I have reached a decision in the self-publishing issue we’ve been discussing: Should You (or I) Self Publish Parts One and Two.

Drum roll, please.

With the encouragement of my husband, I have decided to self publish my novel Moonlight Dancer.

Yikes!

Many factors informed this outcome including the current turmoil of the traditional publishing industry and the unworkable delays in securing an agent/publisher.

I’ve been thinking a lot of the book The Animal Family by the renowned poet Randall Jarrell. As the hunter sits on a rock, pole in hand, the mermaid asks him what he’s doing. When he tells her he’s fishing, she laughs and says “It’s–it’s such a roundabout way of catching fish.” To her mind, the best way to fish is to decide what species you want and then to swim after it and catch it in your mouth. I’m sort of feeling that way about publishing. Fishing for an agent, hunting for a publisher, baiting and waiting with no guarantee you will ever even hook something.

There are no guarantees in publishing, but I would like to get on with the process.

Of course, I am excited and nervous. The good news is that I’m going to bring you along on the trek.

At Writer Unleashed, I will include the incremental steps, inevitable stumbles and, hopefully, victory leaps on the road to indie publication. If you are in the same indie process, I hope you will chime in with comments and insights.

So, without further ado, I’d like to highlight a blog post by Jody Hedlund on the barriers to successful self-publishing. In essence, she advises studying writing, hiring an editor, engaging in critique groups, and enlisting beta readers. You can read the full post here.

I have done all of the above with the exception of beta readers, which I’m going to rectify tonight by distributing my manuscript to my reading group. Next month we will discuss the same, and I will let you know the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all.

So, fasten your seat belts, kids. We’re about to jump out of the nest.