Take Chances Part 2 of 4

“Coming full Circle”

Yesterday we talked about how I released my second book in audio format for six months prior to the print release and how that worked for me. Today I’m going to talk about going from traditional publishing, to self-publishing, and back to traditional publishing.

There’s a lot of talk about self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and which is best. I’m here to tell you that “best” is relative to your situation. Both are good choices.

When FIRST TO KILL debuted, it was published by the largest trade paperback house in New York, Dorchester. Unfortunately, those were tumultuous times for the industry and the Dorchester soon succumbed and closed its doors, leaving me without a publisher.

My agent at that time was Jake Elwell of Harold Ober Associates and he did a good job negotiating with Dorchester. We ended up foregoing the royalties owed to us in exchange for getting my rights back.

Since my second book, FORCED TO KILL, was scheduled to be released as an exclusive audiobook for six months, I was contemplating all my options. After the exclusive period ended, I didn’t want to delay getting FORCED in print, so I opted to self-publish. At the time, it was the right choice for me and I have no regrets. I’ve learned a great deal along the way.

I was fortunate to catch the attention of a newly formed publishing house, Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon Publishing Inc.

Alan Turkus made an offer to purchase the rights to the entire Nathan McBride series. Once again, I was faced with some career-changing choices. If I signed with APub, my books wouldn’t be carried by brick and mortar bookstores and they wouldn’t be sold by other eBook retailers. My books would be sold exclusively by Amazon. Weighing my options, I concluded that signing a contract with the world’s largest book retailer outweighed any potential negatives. And there were some risks. Signing with Amazon wasn’t a slam-dunk path to success. I worked very hard to produce the best product I could. It’s a highly competitive industry.

In hindsight, it was the right decision top make, but at the time, I didn’t know that with certainty. I took a chance. All of the Nathan McBride books have become #1 Kindle bestsellers in genre subcategories and they’ve all reached the top ten in the entire Kindle store. Amazon Crossing has translated FIRST TO KILL into five languages and other others are in the works.

Self-publishing or going the traditional publishing route is a choice. Weigh what you gain or lose and make the best choice for yourself. Some advice: Don’t be impatient. I believe many authors self publish because they just want to see their books in print. That wasn’t my goal. I wanted to keep the momentum going after the exclusive with Audible.com ran its course.