Lulu: The Process of Self-Publishing “The Many Live of Inez Wick”
March 1st, 2011 § 1 Comment
Print – $14.00
eBook – $6.00
I’m puzzled, fascinated, and inspired by the emergence and overwhelming success of genre books featuring strong women protagonists, such as Sookie Stackhouse, Mercy Thompson, and Annja Creed to name a few. It’s not that I think there is no market for male leads in genre books, but the trend says that women are hot. Thus, I started to rethink my male protagonists. Could I insert a woman in a traditional male role like Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in Battlestar Galactica?
In environmental activism fiction, men rule the genre, attempting to live up to Edward Abbey’s character Hayduke. I wanted to see if I could insert a female lead character and still tell a successful environmental activism – action – story. Several of my early drafts were published about the internet, so I believed that there must be some market for both environmental activism fiction and environmental activism that starred a female protagonist that aspires to be like Hayduke.
My protagonist had many names in those early drafts, but I finally settled on Inez Wick. Inez, according to Think Baby Names, means “pure” and Wick, according to The Free Dictionary, is “A cord or strand of loosely woven, twisted, or braided fibers, as on a candle or oil lamp, that draws up fuel to the flame by capillary action.” Thus, to me Inez Wick means “the pure one who draws fuel to flame,” a good name for a protagonist who blows up those who pollute the environment.
Once I found my leading lady, I started to focus my attempts on writing an environmental activism – action – story. Early publishers and supporters of those first attempts include: Tuesday Serial, “The Bike Mechanic;” eFiction Magazine, “Apophis;” Evolve Journal, “Spilling Sunlight;” and The Hive Mind, “Beyond Peaking.” I owe all of these outlets a debt of gratitude for not only their support but for their motivation.
Then a light went off, a moment when everything seemed to fit. I had almost 40,000 words of loosely linked stories about an eco-heroine, well to be honest, a mostly tragic heroine. I got the idea to self-publish, mostly inspired by Tonya R. Moore’s online publishing success through Smashwords. However, Smashwords did not seem to fit my needs, so I looked at both Create Space and Lulu.
My wife, poet Jessica Fox-Wilson, author of Blameless Mouth, and I decided that we would jointly use Lulu to publish and distribute our books under our press name Everything Feeds Process. We like the ease of the publishing tools and book templates. The tools do take some getting used to, but I feel like a pro now. However, early on in the publishing process, I did have my share of frustrations.
My biggest frustration was in the selection of book size. I wanted a smaller sized book, something close to a mass-market book. However, after fully formatting and readying my book in the template, I discovered that the distribution package did not support the book size I initially wanted. I was disappointed. Yet, after holding a copy of the distribution supported sized book, I was relieved that it still looked and felt like a book. I’m very happy with the finished product.
Still, the cover options that are set in the Lulu cover tool look like amateur Power Point creations. I knew I wanted a cover that would pop and draw attention to my writing. As luck would have it, I work with a talented comic artist Bob Lipski, author and illustrator of Uptown Girl. He and I chatted, and I provided a physical description of Inez Wick. He then created the cover for the book. If you are interested, you can see the evolution of the cover on Lipski’s blog here: Cover Me.
Now that the book is out, I’m ramping up the self-promotion. I just started the Virtual Release Party, of which this post is a part. I started a Facebook page for the book a couple months ago, which is a fun place to discuss the themes in the stories. And I’ve also asked for help from many friends and fellow writers, including The Hive Mind (thanks for letting me ramble).
To close, if you like this post and want to know more about The Many Lives of Inez Wick or just want to chat, check out the Facebook page or my personal blog, Soulless Machine.
Excellent! Thanks for posting this one Aaron. Not only for the links to every where, but for giving us some feedback and insight into the process of getting Inez out there in print.