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Susan Wittig Albert, Guest Blogger
Susan Wittig Albert has been a fulltime professional writer
since 1985. She is the author of the China Bayles Mysteries, The Darling
Dahlias Garden Club series, The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and the Robin
Paige Victorian-Edwardian mysteries, coauthored with her husband, Bill Albert—over
fifty books in all. In addition, she has written two memoirs, two books of
nonfiction, and over sixty YA novels.
I’ve been in the book business for three decades—more, when
I count the books I wrote during my academic career. But recently, I’ve been
seeing this business from a very different angle. I’ve had the interesting
experience of self-publishing my latest novel, a standalone entitled A
Wilder Rose. The book tells
the true story of Rose Wilder Lane, who transformed her mother, Laura Ingalls
Wilder, from an occasional writer to a world-famous literary icon—the author of
the Little House books.
I knew that A Wilder
Rose would stir up controversy with Laura’s dedicated fans, since the book
reveals just how large a part Rose played in the writing of the Little House series.
But when the proposal and sample chapters began to make the rounds of the
publishing houses, I was surprised to discover that editors were put off,
rather than intrigued, by the controversy. One editor rejected it with the
comment, “Laura’s fans won’t like this one.” Another wrote that Rose was “too
prickly.” A third asked the burning question, “Will Little House fans want to
learn that their beloved hero didn’t actually write (at least not on her own)
the books they’ve loved for decades?” But the story I had to tell is a
true story. This biographical novel is based on Rose’s diaries and the
characters of both Rose (indeed a prickly person!) and her mother are based on
the facts of their lives. I didn’t want to alter any of it to fit an editor’s
idea of what the book should be.
I sat back for a while, thought about it, and decided that
this was the opportunity I had been waiting for to explore the world of
self-publishing. If I published the novel myself, I would have full creative
control over the controversial story. What’s more, I wouldn’t have to hang out
for a year or more after the novel was finished, waiting for it to go into
production and finally launch. And I could be sure that the book was marketed
to its best audience, however small it might be. And I wanted to learn what the
new author-publishing technologies are all about.
Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve been learning—and
learning a lot. Here are four of the
things I’ve learned in the past nine months, since I made the decision to
author-publish A Wilder Rose.
Write your best book,
then have it beta-read and copyedited. When Bill and I were writing our
Robin Paige mysteries, we used to tell each other that we never really finished
a book, we just ran out of time to make it better. When you’ve written your
best book (or you’ve run out of time to make it better), find some beta-readers
who will tell you what else needs to be done. For A Wilder Rose, I asked four very good readers to give me feedback.
One was a Laura Ingalls Wilder researcher, the other three were book reviewers.
All four gave me exactly what I needed: specific ways to make my best book
better in terms of its coverage, content, and style. Then I sent it to the
copyeditor with whom I had worked on my two memoirs, and she made it even
better. With a team like that behind the book, I could be confident that what
was between the covers was the very best it could be.
Cover it, front and
back, professionally. While my readers and copyeditor were doing their
thing, I began working with a professional cover artist. Most of A Wilder Rose takes place at Rocky
Ridge, a hard-scrabble Missouri Ozark farm that is now a museum. Thousands of
visitors have toured the house, and its image is iconic. That was what I wanted
for the front cover. I also wanted the book to look enough like my
traditionally-published mysteries so that readers would see a connection.
The artist gave me the design I wanted, in a series of four
different color combos. We put these online and asked readers to vote for their
favorite. I loved the white cover, and so did they. And on the back cover, I
put the most important of the endorsements I’d been collecting.
Collect those
endorsements. A Wilder Rose tells
the true story behind a long-lived literary deception. For very good reasons
(at least, that’s what they thought), Rose and her mother deliberately and
carefully concealed her participation in the writing of the Little House books.
I was confident that my fiction was very close to the facts of the matter—the
true story of the collaboration. But I also knew that it would be more easily
accepted if respected scholars and well-known authors endorsed it. From my
research, I knew who these people were. While the manuscript was being
copyedited, I sent it to six people and asked them for their endorsements.
Cheeky and impertinent, yes. Brazen hussy, that’s me. But all six came through,
bless ‘em. You’ll find their endorsements on the book’s website.
The endorsement that means the most to me personally? It’s
from Carolyn Hart, who endorsed my very first China Bayles novel, twenty years
ago. Thank you, Carolyn!
Give yourself plenty
of time. It’s quick and relatively easy to publish an eBook or to go for
print with CreateSpace or one of the other self-publishing presses. I wanted
this book to be available to libraries and indie bookstores, so I opted to go
with Lightning Source, because of its distribution partners, Ingram and Baker
and Taylor. That part of the publishing process has taken much more time than I
expected, and I’m not sure I’m going to make the announced publication date for
what I think of as the “library edition.” If I had it to do over, I would have
announced a later date.
If you’ve been down this self-publishing road, you probably
have lessons to share, too. Or maybe you’re considering it, and you have a
question. Leave a note here and I’ll do my best to respond.
