A Moment With…Talli Roland

Day thirty of National Novel Writing Month. Earlier, author Julie Cohen took us through her editing process and now Talli Roland talks to us about her experience with self publishing.

Self-publishing provides another route for authors to get their books directly to an audience. I think it’s wonderful to be living in a time when authors have choices. No longer do they need reach readers through a publisher – they can decide what is right for them and for the book.

I had a wonderful relationship with my publisher, but as a small independent, their distribution reach was limited. Most of my sales were ebooks, and I’d spent a great deal of time building up my platform. It made sense for me to go out on my own, hire a cover designer and an editor, and keep my profits. It was very scary jumping ship – jumping off the ship! – but I’m so pleased I did.

It’s been an amazing journey – hard, challenging, and somewhat obsessive – but I’ve really enjoyed having control over everything from cover to content to timelines. And it’s been wonderful to make living from writing, too. That said, like any business, sales can fluctuate, depending on many factors. You don’t have the security of an advance from a publisher, so that can be a little daunting.

There is still a stigma amongst the old school, maybe, but I do think it’s changing as more and more traditionally published authors self-publish, too. It’s hard to deny that you have access to higher royalty rates, and that there have been huge success stories. Many self-published novels are virtually indistinguishable from traditionally published ones, and readers have shown they don’t care how a book is published as long as it’s a good story. It may take more time for the stigma to completely fade away, but I do think it will.

I would urge authors not to rush into anything. Consider what is best for you, and what’s best for the book. Think about your goals, too. Do you want to sell many copies, or are you happy just to put the book out there? Is it in a genre that sells well as an ebook? Are you willing to invest time and effort into making it a professional product? It’s easy to throw a book up on Kindle and hope for the best, but the more you think it through, the more comfortable you’ll be with the outcome.

To celebrate the release of her new book (Married to Measure,) and her christmas novella, Married by Midnight, Talli is giving you the chance to win a Kindle Fire HD 8GB. It’s open to anyone living in the UK & Europe, Canada and the US. There are a few ways you can enter and you can also enter as many times as you like. Just follow this link to see how to enter. The contest closes on 10th December (the day Marriage to Measure is released.)

To find out more about Talli and her novels, visit her website at http://www.talliroland.com/ or Amazon author page. 

You can also visit her blog: http://talliroland.blogspot.co.uk

You can also follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/talliroland and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talliroland

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Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.