One option for publishing that I’ve looked into in the past is small presses. To be honest, I didn’t consider this route for The Dark Queen of Darkness, primarily because of the size and format of the book, but also because I just couldn’t find a small press that was calling for that sort of thing. That said, I think it’s a really compelling option. To that end, I’ve asked L.M. Bryski to join me for a few questions on the subject.

D: Before I get to my main questions, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing?

LMB: Hey Dave! Thanks for this opportunity to chat with you. And hello Dave readers. I’m a Canadian Emergency physician turned author. Since 2016, I’ve published 3 books with Moran Press: a coming of age story Book of Birds, a children’s book The Harmonica Tree, and my latest, a medical thriller called Blood Chill.

I was mainly an academic clinician, working in a trauma center teaching hospital, but I became more and more interested in writing stories. I had no formal training other than a single university English course but had practice documenting patient stories, and telling their stories when seeking consults on their behalf.

I wanted to write my own stories, though, as patient stories are sacred and private. And thus I began writing about fictional characters from stories that popped into my head.

D: Did you submit your book to other presses or agents before going with a small press?

LMB: My first foray into submissions was in late 2014 with the first draft of Blood Chill to a mystery contest run by one of the larger publishers. I was really cocky with my 70,000-word manuscript. I hadn’t even reviewed it for flow. I was sure I would win.

I didn’t.

I also wrote up a few kids stories during that winter which I used as an easy way to learn how to submit manuscripts. I think I got about 8 rejections from that batch… my favourite of those stories I ended up illustrating and publishing in 2017 with Moran Press.

I worked on Blood Chill for about another two draft rounds before an idea for a new book popped in my head almost fully fleshed out. The character voice for this second book was so strong, I set Blood Chill aside and put all my effort into writing Book of Birds. It felt more complete, more well rounded, so I decided to lead with that manuscript and buff it up before shopping it around, which led me to my editor, Jette Harris.

D: All of your books are published through Moran Press, how did you find that imprint and decide to submit?

LMB: For Book of Birds, my second manuscript, I only submitted to one small press, Moran Press, a micropublisher in the United States which represents a handful of authors. My first step wasn’t even submission. It was editing. The editor I hired to help me with my manuscript, Jette Harris, read through it and asked if she could show it to Stephen Moran (I said yes please!). Moran Press reviewed it and got back to me that same day. I was lucky. I was already impressed with how Moran Press was with its current authors. I said yes!

D: What did the submission process to a small press look like?

LMB: It felt easy. I had quick responses from Stephen Moran, that were thoughtful, congenial, and professional. It was a true pleasure bringing Book of Birds out under his care. He had a great managerial style, knowing when to let the editing process continue and when to step in with direction. This has been [the] same for each of my books published with Moran Press.

D: Once your book was accepted, what happened next? As an author what did you need to do leading up to publication?

LMB: The editing process took about 6 months. You really need patience to go through a manuscript over and over again. I have an amazing editor in Jette Harris: smart, precise, and good humoured. I learned a lot about balance of words such as how changing even one word in one place means a review of the paragraphs around to make sure everything remains both balanced for flow, and unbalanced for differing sentence lengths and nonrepetitive descriptors.

Once the manuscript is set, then work on the layout and font occurs. I’m really particular about spacing, preferring a solid indent and ample margin space around the words. This is reflected in the updated version of my first book.

Then the cover art. So many ways to do it, but Moran Press prefers to work with a cover artist. Book of Birds is currently in second edition with the fabulous artwork of Kelley York.

D: For folks like me choosing to go 100% self-published, it’s up to me to find people to help with cover design, illustrators, editor, someone to do layout, 100% of advertising and getting the book to different venues for purchase. What did this process look like for you working with Moran Press?

LMB: My editor was one I chose and I still prefer to work directly with my own editor. I’m lucky Moran Press allows this. As for the rest of the package, that was more under Moran Press. I did handle some of the expenses as part of the negotiated book contract. Advertising is a mix between me and my publisher. I handle local events, but my publisher has done more for things like sales, bloggers, other social platforms.

D: Your books are available on Kindle Unlimited. Was this your decision as the author or a decision made by the publisher or was it more of a discussion?

