Tag: news from the self publishing world

And now for the news.

Highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing:

• New Titles from Self-Publishers

In what has been a relatively slow week for publishing overall, it’s really comforting to see that self-publishing hasn’t slowed down much, especially when compared to the traditional publishing market, which has seen publication dates pushed back up to six months and sometimes even more. It’s also fun to see a book that has been on our radar for a while, Sharon Traner’s A Striving After Wind, hit the new release lists. Doubtless you’ll be hearing more about her work both here on the blog and elsewhere, especially when Volume 2 is released.

• How Jasmine Womack is Helping Black Writers Get Their Stories Told

Janice Gassam of Forbes brings us the week’s most interesting profile of an individual involved in the world of self-publishing: Jasmine Womack, a woman who “has made it her mission to ‘help leaders transform, communicate, and connect with others through storytelling.'” As she notes in her interview with Gassam, Womack’s specialty lies in identifying and encouraging leaders who have a story to tell establish a platform through which to share the lessons they’ve learned and widen the reach of their credibility by publishing books based on their expertise. Says Womack, “The laws that used to exist no longer exist. So, we have a responsibility to put meaningful content into the world because at one time, we weren’t even allowed to open up a book.” Her great, great, great grandmother was a slave, she points out, and her grandmother had to finish her schooling around the sixth grade in order to help provide for family. For Womack, the need to create is also a need to reclaim co-opted stories: “we have the power to create our own narrative and tell our own stories and not just rely or depend on the perspective of our stories about our people or about our lives to be told by other people who have no knowledge of us or no knowledge of what it means to be Black.” She points out that self-publishing allows Black authors a unique opportunity to skip the gatekeepers and maintain “control over your work,” a critical necessity when seeking to embrace authenticity and reclaim one’s story. 

Gassam’s interview with Womack is well worth reading in its entirety, and we hope you’ll do so! She explains in even more detail the role that self-publishing plays in her work with authors and entrepreneurs.

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

And now for the news.

Highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing:

• Mom writes children’s book about bubbles to explain social distancing to kids

Now here is some news both adorable and useful! Mother of two Tara Travieso self-published a book explaining the need for social distancing as a response to COVID-19 after refining a metaphor she had already been using (and seeing some success in communicating) with her own children: bubbles! (We all can appreciate bubbles.) Katie Kindelan of ABC News covers the mother’s story, writing that

When she saw how quickly her own daughters took to the idea, and got positive feedback from other parents with whom she shared the idea, Travieso got to work writing a children’s book.

Just six weeks later, Travieso self-published her first book, Billie and the Brilliant Bubble: Social Distancing for Children.

Kindelan goes on to summarize the many challenges Travieso faced while finishing her first children’s book, from acquiring an ISBN to locating an illustrator to finding the time to write while also working full time and splitting household responsibilities with her husband. The book “tells the story of a young girl named Billie who has an imaginary bubble to keep her safe, according to Travieso. It follows Billie as she goes to a park and meets new friends, who learn about her imaginary bubble and then want one themselves.” And while popping another person’s bubble is not at present a thing Billie wants to do, out of care and respect for others, the book does end on a hopeful note––with Billie expressing excitement over the future day when it will be a thing of joy to pop one’s own bubble and emerge into a safer, bubble-reduced world.

• 92-year-old discovers new life as author

It’s such a marvel to be living in the day and age we are––a day and age with plenty of difficulties, it’s true, but one which is also full of opportunities we wouldn’t have dreamed of even two or three generations ago. Enter stage left 92-year-old Mary Alice Baluck, who currently resides in a senior living community. As Raymond Smith of the Tribune Today notes, the seed that would flower into Baluck’s first self-published novel, Heaven’s Doorway, were planted around forty years ago––proving that there’s no putting a time limit on the creative work of a writer’s imagination. (As more than one writing professor has stated, “Nothing is ever wasted.”) Baluck is already working on finishing her second novel, and has plans for a children’s book as well. Smith quotes Baluck:

“My husband passed away in 1999, and although I had always written short stories and poetry as a pastime, I had never seriously thought of writing and publishing anything until he died,” she said.

And we’re so very glad she did, because her novel sounds fascinating! An intergenerational saga set near Lake Eerie, Heaven’s Gate was self-published only months before Baluck’s 93rd birthday. 

Remember this: It’s never too late to get started!

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.