When I first published several of my books, Water Lily Pond, Healing Disease 1 & 2, and Therapy, I did so without the help of any publishing agency. Out of the four, only two (Water Lily Pond and Therapy) sold copies.  The one thing these two had in common, besides being short, was the art work. So, when it came to publishing Crow, this was something that I kept in mind. Originally, I paid a private artist to do the book covers for me. But when it came to publishing, I knew that I was also facing another issue and that was promoting. Personally, I believe that one of the reasons why my books didn’t succeed was that I knew next to nothing about advertising. Yes, I did promote my work on my FB page and I even tried a countdown and yet it went nowhere. The hype was not there. The exposure my books needed- was severely lacking.

Before, I go any further, yes, I tried going through a traditional publisher, only to be shot down numerous times, even to have one publisher tell me that they were only looking for well-known authors…. Needless to say, I was frustrated.  This was when, I thought I’d give Amazon on more chance, but this time I’d do things differently. First, I’d go with the cover that the artist Greg Breslow had designed for me (instead of picking from their free covers). Then I’d see if Amazon offered any kind of promotion.

While I was looking for this on Fb, I ran across an ad for B&N publishing. I clicked on it, just to see what they offered and they got a hold of me and I decided to go with their services. I had two manuscripts ready for publishing and since I had the extra funds at the time, I decided to give B&N a shot. For the two manuscripts (Crow and Project November) it ended up being $625. I figured this wasn’t too bad, given that I was already planning to spend a decent amount through Amazon. To top it all off, I wouldn’t have to deal with the frustration of formatting the manuscript.

As I progressed through the process, I switched people I was working with numerous times. To the point it was hard for me to keep track. But eventually, it settled down and I started working with Nathan (who is the project director) and Sarah.

There was a little confusion at first, but once things got going, it was decided that Crow would be better suited for a curated 30-illustrated program. Amongst others things, this included cover design and I had to make the tough decision to go with the artwork that B&N was offering.  At first, I was concerned about the price ($3,500). But B&N was willing to work out a payment plan. Now this part is a bit of an experiment. When all of this is done, I’m hoping that the book will pay for itself. But if it doesn’t, then this will be the only time that I will do this program.

There is one other thing I’d like to note. Crow has been edited numerous times. But it never had any beta readers. I tried to get some, but no one was interested at the time. When Sarah took a look at it, she started sending me back sections of the manuscript that needed some basic touch up. This is why it is always good to have an editor go over your manuscript…there is bound to be something that you missed.

But anyway, that is why I went with a Hybrid publisher. So far B&N have been good to me. They have kept their word, even promising that if I’m unhappy with any of the process and wish to terminate the partnership, then they’d refund my money. So far, I have no reason to do so, in fact I’m fairly content with the service provided and I look forward to the next couple of steps of publishing.

Sincerely,

Richard Polk