Written for the May 2003 issue of Self Published Authors Newsletter

"Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above?
If the Bible tells you so.
Now do you believe in Rock 'n' roll
And can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"
-- "American Pie", Don McLean


Music is often the muse that inspires me to write. That song with the infectious beat and the soulful lyrics. The one that seemed to have been written just for me. Played on the radio as if God himself was the DJ and he knew just what I needed to hear. No particular genre; I listen to it all. Everything from Mozart to Madonna to Marilyn Manson. From Genesis to Godsmack. From Abba to ZZ Top and everything in between. If it speaks to me, and moves me, you'll probably find a quote from it in a short story or a presenting a chapter in my novel.

That being said I have to admit, when I start writing, I seem to become the instrument of the muse. The music falls to the background and my story plays before me like a well-choreographed movie. I never feel like I am the director however, instead I feel like the cameraman trying to keep up with the action, recording it in my word processor or handy-dandy notebook. This is as true today as it was when I started writing in college.

I wrote my first novel almost a decade ago. Today, the paperback and e-book can be bought online thanks to the modern miracle of print-on-demand publishing. Ten years seems like a lot of time because of everything life has brought me in that time. In the spans of time involving my book though, it seems more like an overnight rush.

I still remember 1993. I remember I was bored with college, butknew it was the key to my future. Not just a career in software design, which my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science has affordedme, but in appreciating the world around me. College can be frightening as well as exhilarating. It can also be a very lonely place. I think that's why sororities and fraternities exist -- to help people feel like they belong somewhere. I never joined a fraternity house, though I often imagined I'd fit in well at Lambda Lambda Lambda (from "Revenge of the Nerds").

It was this loneliness that inspired me to write a poem, about the Woman of My Dreams, someone I imagined I'd never meet in the flesh. She was my muse and still is. It was a dark, gothic poem that in turn inspired me to write my first real short story, "For The Blood Is The Life". After sharing this story with some friends of mine, they suggested it could make a really good book if there was some meat to it. A 5,000 word story became a 50,000 word novella by the end of 1993. It was written down in my notebooks for school, when I should have been taking notes in class. Research about compiler design or calculus was derailed into history of the Salem Witch Trials. Late night cram sessions turned into sleepless nights pulling whole chapters out of the ether of my dreams.

I am not sure who said it first, but I am fond of quoting the following painful piece of advice I have for my fellow authors, "Writing is easy; getting published is the hard part." I of course believed my story was good and deserved to be published. I never, ever expected to get rich or famous from my book. Odds are I'll win the lottery first. My overriding concern was that it be written. What started as a simple story came to life and demanded to be told. My winged muse was there, not only supplying the story, but driving me hard to write it. I would have gone insane had I ignored her. ("I do not suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.")

I excitedly sent my manuscript to the Registrar of Copyrights at the Library of Congress. Once secure in the knowledge that no one would be able to claim my masterpiece as their own, I set out to have it published. It was quickly and repeatedly rejected. I kept my first rejection letter, from Tor Books. It would appear to be a standard template rejection, feigning a polite respect for my work, but alas, they were not interested in my manuscript. I kept it not only because it was the first of many rejection letters, but because it was in desperate need of an Editor! (This letter is now immortalized by Jennifer Hollowell's Writers' Block Project.)

If I can offer any advice at all to you, it is: do not give up on your manuscript. If it was meant to be written, it was meant to be read. Even if it is only your small circle of friends who get the joy of reading it now, someone else out there is bound to want to read it. You must get it in their hands. Thankfully, the big publishing corporations are not the only place to solicit.

I considered vanity presses, but they wanted an outrageous amount of money (from my starving student perspective) to print a limited number of copies, that I'd have to house and distribute myself. No thank you. I searched for an agent, and did eventually find one. He has turned out to be a great friend, mentor, and editor. But for all of his good work, and bad health, he has yet to succeed where I failed on my own. He's still trying, and I love him for it.

With his permission, I decided to try to something new. At the turn of the millennium, a new concept in publishing was emerging: print-on-demand. There were a handful out there, and most were limited in scope. Some seemed no better than a vanity press. Others simply provided web space for people to read their books online. Many were expensive. Then I found Xlibris.com.

At the time, they offered their basic services for free. Sure, I could pay for various premium services, like cover artwork design, special fonts and layouts, etc. I opted for the free service, and got what I paid for. They did create a nice cover, and internal layout, and did sell my book in print for me. They charged $16 for a 178 page paperback version, and $8 for a PDF e-book version. Not too bad, and delivery turnaround was about 7 days at the most. Their website must be popular because my book sold an average of a book a month. Truth be told, I imagine most sales came from Amazon.com. Pretty cool for a book that sat on slush piles for years prior to this.

Xlibris soon realized however, that authors like me outnumbered those willing to pay for their services. They eventually started charging new authors a minimum of $300, and raised the prices of all of their books. Currently, my book sells through them for more than $20. A price even I wouldn't pay for a good book. Sadly, virtually no one else has bought it since then.

In 2002, I discovered a new POD publisher called Booksurge.com. They charge $100 to publish a manuscript if the author provides them a PDF or other format manuscript file that is ready to publish. Adobe.com allows anyone to make up to three free PDF files from MS Word and other word processor files. Check it out, I highly recommend it even if you just want to make a file for friends to read for free. I then found PDF-Xchange software (from www.docu-track.com) that only costs about $40 that lets you print ANY Windows document to a PDF file. This was a major find for me as it has meant I could make a copy of my manuscript look EXACTLY how I wanted my novel to be printed. I created a cover layout using Booksurge's template, and submitted both files to them.

I have been very impressed with their service and support, and they are the POD I recommend to all of my fellow authors looking for a POD solution. They do charge extra for editing services, promotional materials, etc. I would strongly suggest you edit, review, and re-edit any manuscript you want to submit to any POD publisher. You will be charged a large fee for any changes you need to make after the initial submission. Booksurge, as any decent publisher should, provided me a free galley proof to review before committing to my design.

Thanks to Booksurge, not only did I have full control over how my book looks, but they sell the book for only $12.95 and still have a turnaround of less than a week for delivery. My book has seen a new life because of this "second printing" as it was. As satisfying as it was to write my book, finally holding a professionally printed copy in my hands, has been incredible.

I wish you all luck with your works. Authors are a unique breed of artist. We have no paints and brushes, no musical instruments, no celluloid film nor cathode ray tubes to present our art. We have paper and ink, a monochrome serial collection of words to express ourselves. We have language and grammar to restrict us. But our landscape is the human imagination, and we can shape that medium into something more permanent than marble. In the beginning there was the word, and it is still good.

Copyright © 2003 by Dan Shaurette