LMB: This is a publisher decision. I haven’t found it to be either a positive or a negative, to be quite frank.

D: Kindle Unlimited is somewhat controversial amongst authors as the terms have led to authors being removed from Amazon altogether by the actions of others. Overall, how would you describe your experience with Kindle Unlimited?

LMB: So far, it’s been a nonissue, but this controversy is something to keep an eye on.

D: In your experience working with a small press, what does a small press do for an author and what does a small press not do?

LMB: In my experience, a small press is able to make decisions quicker, and bring stories to publication quicker. It has an easy open avenue for communication, and more author say in their publications. On the downside, being small means smaller reach, and more (but not all) responsibility put on the author for helping keep the book advertised.

D: Your cover-art changed for Book of Birds from the initial release, the one I have on my shelf, and the second edition. Why did you decide to change that cover?

LMB: I fell in love with the bird painting on the back and wanted it for the front cover. The whole cover started as a painting I commissioned for the book. I liked it a lot, but was more drawn to that blue-black drongo bird. Moran Press also got a new cover artist who had impressive work. We put together a new cover that had the blues of that bird picked out and a slicker font. I still like the old edition and have a few on hand that I occasional give out if I want to give a special gift.

D: Do you have your book in any bookstores?

LMB: I do. I’m available at the local Chapters Indigo stores in Winnipeg and on their website. I’m also in McNally Robinson locally and on their website. Else my books are available through moranpress.com and on Amazon as kindle or paperback.

D: I know you’ve done at least one author event. How did you organize that and what sort of challenges did you experience?

LMB: Locally I’ve had two book launches I arranged with McNally Robinson. They have an event coordinator that puts together a poster and ads in both their newsletter and the local newspapers. The event also has an MC and catering that you pay for and hope that you sell enough books to cover. Both events were very much worth it. I ended up on the store’s bestseller list for general paperback fiction those months. I also arrange book signing myself at the local Chapters bookstores. They sometimes reach out to me, too, inviting me out to their stores for a weekend afternoon. I’m lucky that the local managers are really supportive of local prairie writers.

D: As much as I’d love to continue bombarding you with questions, I think I should just stop here, but before I let you go, do you have any sage wisdom for others on publishing or marketing?

LMB: Edit your work, but don’t edit it so much that the joy of your first written draft is diluted out.

Talk about your books when you meet people. Most people are interested or even have heard of you and what you’ve written.

And be prepared to talk about your writing even when you might be busy doing something else. I’ve had people come up out of the blue to chat with me about reading both my books and other books, and it has led to some great conversations and connections.

Thank you again, L.M. Bryski for taking the time to answer these questions. You can find L.M. Bryski’s work at Amazon:

Blood Chill: http://mybook.to/BloodChill

Book of Birds: http://mybook.to/LMBryskiBoB

The Harmonica Tree: http://mybook.tp/LMBryskiTHT

or directly through Moran Press at www.moranpress.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @LMBryski.

For this installment of publishing platforms, I’ve reached out to Kate Parker. This is another perspective on audiobooks from someone down in the trenches. As I’ve said before, audiobooks are an important way for me to consume books, and there’s something lovely about being told a story by a good narrator.

D: Thanks for joining me Kate, before I get started on my questions, I wonder if you could tell us a bit about yourself?

KP: I’ve always written fiction, but it wasn’t until my youngest graduated from college that I began to seriously pursue a writing career. I had been a hospital microbiologist and a tech for the phone company. Now that I had the time to write, I tried romantic suspense and historical romance before I began to write cozy historical mysteries.

D: In looking at your published work, it looks like you’ve published under both your own imprint and an imprint owned by Penguin Books. Are you more of an indie author or hybrid, or something else entirely?

KP: After a dozen years and 18 manuscripts, I started out traditionally published. When they dropped me, there were readers who wanted more mysteries solved by Victorian bookshop owner Georgia Fenchurch. My contract didn’t prevent it, so I wrote two more in that series before I began the Deadly series in pre-WWII England. My agent sent the first one around, but when no traditional publisher wanted it, I published it on my own. I have an audience who enjoy historical cozy mysteries. It’s not a large enough audience to tempt a traditional publisher, but it is a steadily growing group who appreciate a well crafted, well researched, well-edited story and I am happy to supply this group with mysteries. So yes, I am a proud Indie author.

