A Rising Tide Floats All Boats

Welcome to Publish It!

Welcome! I’m glad you’ve joined me. What’s with the title, you ask? Isn’t this about publishing? Did I take a wrong turn and run into a blog about sailing?

Nope, you’re in the right place … or should I say the write place?

Maybe you’ve heard the title expression before, but if not, please bear with me as I introduce myself and my ultimate Publishing Mission.

Ahhh! A Mission? Sounds exciting, right? Lots of super spies or ninjas, ready to leap into action. Maybe a few dragons, some cyborgs, or a few of the Fae? Authors can be spies and ninjas and dragon slayers too, can’t they?

Anyway, I’m incredibly excited to be here, and even more excited that you’ve decided to spend some of your precious time reading my post.

First, the introduction.

Hi, I’m Kate. Avid reader. Published author. Editor and book designer. Owner of multiple notebooks, pens, a teetering to-be-read pile, one overflowing e-reader, and of course, a good laptop and writing program. Oh, I must not forget my trusty writing partner, Duchess. She is giving me that stare. Yeah, you know the one …

So, back to the intro. My love of reading was fostered early and often. I grew up in a house with well-stocked bookshelves and a mother who never missed our nightly story time. I learned to read at a young age, was never yelled at to stop reading and turn off the lights, and I enjoyed regular visits to the library in our small town.

Over the years, I read across multiple genres, joined an amazing book club, and began to admire and appreciate the author’s abilities to come up with fantastical worlds. I often wished I had the ability to write as well as them, to create great stories, to put pen to paper for my own great novel.

Alas, the business of life, of having young children and all that raising a family entails interfered, and I put those thoughts aside. Not that I don’t love my two beautiful daughters. They are, in fact, my two favourite people in the entire world, but I wish I’d also taken the time to write.

Finally, in 2014, things in life changed, and I had time to pursue some of my own dreams. I began writing my first full novel. After a lot of work and editing, I explored my options for publishing. I briefly entertained Traditional Publishing, but after a fair amount of research, I decided Self-publishing might be a better option. I will get into my rationale and thoughts on this in a later post for those who are interested.

In 2016, I released my first book baby into the world under the title Reunited. Since that time, it’s been retitled as Everything We Lost, and is the first book in The Hamilton Series.

It’s been incredible journey since my first novel. The thing about books and publishing is there seems to be a never-ending stream of information, discussion, and advice. The willingness of authors to share their experiences has been an unexpected positive side of this foray into the worlds of books and writing.

The truth in Self-publishing is the unimaginably steep learning curve. Well, I guess that’s true of writing and publishing in general, so it’s good if you are open to embracing change and learning new skills. The publishing landscape is changing rapidly no matter whether you decide to publish Traditionally or Indie. This is not limited to just writing, but if you are doing this as more than a hobby, it’s essential to learn some basic marketing and to stay in the loop.

There are many ways to go about this. My path took me to writer’s conferences (both in person and online) and included a ton of reading, and some intensive study of the art of writing. I’m fortunate to have a vibrant writer’s community where I live, so much of my interaction with other authors has been in person (or lately Zoom), but I’ve also gained some amazing knowledge through the online community.

In order to further my writing, from 2019-2020 I took a publishing course offered through Ryerson University. This is something I found incredibly valuable, not only giving me a good understanding of the industry, but also honing my editorial and design skills. Yup, I’m one of those authors who loves the editing process and making the interiors of my books pretty.

In late 2020, I published my seventh full-length novel, began writing my next book, and planned some future titles. In January 2022 I enrolled in a Digital Marketing course, which is adding a missing piece. For me, like for many authors, creating a marketing plan has always been the hardest part. My 2022 author goals include improving in this essential area.

Now, on to my mission, the spies, the ninjas, dragon slayers, and rising tides.

I wish when I started out I had access or knowledge about the numerous resources available. Yes, there are many, from various writing groups, to blogs, to websites, to podcasts, and videos … the list goes on and on and on. So much so that it’s simply overwhelming.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if an author who’s travelled the publishing path shared some (or maybe a lot) of the research they’ve compiled over the past seven years? But not in a huge mind boggling pile, but presented in bite-sized pieces, easily actionable, current and relevant? Would that be of interest?

I’m a member of several author groups, and I consistently see similar questions asked over and over. This set me to wondering about why they aren’t finding the answers outside of the group. Are they overwhelmed? Not sure where to start? Not aware of the resources? Instead of answering the same question again and again, wouldn’t it be great to create one post and direct them to it?

With that in mind, I’m creating this newsletter in the hopes of providing some valuable resource for writers.

Together as a community, we as authors can accomplish great things, improving and changing the publishing landscape for everyone.

After all, A Rising Tide Floats All Boats.

Thanks for reading. Please join me next time for the first post in my Publish It! guide to common terms in publishing.

Kate