Choosing to jump into the wide world of self-publishing is a major leap, one that initially might make a novice feel as if he/she stepped into a mucky lake of quicksand, fated to drown with eyes wide open. Like most things, the steps to writing-publishing-basking in the rays of sweet success sound easy enough in theory. But shifting from theorization (sweet daydreams) to practice (grim reality) unveils just how many steps/options/choices/roadblocks exist for an author’s consideration and handling - all supposedly meant to help get that ‘one-book-among-thousands’ in the hands of numerous readers. The challenge can feel slightly (gruelingly) overwhelming. Did someone just grumble *hell*?
Well, fortunately, this path is not uncharted.
In fact, I’ve discovered a delightful perk to this journey. There happen to be many talented and hopeful individuals traveling the same road, all with unique tried-and-proven experiences in self-publishing. And these ambitious people have come together in numerous groups and forums for the sole purpose of sharing what has worked for them while gaining new ideas and feedback from those who’ve taken diverse forks in the road. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the many kind authors who’ve shared ways to publish and advertise books. I’ve done my best to share in return the things I’ve found useful. What a joy it’s been to make new friends, to lend a helping hand to the self-published, and to learn!
Knowing how powerful word-of-mouth is for the self-published author, I’ve decided to interview a few of the authors I’ve been privileged to meet online. I can say truthfully that even though we range diversely in our preferred book genres, these are some amazing people! I hope that you find their stories as interesting as I have.
In his own words, here’s a little history about
Darren….
“I started out with a dream of being a cartoonist. I guess at the time the big Peanuts and Garfield popularity was on and I dreamt of moving to America and syndicating a strip; oh how naïve I was! I gradually found the small press and began self-publishing my own comic/zine. It was the mid-1990s and I was a 20 something stuck in the youth culture of rave music. I partied every night away and therefore my cartoons reflected heavy on the psychedelic experience.
“Comics are a strange hybrid between art and literature and as I progressed I came to realize that I was swaying more over to the writing side. The other major contributing factor for the switch was I got married and had children, my life was longer psychedelic and also I had no time in which to draw. This is when I began writing a few comics for others to draw and when the kids were born I had to leave it at that for the time being.
“When I bought a kindle and realized I could self-publish on it I was back off on a new mission of writing humorous eBooks. This was last year, 2012 and it felt like a natural progression and oh, how I missed the love of self-publishing my thoughts. So I got to work, always wanting to try writing a novel I had begun some years ago.
“I wrote a quick book to test the water; a parody of the Da Vinci Code, The Hargreaves Code, is probably my best seller. Given the thought that if Dan Brown can make the masses believe what he did then how ludicrous could I make a conspiracy theory believable? I call it a half-baked parody, being that although it relies heavy on mocking the Dan Brown book it also has its own concept and narrative.
“Since then I have finished the satirical book I was writing prior to finding KPD, "This Night That Night," and from there I have released a quick book of nonsensical poems, a horror satire
surrounding the X-Factor TV show called "The Hex factor," and an outright crazy parody of the Terminator movie, "The Perminator." My latest book is a dark thriller, "Saffron," in which I try for the first time to break away from the humor market. It should be noted that all my books are aimed at adult market and do contain adult themes - I like it this way but also would love to write children's books. I may well give that a go under a different name.
“My self-publishing experience in both books and comics means I am always networking and supporting others works, I believe that this is very important in self-marketing and, well it’s good to make friends with likeminded tendencies! Therefore I write interviews and articles for Self Publisher Magazine. And that is all about me!”
You can learn more about Darren Worrow and his books by visiting his website at www.darrenworrow.webs.com
Well, fortunately, this path is not uncharted.
In fact, I’ve discovered a delightful perk to this journey. There happen to be many talented and hopeful individuals traveling the same road, all with unique tried-and-proven experiences in self-publishing. And these ambitious people have come together in numerous groups and forums for the sole purpose of sharing what has worked for them while gaining new ideas and feedback from those who’ve taken diverse forks in the road. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the many kind authors who’ve shared ways to publish and advertise books. I’ve done my best to share in return the things I’ve found useful. What a joy it’s been to make new friends, to lend a helping hand to the self-published, and to learn!
Knowing how powerful word-of-mouth is for the self-published author, I’ve decided to interview a few of the authors I’ve been privileged to meet online. I can say truthfully that even though we range diversely in our preferred book genres, these are some amazing people! I hope that you find their stories as interesting as I have.
*******
I met Darren Worrow when invited to join a Goodreads.com writers
forum entitled, ‘Kindle Marketing – Book Grow’.
I discovered right off that he was a friendly and comical character. Darren has a number of self-published books
available including:
All of
these books can be found on Goodreads.com.
“I started out with a dream of being a cartoonist. I guess at the time the big Peanuts and Garfield popularity was on and I dreamt of moving to America and syndicating a strip; oh how naïve I was! I gradually found the small press and began self-publishing my own comic/zine. It was the mid-1990s and I was a 20 something stuck in the youth culture of rave music. I partied every night away and therefore my cartoons reflected heavy on the psychedelic experience.
“Comics are a strange hybrid between art and literature and as I progressed I came to realize that I was swaying more over to the writing side. The other major contributing factor for the switch was I got married and had children, my life was longer psychedelic and also I had no time in which to draw. This is when I began writing a few comics for others to draw and when the kids were born I had to leave it at that for the time being.
“When I bought a kindle and realized I could self-publish on it I was back off on a new mission of writing humorous eBooks. This was last year, 2012 and it felt like a natural progression and oh, how I missed the love of self-publishing my thoughts. So I got to work, always wanting to try writing a novel I had begun some years ago.
“I wrote a quick book to test the water; a parody of the Da Vinci Code, The Hargreaves Code, is probably my best seller. Given the thought that if Dan Brown can make the masses believe what he did then how ludicrous could I make a conspiracy theory believable? I call it a half-baked parody, being that although it relies heavy on mocking the Dan Brown book it also has its own concept and narrative.
“Since then I have finished the satirical book I was writing prior to finding KPD, "This Night That Night," and from there I have released a quick book of nonsensical poems, a horror satire
surrounding the X-Factor TV show called "The Hex factor," and an outright crazy parody of the Terminator movie, "The Perminator." My latest book is a dark thriller, "Saffron," in which I try for the first time to break away from the humor market. It should be noted that all my books are aimed at adult market and do contain adult themes - I like it this way but also would love to write children's books. I may well give that a go under a different name.
“My self-publishing experience in both books and comics means I am always networking and supporting others works, I believe that this is very important in self-marketing and, well it’s good to make friends with likeminded tendencies! Therefore I write interviews and articles for Self Publisher Magazine. And that is all about me!”
You can learn more about Darren Worrow and his books by visiting his website at www.darrenworrow.webs.com