D: I did a bit of digging to have a look at your published work and I was able to find two titles on Audible from “The Deadly Series,” both of which are published under the JDP Press imprint. How did you come to the decision to publish these two titles as audiobooks?

KP: I didn’t. Tantor Media approached me with an offer to produce the first two in the Deadly series, and I said yes.

D: Could you describe how you went about finding a narrator?

KP: Again, I didn’t. Tantor gave me a couple of choices, and among them was Henrietta Meire, who I consider the perfect voice for Olivia Denis, the heroine of the Deadly series.

D: Thinking about audiobooks, it’s easy to forget the third most important part, after the book itself, and the narrator, the producer. How did you go about finding someone to produce the book?

KP: Tantor Media approached me. I think they did a wonderful job producing Deadly Scandal and Deadly Wedding.

D: Another author I interviewed told me that publishing audiobooks weren’t a particularly lucrative endeavor unless you have a pretty substantial audience. Would you say that’s been your experience?

KP: Yes. The audience hasn’t been large enough for the first two audio Deadly books, so Tantor told me they have no interest in producing any more.

D: One of the things that surprised me was the length of time it takes to go from finished draft to an actual publication. I know we’re all told this, repeatedly, by any number of sources, but it always feels like a surprise. What does the timeline look like for producing an audiobook?

KP: I don’t know. I plan to find out this fall and winter when I go about trying to make the third and fourth Deadly books myself, with the help of Audible or Findaway. Henrietta, if you’re reading this, I’d love to use you again as the narrator for the next two books.

D: In your experience, what was the most difficult part of getting an audiobook produced?

KP: There are several companies who make audiobooks, Audible and Findaway Voices being the two biggest. Which one to choose depends on which online retail stores you want to sell from and who is in their collection of narrators. The next barrier is cash. I understand it costs a few to several thousand dollars to produce one audiobook.

D: What would you tell authors is the most important thing to do or keep in mind if they chose to move forward with an audiobook?

KP: I don’t know yet. Ask me in a year when I have tried to do this on my own. I know it’s not rocket science, but I expect to hit a few snags. Fortunately, writers are an inventive and resourceful lot. If I can kill people off in believable ways (in my books!) I should be able to figure this out.

D: That covers all of my questions, is there anything else at all you think authors should hear about audiobooks or the publishing industry, in general?

KP: My biggest piece of advice for all authors of all genres is to find a good editor or two. Your finished product will be better because of good editing. 

Thank you, Kate Parker, for taking the time to answer my questions. Kate Parker is the author of the Deadly Series, the Milliner Mysteries, and the Victorian Bookshop Mysteries, which can be found in a variety of formats and locations, including Amazon , and Barnes and Noble. Her audiobooks can be found at Audible. You can also check out her website at https://www.kateparkerbooks.com/

Even though I’ve managed to get interviews from several writers at this point, there remains a tremendous number of unknowns as I march forward to releasing my first self-publication, The Dark Queen of Darkness, this fall. In an effort to bring more experiences into this series, I’ve reached out to another fellow Alaskan Writer – K. Jered Mayer (Though he’s recently transitioned out of state), to ask a few questions about his experiences self-publishing.

D: Hi K. Jered, thanks for taking the time to join me. Before I launch into my questions, I wonder if you could tell me about you and your writing?

KJM: Sure! I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. It provided an escape from a childhood I wasn’t particularly happy with, and as I’ve grown older it has provided a welcome break from the daily stresses of adult life, too. I’ve always been filled with a feeling of discontent and I’ve channeled that into traveling when I can and a number of jobs in customer service, something that allows me to get a peek into the lives of other people and sort of see[ing] what makes them work.

