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A Change of Plans: Indie Publishing

Hey! So I know I haven't been on here much. It's been a busy month... March always is for some reason. But there are a few things on my mind. I won't share them all in this one blog post but I hope I can get up the courage to write about a few subjects that I have become really passionate about. My blog post on homeschooling seemed to be pretty popular which is awesome, so I'm thinking I might write something about anxiety and depression... mental illness being a subject that I am very passionate and strong about. But for now, I don't really have a Friday in Review of anything right now, but I do have a few changes in plans. Mostly concerning Project Hellion.

So, I've published two books so far. It's a real rush and sort of addicting. To me anyways it is. I'm not a very patient person so I do like instant gratification and self-publishing, it takes a little while, but it is much faster than traditional publication. I can work at my own pace which means I can either get the book written and published within a few months or a year, all depending on life. I can rely on myself when it comes to writing, revising and editing my book. The truth is, handing my book out to beta readers has been sort of hard, because again, I'm not a very patient person. I don't want to wait. I just want to do and write and revise and get this done with. But with beta readers, I have to wait and be patient for their responses. It's been a good learning experience for me. The only other person I have to wait for is my mom who does my cover designs, which is worth the wait cuz her cover designs are always amazing.

I had Project Hellion all planned out. I knew what I was going to do. Work hard on it through this year and get it published by the middle or end of the year. But plans change and ideas change. I just don't think I ever had the confidence to think that my books might be traditionally published-worthy. Until one of my beta readers got back to me. She gave some really awesome feedback that is so helpful and at the end said that she think Project Hellion is good enough to be traditionally published. Good enough to pick up a publisher. How crazy is that? Maybe I just needed to hear that from someone who wasn't family or a friend. Someone who has never read any of my other books before, because it gave me a real rush of confidence. So now, I am actually considering trying to get Project Hellion traditionally published. I don't plan on getting an agent and querying because really that does take a long time and I just don't think that's the sort of route I want to take. But there are lots of smaller publishing companies, indie companies where you can send them a query or three chapters of your book and stuff directly to them. If I was going to get published that's the route I would take. So, yesterday I did a bunch of research on publishers that are open for submissions and looking for books in my type of genre. I've found a few, including one that will take a first book in the series that is already self-published and a second book in a series that isn't published, and I think with Weapon Icean and Project Hellion, that would be a great opportunity for me.

This won't happen probably for another month and then I would have to at the latest, a few months for publishers to get back to me, but this idea of getting traditionally published has me excited. I could get a good editor to help and get my books in actual stores and everything. It would be a great opportunity for me. I've been praying about it a lot and if it doesn't work out then I will respect that maybe that's not the way I should go or the way God wants me to go and will self-publish Project Hellion by the end of the year anyways. Besides, I had planned on making a same decision with Golden whenever it is that that book is finished.

So, I am excited this change in plans even if it might take a little longer than self-publishing. My college plans have also changed... maybe, I'm still thinking and praying about it, but I think I have a new plan that seems better for me. This year, or at least my plans for later this year, is turning out a little different than what I thought it would be, but that's all part of life. I'm excited to share Project Hellion with everyone no matter what road I take, especially after getting positive feedback from one of my beta readers. I hope to get more blogging down this week and in April with more serious posts and a few fun ones too. Have a great weekend everyone!

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