When Is Our Work Publishable?

Under traditional means, we normally have a filter in the form of an agent or editor telling us when a story is ready for its close-up. But when you go indie, the onus is all on you.

How do you know when your story is ready to tell? A lot of the decision lies in being honest about our writing ability. Unfortunately, we're excellent liars--at least to ourselves. We're not good judges of our work until we've had a little experience behind the 8-ball.

Me, with my doubting-Thomas persona deliberately waited until I'd had a few novels vetted and published by professionals before I ever attempted self-publishing.

Today, I'm visiting with Misha Gericke where we can discuss just that. Misha is a talented writer who runs a wildly popular blog. All the cool kids follow her!

I hope you'll pop in and join in on the conversation. Add your two pence. I'd love to hear your opinion on what defines a state of readiness. See you at Misha's!

Comments

Angela saidā€¦
At least, having traditionally published novels already out, you had a jumping off place for your indie career, right?
Jayne saidā€¦
Great advice over there, Maria. :-)
Michelle Fayard saidā€¦
This is great advice, Maria. For those of us who want to be traditionally published, maybe a question we could ask ourselves is whether we think our manuscript would be ready for self-publication. If the answer is "yes," then we'll know we stand a much greater chance of catching an agent or editor's eye.
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Angela: I don't think I would've attempted an indie run without having been published traditionally. I needed someone (who was paying cash money) to tell me I was ready.

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Jayne! So good to see you!

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Michelle: The key is being able to answer honestly.
Jackie saidā€¦
Going to take a look after I eat a very late lunch...
Shelley Munro saidā€¦
See, this is what worries me. After all my books behind me I still worry about if I'm good enough. Doubt demons are horrid!
Maria Zannini saidā€¦
Shelley: This shocks me about you. I expected it of myself, but not you. I was kinda hoping you'd tell me it'll get easier. LOL.