Hello Everyone, this is our second interview this week about self-publishing. We know some of our readers are in the process of writing their own manuscripts and figuring out which publishing road to take. Since we have become connected with many authors that have used various publishing sources we wanted to share with you a few perspectives on self-publishing.
We will be hosting a live author chat with Yvonne Perry Tuesday May 10th. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details.
Yvonne, Stacy and I are in the process of reading your books to share with our readers. One of the things that caught my eye was that you published with CreateSpace.
1. Can you begin by telling us about yourself and how you became an author?
I am the mother of two children, stepmother of three, and grandmother of eleven. My family is the joy of my life. However, I also enjoy helping people discover a life of love and joy that comes from the knowledge that we are one with our Creator and each other. I am the host of We Are One in Spirit Podcast, a talk show that offers people a chance to discuss their spiritual experiences. I have a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology.
I first became an author in 2004 when I self-published Email Episodes, my humorous book, which was about my midlife crisis. This was the same year I quit my corporate job and began my own freelance writing business, Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services http://writersinthesky.com. There wasn’t as many options for publishing back then. Publish-on-demand companies were just coming on the scene and they charged quite a bit up front and had a bad reputation among conventional publishers and bookstores.
2. Why did you pick CreateSpace over other platforms?
I picked Createspace due to my experience with self-publishing and publish-on-demand companies:
I published More Than Meets the Eye ~ True Stories About Death, Dying, and Afterlife through Booksurge (now owned by Amazon) in 2005. A good experience overall but they charged a set-up fee, and I had trouble getting my file to meet their guidelines for submission, and each revised upload costs additional money.
Right to Recover ~ Winning the Political and Religious Wars Over Stem Cell Research in America was published through a medium-sized independent publishing house in 2007. I do not own all the rights to this book and can’t even turn it into an e-book. The company wants to charge me to keep the book off the backlist. A bad experience all around.
In 2009, The Sid Series ~ A Collection of Holistic Stories for Children was self-published through Lightning Source. A good experience overall but they have a set-up fee, a yearly catalog fee, stringent guidelines for file submission, and each revised upload cost additional money.
3. You self-published your children’s book with Lightning Source. Why did you choose to publish with CreateSpace for your latest book about empathy?
I had heard about CS from an author friend who had a great experience with them. Her book looked fabulous but I decided to test the waters by publishing a book of poetry that I had saved on my computer and never done anything with. Stockpiled Poetry: Introspective Thoughts About Life, God, and Other Stuff That Can't Be Explained turned out great, so I decided to use CS for my empath book, Whose Stuff Is This?: Finding Freedom from the Negative Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You. A very positive experience indeed.
