I thought I’d share with you a little bit about my journey with Witch Hunt. Just like everyone else, I wanted to be championed by an awesome literary agent who would in short time find a publisher for my book. First, I needed opinions. Of course, it was nerve wracking asking people to read my pride and joy, so naturally I felt very protective of it and wondered if I had done the right thing.
After hearing from a few friends that it was good, with tips on my grammar, I was a little concerned they were being the fabulous friends they were and told me what I wanted to hear. I decided to take the plunge and upload Witch Hunt to Wattpad – a huge online community for lovers of reading and writing. Not only did I make some great friends, but I also had a lot of honest opinions and a great deal of editorial help from one person in particular. You may find the name Robin Chambers kicking around my website.
If it wasn’t for all the help, advice and people who genuinely loved my book, I wouldn’t have felt so confident. Therefore, I took Witch Hunt off Wattpad and began the long, hair-greying journey of trying to get traditionally published. First up, I had to write a query letter and synopsis. I’m not going to focus on this part as I practically pulled my hair out with these despairing tasks.
I stray from the point… I spent nearly a year applying to agencies and uploading to ‘open submission’ windows from publishing houses themselves. Seriously, as a lot of you will know, the wait to hear back from anyone is long and can literally drive one insane. But you know what? With rejections pouring into my inbox, I didn’t let it drag me down. The more I read about agents pouring their valuable time and attention into their existing clientele, and less time taking on debut authors, I realized I was going to have to take a different course of action and do it myself.
Reading about how Indie Publishing was taking the world by storm, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon of the forth-coming ‘golden age’. The more I researched, the more I became convinced that self-publishing was the route for me. You know when you reach that fork in the road and have to make a choice? I got to that point. It was going to be a lot of work, but I had to take the chance. I don’t believe in missed opportunities.
So here I am now. I’m ready to upload Witch Hunt to Amazon – release date coming soon! I hope you enjoy reading my debut novel as much as I enjoyed writing it!
If you are an aspiring writer and thinking of taking the same route, feel free to contact me on my contact page or comment below. I’ll try and give you as much advice as I can.
