Local Author Shares Self-Publishing Journey with Wednesday Study Club
Kristi Self, loan processor at InCommons Bank in Rosebud and a self-published author of several inspirational historical romances, told members of the Wednesday Study Club at their October 8 meeting how she began writing and how she got into self-publishing.
Self said that she was an only child, and she loved the stories her mother read to her. “Her voice would give out before I gave out. . . . When we went to the store, I always got a new Little Golden Reader. I couldn’t read, but I would look at the pictures and make up a story to go with them,” while her mother shopped. She actually began writing stories when she was about eight years old. “Then, when the teacher started giving us creative writing prompts as preparation for the standardized tests given at that time, “I thought that was the greatest thing yet.”
She majored in music at Howard Payne in Brownwood and pretty much quit writing because of the hours that practice and performance demanded of a music major. Later, she also became discouraged because she couldn’t get published and put writing on the back burner for a couple of years until an eye problem and two surgeries acted as a wake-up call. She thought to herself, “I’ve been wasting time.” She went back to writing just for herself, friends, and family until friends showed her the possibilities of self-publishing. In 2017, she started her first published book.
The settings for her books are Victorian England. Her protagonist for her first book was a young woman who ran away to escape an intolerable marriage. She settled in a village where she taught piano. The title of that first book is “The Piano Teacher.” She finished her fourth book in 2020 during the pandemic.
In talking about selfpublishing, she said that you can publish on Amazon. There is no charge, but Amazon takes a percentage of the royalties. She had a friend who knew a little about marketing, who helped her. She also hired an editor whom she found on the internet. Self showed the group a proof copy of her next book, “The Christmas Cottage,” which will come out next month November 7.
Self told members that it takes 9-10 months to get a book out. “In publishing from home, you don’t have a publisher to help you. Writing is solitary. Publishing definitely is not.” Self has an editor, a friend who helps her with marketing, a friend who is good at formatting (changing a typescript into book form), and a cover designer who helps her with the publishing.
At the end of her presentation, she displayed copies of her published books and answered many questions from the audience. A tidbit that came out of the Q&A session was that she writes basically for an American audience, but for some unknown reason, she also sells well in Japan.
The group then enjoyed a salad luncheon consisting of a layered salad, broccoli salad, blackeyed-pea and corn salad, devilled eggs, cheese bits, crackers, pecan pie muffins, and a spice cake with pecans and chocolate chips. Hostesses were Carol Stock, Mary Pratt, Janice Ballard, and Judy Smith.