have a GPS, and partly because I
didn’t thoroughly read the books AAA gave us. We missed Big
Sur , which was one of the main things we’d wanted to see. On the
other hand, while lost we stumbled onto Ventura ,
a true gem of a beach town. Now I know where all the Sixties hippies went. We
spent a wonderful, unexpected afternoon in sunny, beautiful, quirky Ventura and decided it
was a place in which we could happily live.
 |
| Big Sur |
I know writers
whose plan it is to sell only to a big New
York house, and if they don’t, they’ll put their
manuscripts into the proverbial drawer rather than go with an epub or a small
press, or indie publish. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s their choice.
Yet, they may be cheating themselves by not recalculating their direction. I
can hear that inner voice now going, “Recalculating, recalculating.” What if
one of their manuscripts is a little too out of the box for the big houses?
Maybe a reputable epub or small press would love it. Maybe indie pubbing that
unusual story will bring major success. There are times when you might need to
veer off onto small detours. You never know where those detours will take you.
By all means, get
back onto the main highway after the detour if you still want, but by opening
yourself to new roads and taking a less traditional publishing route, you’ll
have a book out there, a book people will want to read. Isn’t that better than
keeping the book hidden in a drawer?
On our California trip, we didn’t get to see Big Sur, but we
discovered Ventura .
And I’m so glad we did. When I started writing, there were one or two epubs and
they were very new and earned no respect from the writing community. Like most
of my fellow members of RWA, I dreamed of selling to a big NY house. After I
was rejected by several big publishers, someone suggested I submit to Avalon
Books, a small press. I hadn’t considered a small press. I submitted and I sold
to them. My book, a traditional romance, gave me entry into RWA PAN.
 |
| Busy Bee Cafe, Ventura, CA |
Since then,
numerous epubs have sprung up. Some fell by the wayside, but many others are
thriving. I contracted for my second book, a romantic suspense, with The Wild
Rose Press. In GPS terms, I haven’t found Big Sur, the NY publishers, but I
found my publishing Ventura ,
small press and epubs, and now indie publishing. All places where I’ve settled
comfortably. I’m no longer heading down the expressway hoping to someday sell
to a large publisher. I’ve discovered the joys of driving a less traditional
route.
You might have to
change direction from time to time, but the important thing is to know where
you’re going. Study the market, write what you love, learn all you can and
drive forward into that publishing freeway. But be prepared for detours and
know those unexpected twists in the road might lead you to greater adventures.
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A special three-book set
Lynn Reynolds
Ann Whitaker
Cara Marsi
Love Capri Style by Lynn Reynolds
A sexy, sun-drenched romance set on the island of Capri. Can inept journalist Amanda Jackson get an exclusive on playboy Eric Greyford, or will she wind up as just another item on the gossip pages of his newspaper?
Dog Nanny by Ann Whitaker
A romantic comedy set in the heart of Texas
When vet tech Julie Shields agrees to train two delinquent poodles to save them from becoming doggies of divorce, she doesn't count on having to harness her desire for hunky pilot Nick Worthington.
A Catered Romance by Cara Marsi
There's more than business brewing between two old high school flames.
Stubbornly self-reliant Mary Beth Kendrick needs financial backing to keep her catering business cooking. A looming corporate buyout forces her to accept help from Tom Sackett, the man who broke her heart and left her with no appetite for love.
