My first published novel, The Renaissance Club, was released in December 2018. It was the culmination of a complicated journey to publication as my first novel. At the time, I had no idea it would become the first book in a series. It was the end of a long, tortured odyssey from first draft to printed novel selling to the public.Hurrah for me! 
I’ve never told the full story of how this book was published, except to a few friends, because it all seemed like fiction. One publishing catastrophe after another! Yet here the book is, still selling strong and finding new readers.
Here’s the story. I’ve never had an easy path with literary agents. My first wanted me to rewrite my historical fiction about the Paris Opera Ballet as a romance novel, along the lines of Barbara Cartland. I was desperate to get published, and at the time self-publishing was so despised as for a serious writer a taint never to be shaken off. So I hatched up my historical and she shopped it around, with no success. I realized then and there I wasn’t born to be a romance writer.
My next agent was a lovely New Yorker transplanted to Atlanta, GA. She shopped my childhood memoir and really believed in it. but no luck with that book either. Finally, she said to write another one. Trouble is, I was out of memoir material. When I pitched a fiction idea to her, she said she didn’t handle fiction. Strike Number Two.
Third agent-ish journey began with a developmental edit of yet another historical novel–this one framed in time travel–and then a request for a full manuscript from no less than a top agent at the fabled Writer’s House in New York. I tried not to get overly excited when they asked me for a revision. It’s called a “revise and resubmit”. I found the editorial suggestions good, and my developmental editor agreed that I should go for it. Over the course of a year, I really went for it! Three more passes of R-and-R, and we were all sure I’d get an offer of representation. But after the year’s journey with some very kind and good people at Writer’s House, it was a pass.
At that point I was willing to take an offer from a small press. If I couldn’t get a big publisher, I would take a good smaller one.
The next-best publisher
Trouble was, the small publisher I accepted an offer from wasn’t good at all. It wasn’t just that I didn’t like the cover art they offered, or the fact that they didn’t do much publicity for my book. I began to feel unsettled after about eight months, when royalty reports were late, and the numbers didn’t seem to match up with information I found about my sales.
Another author with the publisher contacted me to ask if I’d experienced royalty reports that seemed fishy. Then a group of about six of us put our heads together and figured out we were probably being cheated of our royalties. Long story short (and there’s quite a story in the long version), we all got our right sback and the publishing company paid us back something on our lost royalties, then folded.
My developmental editor for the book, a savvy New York publishing expert, suggested that I had the right combination of drive, experience in marketing, and imagination to jump onto the new self-publishing train and try becoming my own publisher.
Being my own publisher
Seven years later, that book is still selling well, as the gateway to my Timegathering Series, and my maiden voyage in being my own publisher. I have taken courses, had consultants, hired designers, and spent money advertising. I’ve written and self-published six more novels, and I’m so glad for the publishing industry mishaps. I learned a lot from the experience and the people who worked with me.
One of my biggest takeaways is that I’m built to write the books I want to write. I’m uninterested in trying to fit into a marketing niche or writing what I know will be popular in fiction. I guess it comes from being a poet. You learn to trust your imagination, to honor it, and to support it as best you can. You find the readers you find, If you made it this far, you’re probably going to like one or more of my books, Thanks for reading! Please share your own similar experiences in comments, or write to me privately.
THE RENAISSANCE CLUB is now an audiobook! On Audible.