Traditional to Self-Publishing, an Author’s Journey

Hey everyone! I have an exciting, and special post today! I like to introduce Lizzy Murphy, an amazing author, who's here to share her journey to publication. Take it away Lizzy!

Hey guys! First off, a huge thank you to Saleena for allowing me to be the first guest blog post on her site. Saleena and I have been talking about doing guest posts on each other’s sites, so be sure to head to my site to check out her post. We thought it would be great to do posts about our own journeys with writing.

My whole writing journey began in 2014, when I began writing reviews for Movies, TV shows, Books, and Video games. Then, I started writing a book for NaNoWriMo later on that same year… though, I will never show what it looks like right now. It’s horrible.

Then, in 2015, I started writing my book, “KEEP HER SAFE” for NaNoWriMo. A lot of things were going on that November, but I somehow hit the 50k mark at 11:45 pm on November 30th. I honestly have no idea how I did it…little to no sleep, I guess. ;)

In 2016, I did NaNoWriMo again, and won. (Three days before it ended)

Then, sadly, the following two years I didn’t make it.

Now, ever since early 2017, I’ve known I was going to go the Traditional Publishing route. But here recently, I’ve decided to do Self Publishing.

I just feel like it’s the best thing for me right now, and I can’t wait for “KEEP HER SAFE” to be out there in the world. *cue hyperventilating*

There are more struggles, I think, with both sides. But doing Self, in my own opinion, is a little harder than Traditional. Because with Self-Publishing, you have to do everything yourself;

Figuring out ISBN numbers, formatting, editing, find an editor, cover, blurb… I could go on.

But Traditional does have hurdles as well; Editing your book, writing a great Query Letter, researching agents and agencies, remembering which one(s) you’ve sent to and waiting the appropriate time before doing a follow-up, making sure to ask the agent enough questions when you do “the call”, then waiting on the agent for him or her to find a great publishing house for your book, finding an editor, finding a cover artist, and again, I could go on.

Even though I would like to someday go traditional publishing down the road, I am happy with my decision with going the Self-route. Be sure to comment on which path you’re taking, and what part you’re at in your writing journey. I’d love to discuss writing with you!

Thanks so much, Saleena, again, for letting me be your first guest blog post! Hope I’ll get to do more. And don’t forget to head over to my site to check out her guest post. I’ll talk again soon. Bye, everyone!

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Lizzy is a High School Graduate. She has been homeschooled all her life and wouldn’t have it any other way. When she isn’t writing; She loves snuggling with her long-haired Chihuahua, Kasey. She loves binge-watching movies and TV shows and playing video games. And, of course, reading!

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