The Joke (Depending on How You Look at It)
The subject of my novel came up at the dinner table the other night, and when I said to my daughter, “Yes, I’m publishing it,” she said that she knew I would someday, and I said, “No, it’s being published right now.” Well, you would have thought I’d told her I was destined to be the next Stephenie Meyer – she bubbled over with so 
much excitement I thought she was going to hyperventilate. She exclaimed, “Yeah! Mom, you found a publisher!”
And then I honestly, but proudly, told her, “No, I’m publishing it myself. I’m self publishing,” and I stood just a little bit taller, in defiance.
I’ve never seen an expression change so quickly – she stopped in mid giggle, in mid smile – changed the expression to one of bland pity – and just said “Oh.” Apparently she thought it was too patronizing to be happy for me self -publishing a book. Like, “oops, I shouldn’t have said anything – how embarrassing .”
And I’d just gotten over the vanity of thinking I had to be published by a traditional publisher! Sucker-punched by my own child – the one I gave birth to, painfully I might add.
Who said knock-out punches and Grand Slams only happened in the sports world??
The Reality
The reality is that it took me way too long to get over the vanity of thinking that my book wasn’t a great, marketable book just because I wasn’t going through the traditional publisher route. Today’s reality is that an author must do most of the marketing work themselves anyway, so why not self publish? The goal is to get the book out there, and that’s just what I’m doing. Hopefully it will be ready in the next few weeks! (But thanks, daughter, for reinforcing my belief in my own book – it just got a little stronger!)
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