KJM: As far as my writing goes, I’ve always just wanted to tell fun stories. Maybe not the best ones, maybe not the most meticulously developed, but stories about characters that feel real in worlds that are often one step removed from reality. I’ve believed in creating compelling characters first, people you can root for or against, and that it helps drive the rest of the book–plot, setting, etc.– forward. I’ve self-published four novels so far (a steampunk-esque trilogy about revenge and ambition, and a standalone love story with a soundtrack), and I’m currently working on my fifth, a sci-fi adventure romp about three childhood friends turned intergalactic couriers, which should be out sometime this summer.

D: As an Alaskan writing non-Alaskana books, not to mention the distance between here and everywhere else, I feel like that puts writers like us at a bit of a disadvantage for marketing to a wider audience. It’s a lot of investment to try and set-up book signings or anything like that because there are few local venues and wider efforts like that mean out of state travel. Do you feel that this has put you at a disadvantage for marketing and selling your books?

KJM: Self-publishing has its advantages and disadvantages, of course. You get greater creative control, you get a higher percentage of your sales in profit, and you can get your product out immediately. But yes, the burden of marketing is entirely on you. You can pay for ad space on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, for example, and hopefully, that reaches a wider audience, but you’re banking on the hope that people will buy enough of your product to offset whatever it is you’re paying for advertisements. You can arrange a book signing, but again, you’ve got the cost of renting the space, the cost for additional advertisements in newspapers or online, the cost for ordering physical copies of your books if you have a printing option available. At that point, you’re hoping that whoever does show up MIGHT buy a book, MIGHT like it, and then MIGHT recommend it to others who will buy it down the line.

The biggest advantage of moving out of Alaska as a self-published author is genuinely that you have a higher chance of meeting people who know people, or that you just genuinely find a wider market of people to pitch to or who might be interested in arts or reading your books based off the concept and not because they know you or of you.

D: I noticed all of your work listed on Amazon is self-published, did you consider submitting to an agent or trying to go traditional?

KJM: I have! And it has sort of come and gone and come again.

D: Why, ultimately didn’t you?

KJM: Initially, I just wanted to get my book out as soon as possible. I was 22 when I wrote Waypoint, my first novel, and I was at a really rough point in my life. I was starting all over in a city where I didn’t really know anybody, and I had lost everything that meant anything to me. So I picked up a handful of chapters I had sort of been messing around with, knocked it out into a huge first novel, and just… put it out there into the wind to kind of see if anyone thought it was worth a damn.

Now, going back and rereading it nearly a decade later, there are several things I would change. The character’s good, the action beats are nice, the plot is pretty decent, but the writing could be tighter, some fat could be trimmed. I had a few advance readers help me edit it, but a professional editor would have done wonders. But, again, I was 22 years old and scraping by, trying to piece my life back together. Trying to find a publisher that accepted unsolicited manuscripts (that is to say, without a representing agent) or to write up a query letter to try and find an agent who would accept me as a client and then shop my book for me… it all seemed to be too much.

So. If I wasn’t going to do it for Waypoint, I wasn’t going to do it for the two sequels. Then Read in Denver rolled around, which is arguably my most marketable novel so far. That book was unplanned and came about after a pretty rough breakup of sorts. Again, marketing was the last thing on my mind when I wrote it. I didn’t even particularly like the book, though it has become my most popular since. In the last year or so, I have returned to trying to send out query letters to agents, but really? I’m just lazy. I don’t send out enough, and so I more or less have just been quietly writing, more or less, and just putting things out for whoever wants to take a chance on them.

D: I noticed at least two of your books available for print are printed through Amazon’s create space. Why did you choose this platform above others (thinking about platforms such as blurb.com, lulu.com, or IngramSpark.com)?

KJM: In all honesty, convenience. At the time, they were partnered with Amazon, and since I was putting my books on the Kindle, it was a convenient way to tie the two (digital and paper copies) together. Amazon has since purchased CreateSpace and consolidated the whole process even more.

D: As I’ve been investigating various self-publishing platforms, one of the ones I looked at was ingramSpark, which has a great cost calculator that doesn’t require registration or anything. One of the things that struck me is that if I want to order a stock of books for direct sale, the shipping costs for Alaska run about that of the printing costs. Has this been your experience with CreateSpace, or is this sort of thing even possible with CreateSpace?

