Wednesday's Writing Update: Taking the Self-Publishing Plunge

 

Happy Wednesday!

My review of Nadine Rose Larter's Coffee at Little Angels is on Surrounded by Books Reviews.

Thank you to those of you who picked up a free copy of The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk by Lisa Rusczyk, Aubrie Dionne, and me. It's also up on Goodreads, so if you got a copy, be sure to add it to your list. Hope you enjoy!

Well, from the title of this post, you can see what I plan to do. That's right. I'm going to self-publish. True, I've been planning to self-publish some of my shorter works these past few months, but instead of releasing The Foxwick Chronicles: Women of Foxwick first, it will be my space fantasy romance novelette Defying Gravity.

Defying Gravity has had a rather rough start. I wrote it back in December 2009 and submitted to an anthology. At the time it was around 8500 words. It was short-listed in February/March 2010, but in January 2011 (yes, I had to wait an entire year to find out), the anthology was cancelled and all stories returned to their authors. *sighs* I couldn't give up on the story, so I spent two months editing it again. It grew to 10,500 words, and I submitted it to another publisher to become an ebook. I waited nine months without word and decided to withdraw my submission. During those nine months, I kept thinking about self-publishing it, but I wanted to wait and see. This month, I edited Defying Gravity again, adding another main character's POV and increasing the word count to 14,500 words. I decided to pitch it to another publisher, but it wasn't requested from the pitch. I then had a decision to make: self-publish it, find another publisher, or submit it the regular way to the publisher I pitched for a second chance (they were offering this). So I figured after two years and multiple edits (my poor CPs!), it is time to get the story out there.

I'm finishing up one more edit on it and will send it for a proofread. I'm working on learning formatting. I plan to publish it on Amazon first, so I can learn the other formats and eventually get it on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc. I hope to have it ready to publish by mid-February (shooting for February 14th for a release date, but it's subject to change). Yeah, that soon!

Also, here is where you can help. I'd like to do a small blog tour and get some reviews ready to go up on Amazon, Goodreads, wherever else you want to publish them (I'll be happy to send you ARCs for the reviews, of course). Nothing too fancy, but something to get the word out. If you're interested, feel free to email me at cherie.reich(at)gmail.com, or comment below (be sure I have a way to get in touch with you).

Now, without further ado, here is the cover art (Thank you, Aubrie!!!) and description.

Defying Gravity by Cherie Reich

15,000 words

A Space Fantasy Romance Novelette

Homesick upon the SS Perseid, Linia, a young linguist, thinks she signed up for a mission of peace, but her crew members have another plan: attack the planet Medusa.

Bored with his dying planet, Alezandros, a space cruiser pilot, joins the Medusan army in his quest for adventure.

When the SS Perseid clashes with the Medusans’ army, Alezandros and Linia’s lives intertwine. Sucked through a wormhole, they crash upon a post-apocalyptic Earth and are captured by cannibals. In adjacent cells, Alezandros and Linia cast their differences aside for a common bond: escape. But when romantic feelings emerged between them, they might do the unthinkable because for a Medusan and a Persean to fall in love, it would defy gravity.