Journey from the heart to the book-NOT JUST ANOTHER LOVE

For some of us we know how hard it is to get our work out to the masses but then there are some people who are fortunate to have their work available for everyone to read. Some people have a natural talent to write but not everyone has the ability to put information together for people to read. Writing is art and for some of us we enjoy sitting down with a pen and paper. Writing a book is not an easy thing to do because there are a lot of loop holes that you have to follow. Writing maybe a hobby and you don’t always get the time to work on it. A person who has that 9 to 5 job plus is working on their writing career it’s hard to get their work out there. We all have obligations that come first so writing has to come later. Well recently I had to manage having a job and work on publishing a book. I wasn’t working a full time job but between taking care of the roommates and husband plus working and also doing my book made my plate pretty full. Before I signed on to Triond I researched other sites to find one that would meet the needs that I was looking for. I wanted to get the attention of a publisher with my writing and for them to offer me a book contract but that didn’t happen. Before I joined I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to put out all my work because I wanted some of my work to go into a book. I also purchased books on publishing and improving the art of writing. I wanted to go into the business with some knowledge and be able to understand what other people were talking about. I had a love of writing poetry but wanted to learn other forms of writing. I joined Triond in July right around my birthday and was looking for something that would keep me busy and that would bring in some income for me. I knew that the more that I would write the better I would get. I was fortunate that when I joined Triond that I had got friends instantly and got to network with them about what I could do with my writing. A few people just told me to keep writing and the day would come when I would know it was time to publish well they were right. I wrote one poem and that’s when I knew that I got the gift. Writing “Walk Home” changed how I looked at my work and I wanted to show the whole world my poem. At that point in time I was writing constantly and trying to figure out how to get my work out there. My work on Triond has never got enough credit that I think that I deserve and I expected more income then what has come through. I wrote more than 200 poems in about 3 month’s time. I had started getting poems together for a book that I thought that people would purchase. I told my roommate about what I had learned from my friends since he had written a book and wanted to know what he should do. I gave him the information and he went with it. By September I was looking for a way to put together a manuscript to turn in.

My friend Noreen told me about Publish America and I thought that I could try them but I had to finish getting it together before I did. I read all about PA and what they had to offer. I researched them to find out what I was in for. Reading the books on publishing I thought that I knew what the process was going to be like but it all happened faster than I thought it would. September I submitted my stuff about my idea of my book and what I wanted to show in the book. I got a response quick which threw me off. I thought that I would have time to get things together. I quickly finished up my book and submitted it for them to tell me if they would publish it or not. My roommate got his approval in about a week so I thought that I would have time to stress before I would get word. But for my book that wasn’t the case. I got my approval quick and worried that maybe it was a joke. After getting the approval I asked several questions before I asked them to send my contract. I asked for extra copies of my book so that I could send a couple out to people who I felt inspired the work. When all of a sudden my brother was killed by a drunk driver and I was torn on what to do. I didn’t know if it was a sign not to do the book. But I went ahead and did it. I signed the contract the day of my brother’s showing and thought that maybe it was what my brother wanted me to do. I thought that maybe he would be proud of me for doing it. But I still thought that I was living a dream because I didn’t really think that they would want my book.  But I got the letter with the next step in the process. I had to fill out a questionnaire about who gave their information and about who I wanted to know about my book. I also had to turn in my final script for them when I did the questionnaire. Once I got the questionnaire done I received information that someone from proofing would contact me with the next step and they didn’t say how long it would take they said roughly a couple months. So I thought that I had time to make sure that I was ready for this. A month later I got an email about going through my book and fixing what I didn’t catch when I submitted my work. That took a couple days then we got the final proof and my book was off to cover design. I couldn’t believe how quick things started to move. I got my book cover shortly after that. I thought that after I got my book cover that it would take awhile before my book would be ready because I knew that they had been working on a lot of other books. The week before Christmas I thought that I would check PA’s website to see if my book was on the new releases yet and there it was. I went nuts when I saw it and couldn’t believe that it was less than six months for me to get my book. I thought that I would get my author copies the first of the year but my husband brought them to me for Christmas Eve. That was my Christmas present to myself was my book.

            Publish America tells the authors on their site what they need to do to help promote your book and to get your book sold. During all this time of working on my book my husband was the only one of us working and we weren’t making enough money to get by let alone buy things to promote my book. I was hoping that PA would slow down and let us get back to work before my book came out so that I could afford to buy what I needed to promote my book but that didn’t happen. At several points during the process of this book I thought that our landlord was going to throw us out and I wouldn’t finish my book. I thought that writing this book that it would take off on its own but it hasn’t. The people that I thought that would buy the book the moment that it came out haven’t so it’s stressed me out. This book and my work on Triond are the only income we have coming in right now and it’s hard when I thought that my work was worth more than what it is. I would love to find a company who would donate things to help me promote this book but I am yet to find one. I can’t afford to buy business cards or post cards so that I can post them up around the city and get the word out there. From start to finish this book took less than six months to get out and depending on publisher it could be different. I just wanted to let everyone know what I went through in the process of writing and publishing my book.