KJM: I haven’t looked too much into any alternatives (again: lazy), but I’ve found that ordering in bulk from CreateSpace tended to be pretty financially viable. I would get discounted rates on the books themselves and I would order multiple copies of multiple books at the same time to basically be time and cost efficient both. The books I would sell for around $10 a copy ($20 for Waypoint because of its size), and I’d still make my money back plus 50%.

D: Are your books available on any other platforms, besides Amazon?

KJM: You should also be able to find digital copies for the Nook.

D: Thinking again about being an Alaskan writer, are there local venues where you can market or promote your books?

KJM: Bosco’s Comics and Collectibles is usually pretty open to working with local talent, though they do charge a commission, last I checked. I know that the owner, John, is a pretty avid supporter of the community. You might also check places like Title Wave or whatever the new little book/cafe place is called that opened up last year or so.

D: Are your covers your own work, or did you hire someone?

KJM: Oh, no, I’m a terrible artist. The covers for my first few novels (the Convergence trilogy… in five parts!) were made pretty hastily and very basically with some stock images. Which should be pretty obvious, honestly, once you look at them. The cover for Read in Denver was a piece titled “As We Become One” by Pennsylvanian artist Kaitlyn Page. I actually stumbled across it on Tumblr about halfway through writing the book and thought it was perfect, so I worked out an arrangement with her to use the cover for the book, and just slapped my title and my name on the front. I also commissioned her for an original piece for my upcoming sixth novel, Lunargirl.

For Absolute Zeroes, the book I’m currently working on, I bought some premade cover and again slapped my title and name on it. There are better tools out there for people looking to publish work. I’m pretty ambivalent about my own stuff, so I go for something that works, is quick, is relatively affordable, and then I move on.

D: How do you promote your books?

KJM: Short answer: I don’t. Long answer: I really, really don’t. I’ll put excerpts and the cover on Instagram and Facebook, and when the things are published, I’ll put links on Facebook where you can buy it. I get uncomfortable discussing my own work at length, though, and it feels a little arrogant to just bring it up to strangers, so I mostly keep mum. It’s out there, I’ll point you at it, but that’s really it.

D: That’s the meat of the questions I have right now before we wrap this up if you had any one piece of advice for a writer looking to self-publishing, what would it be?

KJM: Well, I can only really go off of things that have held me up. 1. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t judge the merit of your work by the quality of other books that you enjoy or that you don’t but are popular anyway. Your style is your own, and it will resonate some people, but not with everyone. The sooner you embrace your own writing style, your own stories, your own characters, and what it is you bring to them that makes it work, the sooner you’ll feel more comfortable in completing the work and sharing it with others. 2. Try to write every day. It doesn’t have to be 2,000 words like Stephen King. A lot of self-published or aspiring writers are working full-time jobs or have families or both, and writing can be an emotionally exhaustive process. But writing 250, 500 words a day even will keep your mind working on your story. The minute you start putting it off, the easier it is to set the whole thing aside for days or even months at a time. 3. Keep reading. With books you like, study sentence structure or plot details or pacing, figure out what it is that makes it appealing and accessible to you, and find ways to take those.l processes and integrate them in a way that works for you. In books you don’t like, study the same things, figure out what it is that turns you off, and stay away from those things. Most importantly, enjoy yourself. 4. Remember why you’re writing. The process is work, and it can be daunting and tiring and stressful, but you have a story in your head that you think is worth telling to others. That’s exciting! You are creating lives and a world and a lot of little moments that make up a big whole, and that is thrilling. Keep that in mind whenever you feel discouraged.

D: Final question – and you can say no, your Amazon profile says you live in Anchorage with your characters and some whiskey, AND your blog is called wordwhiskey. I wonder, would you be interested in doing a guest whiskey-review blog post on my other site bakedgoodsandbourbon.com?

KJM: Of course! It might be a while, but I promise I’ll get around it. And thanks for reminding me I need to update my author profile: I’ve been living in Denver for nearly a year now.

Thank you K. Jered Mayer for taking the time. K. Jered Mayer is the author of the Convergence trilogy (beginning with Waypoint), Read in Denver, and the forthcoming Absolute Zeroes, which are available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can also check out his writing at https://wordwhiskey.wordpress.com/