Publishing My Book

As some of you may know, I've been working on a book for the last few months.  I think the bulk of it was written in a very short period of time.  I've added to it, deleted bits and now seem to spend most of my time re-reading, editing and tweaking with it.  I think it's time for me to pass it on to Luana to proof-read and edit before I mess the whole thing up. 

I considered trying a crowd sourcing campaign to pay for the publishing of my book.  I've got it pretty much finished and I've chosen to self-publish.  The self-publishing choice has come about for a number of reasons - I saw a friend publish a book through ECW quite a few years ago and I saw her heartbreak when she had no say in the fonts, cover art or even the title of her book.  I am not interested in giving up that kind of control, I don't even like it when an editor changes a few words.  I also struggle with where to send my book if I was going to submit it to a big publishing house.  Llewellyn might take it, but have such an auto-fluffy label with serious pagans that while I may have a book selling lots, my name would be banded together with the likes of others that I do not wish to be associated with.  I don't believe I'm scholarly enough for Avalonia.  Print on demand seems like the best option, that way, if I only sell a few to good friends, then there aren't several hundred books floating around looking for their way to the bargain bin.

My best self-publishing option costs approximately $1,000 NZD.  I made jokes about giving my first 10 copies (signed with a personal message) to anyone willing to buy it for $100 (first edition and all).  I thought perhaps trying the crowd sourcing would give me an indication of whether or not people would be willing to buy my book, it would potentially show interest (or lack thereof).  Thing is, I might buy a book, but wouldn't contribute to the concept of a book in a crowd sourcing campaign.  If not enough people contributed, I would make the assumption that no one wanted my book and probably can it with no further thought.

I put it out there to the Universe and my Deities.  If this book is meant to be, I need the money to publish it.  If the money comes through, I'll give up smoking. (There I've finally said it publicly, so lots of you can hold me to it).  The next day, I received $10 for some of my writing.  That felt like a message.  I need to work harder to increase that amount (I'm now seeing $10 every month) but it feels less like a handout and more like inspiration.  That source has currently gone offline (again!) so something else was needed.

Something else has happened.  We sold our other house, currently we're between it going unconditional and possession by the new owner.  There will be some left over after mortgages and debts are sorted.  My husband subjected me to a fierce grilling about my options, what I've looked into and given me the go ahead to use some of the proceeds to publish my book.

I've been talking about it to some people, so far to positive responses and hands up to please get one when it is published. But I'm starting to doubt.  I am starting to second guess it all and feel that it's a naive and superficial work instead of the common sense, stripped down, mechanics of folk magic book that it is intended to be.