Musings: Going Indie for The Guitar Girl
When I finished writing The Guitar Girl back in 2013, I was lucky enough to have caught the eye of Hachette India - for their Young Adult section. The woman who used to work in their department asked me increase the word count, think of new ideas...and within a week, my 20,000 worded novella had fleshed out in 40,000 words novel.
But sadly she switched jobs and her supervisor didn't like the modern day epistolary format we'd both loved. I told myself it was minor setback and began hunting for publishers again. That is how I came across Srishti Publisher's sister publishing house, Bluejay Publishers, who after six weeks of back and worth (and quite a number of reminders), told me that although it captures an interesting story, takes away the reading pleasure from the readers...(after going through the whole manuscript, mind you.) They did tell me that they look forward to working with me on some future project. (That future project is yet to arrive, I assure you.)
When I contacted Westland about the book, they directed me to DuckBill Publishers...their sister concern who deal with the Young Adult story titles. Who needless to tell you, shot down the idea. The story finally found a temporary home with Bloody Good Books for six months. And was subjected to rather harsh reviews from people calling it a "collection of chat transcripts". (Thank you, but in real life I don't know anyone called Sophie Ghosh. Nor do I hang out with sixteen year olds.)
Finally, I found the answer to my dilemma, when I remembered Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. Initially I was apprehensive about taking the indie publishing route. But then meeting authors and reading some of their works assured me that taking the indie route wasn't a bad idea. There are certain stories which wouldn't find their home with traditional publishing houses. And we cannot blame them. Because they do get a enormous volume of submissions and most of it doesn't fit their 'publishing schedule' or doesn't 'fit the list' they are currently looking for.
A Quote From The Guitar Girl |
Although the constant rejection is enough to demoralize and demotivate anyone, it makes me laugh. I sincerely believe when something doesn't work for you - it doesn't mean it works against you. And my job as a writer is to continue writing.
Rejection letters have meant nothing more or less than, "Go find another story tell" for me. ^_^
But the readership is a far more vast than the traditional publishers can imagine. If nothing else, the KDP way might just bring in international readership. I remember when I put up The Secret Proposal (The Strange Proposal, initially) on fictionpress.com - anyone with an internet connection had access to it. And I remember the critical and helpful reviewers which had poured in, helping me shape the book that was approved for publication. I really believed that The Guitar Girl would follow in its sister books' footsteps.
(Yes, I landed a publishing deal with LiFi Publications and I do have a contract with IndiReads - but we are still struggling to find our own tale to tell).
Nevertheless, I feel that some books need to be brought into the world with the indie publishing way. Because certain stories will not find a market. They will find their readers. :)
Pre-order you copy now, or wait for the 12th of April 2015! (Which isn't that far away, now that I think about it.)
And another teaser quote to just to pique your interest:
P.S. Perhaps now would also be a good time to mention that I am looking into traditional v/s indie publishing for my thesis...hence, the rush to get the book out into the world :D