Photo by Amos Kofi Commey
Sometimes, there’s a strange kind of joy in going against the tide. I’ve always been the type to chart my own path—not necessarily by choice, mind you. As a kid, I wanted to fit in, be admired, maybe even join the ‘popular’ crowd. But life nudges most of us into outer groups, and I learned early on that walking a different path often leads to discovering your own people.
Strangely enough, the pressure to fit in with the ‘in crowd’ and as well as the pressure to team up in different communities follows us into adulthood. Perhaps it's everywhere humans roam the Earth: in communities big and small, and especially in publishing.
In publishing, there's no shortage of advice on what authors ‘must’ do to succeed. I've tried some of it, avoided others, and there are a few things I'd rather walk on hot coals than attempt. Some methods simply don't work for me, and that's okay.
Today’s publishing world pushes the idea of publishing quickly and often: skimp here, take a shortcut there. I've tried—and by George, I can't do it. I thought I could keep the quality up while cutting corners, but it's just. Not. Me.
And sometimes it's frustrating because I want to write faster. I want to build up a string of works and a pile of books for readers to jump through one after the other.
But like my husband says, I can have two out of three things: I can either have things fast, good, or cheap. Not all of them.
As a boutique indie author/publisher, I don’t have endless resources, but I refuse to skimp on quality. My nerves won’t let me!
And quality assurance that goes direct through me takes time to read, to make sure it's consistent, and to make sure it will be entertaining enough for readers. Unfortunately, that battles with the myriads of ideas that I keep coming up with thanks to the “ooh shinies”!
Former writing mentors of mine used to say, ‘the blurb and description is a promise to the reader.’ I carry that mindset with me as I build my catalog. At the RavenFireBooks Store, readers can trust they’ll find quality stories with deep, engaging characters that bring the house down with some real emotion. It’s why our motto is ‘Character-driven stories with heart.’
I hope readers (even those exploring genres outside their comfort zone) know they’re guaranteed a meaningful, entertaining read—and hopefully, a new addition to their beautiful bookshelves. :-)
So, maybe I won't release books quickly, and I might feel like I'm falling behind in the publishing rat race at times. But I'm learning to make peace with that.
At the end of the day, if slowing down means creating stories that truly resonate with readers and honor my passion for quality, then to me, that's beyond worth it. :-)
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