Going my own way

I had just retired from a long career in museum education at Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. My work’s rewards included exhibition design and interpretation and sharing the story of the Jewish people with children from Chicago and beyond.

I conveyed that message and connected visitors to the exhibitions with storytelling, puppetry, and hands-on activities. My storytelling skills convinced me to write a fantasy novel about older children overcoming and surviving danger and grief. Those main characters had their counterparts in young dragons. Together they saved their world.

My fingers poised over my laptop’s keyboard as I edited the last paragraph of my manuscript. Done. What next? With no agent nor queries from traditional book publishers, how would I launch it? By self-publishing it in print and eBook-twice: Book I is called Malevir: Dragons Return, and Book II is called Where Dragons Follow.

Naïve and not part of a writers’ community at first, I followed an acquaintance’s advice and hired a self-publishing company in the Twin Cities to publish Book I. They took me through every step of publishing from editing, having a proof-reader, designing the cover, formatting for print and eBook, and all the little steps one takes to add a book to Amazon.com’s inventory.

Trouble was the editing was poor, I had little choice about the cover design, and they set up a handsome website I couldn’t manage. I never sold any books through it, and the site became a cesspool of spam. Worse, another ‘self-publishing’ company in Texas controlled my files when they acquired the Minnesota company and they determined my royalties, figured after Amazon.com took its share. I own those files and can have them returned to me, but then Amazon.com will no longer have access to them.

Once I became more involved with the writing community in Chicago, especially with The Chicago Writers Association, I learned ways of remedying this situation. I’ll take back my files and write a revised version of Malevir: Dragons Return with a new title, which I will publish as I did with Book II.

Writing and publishing Where Dragons Follow , a sequel intended to stand alone, was an improvement in 2018 over my 2015 experience. This time, after finishing my first draft I hired a developmental editor and a copy editor who also focused on my writing style and voice. Our relationship was online, but personal and direct. They were happy to advise me and respond to my concerns without imposing constraints like those I endured with the Minnesota company. The copy editor also contracted with me to format the book and its covers, while using artwork I had commissioned independently from another resource online. It all worked out smoothly and I felt much more in control of my creation and its destiny.

In addition to using Amazon.com, I contracted with IngramSpark, “a self-publishing company with a global distribution network that allows self-published authors to publish and distribute print books and eBooks.” Ingram’s parent company, according to Wikipedia, “has the industry’s largest active book inventory with access to 7.5 million titles. The markets they serve include booksellers, librarians, educators, and specialty retailers.” If you recently asked a bookstore clerk for a title not in stock, she probably consulted Ingrams and ordered it for you through them.

IngramSpark’s services were inexpensive, meticulous, and responsive. Nevertheless, they take a big percent of sales. I hope to publish again in print and eBook formats without a middleman. I don’t know if that will be a greater challenge than the ones I faced as a museum educator, but it is worth trying.

Susan Bass Marcus is an author, a puppetry artist, and a cartoonist living in Chicago.