Dad’s an old cabinetmaker who ran his own small shop for 30+ years. He emphasized the number one lesson he took away from both owning a business and proposing custom designs to his customers:
If cabinetry is your passion, never be content to carry someone else’s toolbox.
I’m the kind of person that hits my fingers a whole lot more than the head of the nail if I get my hands on a hammer. My tool of the trade is a Bic pen. Preferably a black one, but I can make blue work.
Writing is my passion. I have literally filled notebooks with the background stories, personality flaws and even food preferences of my main characters.
When my first novel, Mental Dragons, was nearing completion, I started looking into publishing options. I could send hundreds of query emails, cross my fingers and hope a literary agent would be interested enough to read my proposal instead of tossing it onto the ever-growing slush pile.
Then would come the inevitable dozens of rejection letters. I growl more impressively than my dogs when my card gets rejected at the ATM. My family would NOT like living with me in the weeks (or months) leading up to that magical day when my novel was finally “discovered”.
To say nothing of the months (or years!) it would take to get through the publisher’s process before the book actually showed up on bookstore shelves.
Or I could self-publish.
Carry your own toolbox. Publish your own novel.
My dad is a pretty wise man (when he’s not just being a wise guy).
For cover art, I’ve discovered the fantastic design site Canva. Their services make the making of art less daunting, as long as you have some idea of what you want your cover to look like.
I use B&N Press as my publisher because they make the process simple and I’ve been impressed with the final product. As their website says, you can reach millions of readers.
That’s fantastic but at the moment, there’s really only one reader that matters.
You.
So if you’re looking for a good read, check out my collection.