As
many of you know, my self-publishing journey began in 2012. It wasn’t planned.
I was collecting the usual mound of rejection letters from agents and preparing
to paper many a wall with them when the kernel of self-publishing took root in
my mind. Once this occurred it was then up to me to navigate this large and daunting
world. Very much under the impression I was taking on this monster completely
solo, I was astounded to discover many a helping hand.
The first
of these was my wonderful writing friend Sydnee Blake who gave me the opportunity to participate in an Emily Benet blogging workshop. I was terrified, convinced that
setting up a blog was well beyond my scope. Furthermore, what would I have to
say to the world? How wrong was I? Here we are 7 years later and I haven’t yet
run out of things to say and share. Sydnee, you opened floodgates in me I wasn’t
even aware were there. Emily, you gave me the confidence to fight a fear of
technology I was certain was beyond me.
Emily’s
blogging workshop set all sorts of other things in motion. I was urged to join The Alliance of Independent Authors [ALLi] if I was determined to pursue
this going-it-alone business. Now the helping hands came thick and fast. A
special shout out here to Ian Hooper for
his patience with a very frazzled me as I attempted to tackle Amazon’s Tax
pages. To say I was terrified of the task is putting it mildly. But Ian saw me
through it with step by step instructions and screen shots to aid my individual
special needs. To you Ian, this may have seemed a small thing to do for a
fellow indie author, but to me it was a gift from the gods.
ALLi has since provided
this bumbling self-publisher with continued succour in the name of Melissa Addey and Joanna Penn. As well as writing both fiction and non-fiction, Melissa
runs very handy writer related workshops at The British Library. I’ve attended
several in a bid to become more of an authorpreneur
and less of an authormess. Thank you Melissa
for helping me see beyond the writing of the books so that I work
smarter rather than harder on the bit of self-publishing I least enjoy.
Joanna
is the person who I believe coined the word authorpreneur
and it suits her perfectly. She regularly shares a mountain of FREE information
via video and cheatsheets. I practically use these on a weekly basis for some
aspect of admin to do with my website, social media and mailing list. Without her
generosity of spirit I’d be forking out tons of cash for services which can be
done for free or at minimal cost. Thank you Joanna for paying-it-forward.
Quietly
yet stoutly supporting me behind all the ALLi boffins are my core group of
friends.
I simply cannot do without them.They are:
I simply cannot do without them.They are:
My Sheffield
bestie – Bev who I met on a writing holiday in Skyros
My London
bestie – Chantal who has accompanied me to countless tango sessions, shared
meditation hours and become a Scrabble junkie due to me
My Irish
bestie – Dervalla who I met on a painting holiday in Italy many moons ago and
who I’d very much like to see more of in person
My
Ozzie bestie – Mands, a childhood friend who still gets me even after all these years
My
cousin bestie – Michelle, who is always rooting for me and ready at the end of the
phone to listen to my woes or cooking up a tasty treat to tantalise my
tastebuds
These
ladies are an invisible yet ever present bracelet of diamond emotional support. Ladies, I salute you. You keep my soul flying high.
Equally as important as they, are you. Much
appreciation for having signed on to my mailing list, reading and commenting on 1st drafts, sharing my work with
friends and family or taking a moment to write a review or email me.
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