As part of my journey to republishing and becoming a hybrid author, I’m sharing my experiences each month, in the hope that it might be useful for others beginning their own journey.

I’ve also upped my game with my newsletter, and am aiming to put one out a month. I’ll share news of new and re-releases, free short fiction when I don’t have a release, and also give some heads up about new releases from other authors, plus books I’ve read and reviewed during that month.

Our library has a monthly Writers Table meet up and as part of that we write 500 words ish on a genre and theme, so I have plenty of stories to share. I’m writing the prompts using characters I’ve either already written, or plan to write. Eventually when I have enough of them I’m aiming to publish them in an anthology collection, along with my existing short story stash, although a couple of those are going to be epilogues in republished books. Because of this I’ve taken down the free short stories I had up on Drops of Ink.

The first thing I decided I needed to do before embarking on getting eight books back out into the world was to finish the first draft of my current WIP, Rosebound. I had about 20K to go when I decided to ask for my rights back, and with the workload ahead, I didn’t want to lose momentum.

Now, I’ve done that, although it probably won’t be published until late 2020, or more realistically early 2021, I can begin to move forward with my backlist.

First up on the republishing list is Slow Dreaming, my Wellington set time travel story. I figured it would just be a case of reading through to change US spelling etc to UK/NZ, and adding an epilogue, so as this is my shortest story, it would be the perfect place to start.

What I didn’t take into account was that I’d written this story in 2011 and my writing style had tightened up considerably since then. While this is a good thing, it also meant a lot more work, and I ended up doing a thorough edit. I haven’t touched the plot or characters, just tightened up the prose. I’ve left the blurb the same too, after running it past a few people I trust.

The story is now with my lovely editor. We meet up once a month in a little café in Kapiti so hoping it will be ready for format at our next meeting as she’s offered to do that for me. Eventually I’d love to be able to invest in a refurbished Mac and buy vellum, but for now I’m grateful for the support of others for that side of things. Formatting this first title together will be brilliant as I’ll be able to choose how I want to format it, and future books.

But before then I need to apply for an ISBN, and I’m very relieved that we don’t have to pay for those here in New Zealand. I also need to sort out KDP, and Draft 2 Digital. This one I won’t print as it’s too short, but I’ll be signing up for Ingram Spark once I start on the next book on my list Prelude to Love.

I had a long think about whether to publish KU or wide, and have decided on wide. It’s important to me that my books are available in libraries, plus one of the reasons I’m indi-publishing these books is so that I have control. Using KU negates that.

Here in New Zealand you don’t have to register as a company until you’re earning over 60K, so I’ve decided to use a publishing name as part of the front matter of my books. It’s an informal thing, but I figured it looks more professional to do that. Mine will be Lacedragon Publishing.

To finish, here’s a sneak peek at Slow Dreaming’s lovely new cover from M Designs.

Blurb:
A Tempus Institute Story.

Should he change the past for love?

As an agent for the Tempus Institute, Jason Adams’ task is to observe the past, not change it. But when he’s sent to 21st-century Wellington, New Zealand, during the last week of aspiring songwriter Sean Henderson’s life, Jason finds he can’t just watch from a distance. He and Sean quickly become friends and then lovers, and when the song that’s haunted Jason for years connects them in a way he never anticipated, he’ll risk changing history for the chance of sharing a future with Sean.

Author’s note: This story was originally published in 2012 by another publisher. This edition has some added content, and uses UK/NZ spelling to reflect its setting.

Meantime I’d love to see some of you in my readers group and/or signing up for my newsletter.