How do you self-publish a book?

What are the steps of self-publishing a book?

Where can I find a self-publishing coach?

About a year ago I started helping people self-publish their books. After all, if someone hadn’t taught me the process several years ago, I might not be where I am today, the proud author of nine, soon to be ten, out-in-the-world books. I wanted to pass along the goodwill another writer showed me. I wanted people who had stories to tell to be able to share them with others. And so, I started coaching others through the process of publishing their own work on Kindle Direct Press. From finding a copy editor to designing a cover, from creating a marketing plan to throwing a launch party. I’ve helped my writing friends (clients sounds too stuffy!) take their work from their desk drawers to the book stores.

Today my guest blogger, Joy Chase, is going to tell us about her writing journey, and how she moved from a wannabe-writer to a published author. Joy is someone who has put in the work. Her lovely words are proof of her time and trials. I am incredibly proud of her and also honored, that she chose me to help her publish From the Delusion Papers: Taken From the Book of She.

Book cover download from Amazon.jpg — From the Delusion Papers

What if Emily Dickinson worked in a mid-level position in one of the world’s greatest banks, a capitalist cathedral to 21st century male power? And if she wrote about her harrowing experiences there? The first section of Joy Marie Chase’s daring visionary, and utterly original collection of prose poetry presents a unified narrative—of the shattering effect of such a collision on her being as a woman and an artist. The second half describes how she summons the ferocious powers of her wild imagination----- words as the sharpest needles to pick out the shrapnel—and heal her burnt self. Reading this book is like witnessing the combat zone from feet away and then being let into an artist’ recovery ward unlike any other, populated by sages, heroes and heroines of myth and fairy tale, and reemerging both shattered and whole oneself.

Joy read the below piece at her book launch event earlier this year. I loved the piece so much that I asked her if I could re-post it here, and I am thrilled that she agreed. Without further adieu, I will turn you over to the capable hands (and words) of Joy Marie Chase.

Quick side note: If you’d like me to help you with your own publication dreams and journey, click here to learn more, or email me with any questions.

My Writing Journey

A Presentation From the Delusion Papers: Taken from the Book of She

The first thing I remember I wanted to do in life was to be a writer. It began as though it always was, a need to express with words. A story, a poem, a journal.

For a time, I was a member of Romance Writers of America completing two manuscripts for the Harlequin American line. I even walked into the Harlequin Offices in New York City and asked to speak with an editor, and though I later sent her a manuscript, it wasn’t meant to be. I colored outside their strict guidelines.

I have been to numerous writing conferences, been inspired by the authors, editors and agents who spoke. Wished often enough to be a New York Times bestselling author, a writer who wins prizes like the Printz or Newbery awards. But publishing is a vast landscape and what I have learned in this long journey is that the discipline of writing needs to exist for its own purpose. A solitary passion, no glory promised, but quitting is not an option. My journey as a writer was not a straight path. There were periodic writing classes followed by detours, droughts and floods. But through it all in some form or another, I wrote.

After my husband and I moved to New York City, I took acting and playwriting classes at various studios, got a part-time job at the Public Theatre and workshopped a play. Somewhere in this timeline, Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way came out and I began writing the morning pages the author recommended. As my job at a big bank got more difficult with longer hours, I stopped writing everything but the morning pages. I had no time for classes. I quit my part-time job at the Public Theatre. I was in a drought.

A friend said she saw me writing magical books for girls. But I saw only a parched landscape, words drifting like sand too elusive to catch. One Christmas, my boss gave me a set of Harry Potter books. Four beautiful bound books, in a series of seven. After reading all seven, I read the Lord of the Rings and discovered how much I loved fantasy.

One morning using the time the morning pages had carved out, I began to write a young adult fantasy, getting up every morning at 4:30 am to write before rushing off to get a train to work. From the Delusion Papers: Taken from the Book of She is part of my journey, the last months of working at one of the big banks, leaving New York City, and settling back here in Madison. It is spiced with my love of fantasy, fairy tales, and spiritual magic.

A friend texted me after reading the book and I would like to share what she said: Joy, your book was wonderful. I sat down and read it cover to cover and will go back to it again. It is so YOU! Hard to explain and I’m a terrible reviewer, but I just wanted you to know how much I loved it and how pleased I am that you’ve shared it with the world. Thank you.

Any art we are brave enough to give the world is uniquely part of who we are. It is a mining of the depths of self, a passion for words, and there is little explanation of where it comes from. It just does. A spark rising up from the ground we plant our feet on, a little place in a too big, noisy world.

In retirement I finally have a job I love showing up for. I saw the movie Little Women recently, and there is a scene where Jo is watching her manuscript transformed into a bound book. A reward for hard work and painful rejections, a confirmation to the heart, yes, I am a writer.

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Today’s post post was made beautiful by CANVA and is categorized in my blog archive under Authorprenueur Advice. Check out the entire collection here.