Like so many industries, publishing has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. My very first book, Falling in Love With Work, a Practical Guide to Reigniting Your Passion for Work, followed a very different path than The Stars That Guide Us. I had an agent for my first book, which is non-fiction. I wrote an eighty-page book proposal as to why any publisher should publish it, which, to be honest, was tortuous to write. The agent sent it to eight publishers, all of whom declined to publish it and, in the end, I self-published with help from Monkey C Media and Wheatmark. I knew very little about marketing or promotion. As I was still working full-time, I allocated almost no time to promoting the book once it was done. My marketing was limited to an earlier version of my website, where I tried to blog on a regular basis and an occasional blog for the Huffington Post, http://bit.ly/4bWW3FZ. (Google ‘Huffpost Denice Kronau’ to see more blogs.)
Fast forward twelve years, and it’s a brave new world. I’m working again with Monkey C Media, Jeniffer Thompson and her talented (and patient!) team, website link, and it’s made all the difference in the quality of my second novel. I’ve worked with a copy editor for content, Lillith Kendle, website link, a copy editor for copyediting the pesky grammar mistakes and inconsistencies, Sandra Yeaman, website link, a designer for the cover, for the interior layout, a proofreader for the final check to make sure everything looks perfect in the layout of the printed book as well as the e-version.
I like this brave new world. I like that I’m learning so much about what it takes to publish a (hopefully!) good book. I’ve said it before—there is nothing I’ve ever written that hasn’t been made better by having someone else read it and make corrections and suggestions, and this has been true for The Stars That Guide Us. Yes, the story is mine. The polish is not. That has come from the early readers (you know who you are!) and to the professionals who has shaped it into the book it is today.
I’ll admit that there were times I was disappointed with some of the suggested changes. I had written: “like a pugilistic squirrel going rounds in her stomach” to describe a moment when one of the characters was anxious about a situation. Out. Why? It was suggested that it brought the reader out of the moment, which is never a good thing. I still miss that damn squirrel. (Just wait, he will be in book three!) I learned to balance what I wanted with what was better for the book, which wasn’t that easy at the beginning. But then I thought, why hire professionals and not follow their guidance? There were a few cases where I chose not to make the suggested changes, but just a few.
I know now is not always, so let’s see what the future brings. While I can’t imagine how publishing will change, I believe that storytelling at its core will always be the same.
