Having said that I was sending my book manuscript to publishers I decided that I wasn’t up to receiving a deluge of rejection letters, or worse, hearing nothing. Even if was successful I didn’t want to wait two years to see it in print.
So I have taken the plunge and self-published my book on Amazon. Following a very steep learning curve Finding the Plot: Notes from the Allotment is now live!
I have been very excited by the whole process, living on adrenaline for the last two weeks as I experimented with cover designs and corrected incompatible file extensions and formatting errors.
One of the final, and hardest, decisions was choosing how visible I wanted to be, whether I added this blog address and other social media platforms to what I affectionately call my Non-Bio.
My technological skills and grasp of digital marketing are non-existent and I baulk even at the mention of promoting or publicizing my work. Although I want to share my book, I am nervous about putting my head above the parapet, revealing more of myself than I am comfortable with.
Many writers have sleek and glossy websites, showcasing impressive writing credentials, celebrity endorsements and millions of followers. I, on the other hand, have a disparate array of cobbled-together, unbranded, social media accounts which I use inconsistently, none of which are professionally designed.
Because of this I initially decided not to add any contact details to my author page until I could access the knowledge and resources needed to create a more cohesive public profile.
However, the arrival of the Corona virus and subsequent lockdown has seen a change in how we are showing up in the world.
We have seen a willingness to be vulnerable, to drop the pretence that everything is rosy and to admit to our worst fears and anxieties.
The discovery, or reawakening, of hidden talents has led to an outpouring of creativity, of messy exploration and unbridled self-expression that has brought joy and laughter to millions.
It seems that being real, showing up as we are, fully giving of ourselves in the moment, has become more important than protecting the false image of how we would like people to see us.
Self-acceptance and honouring our ordinariness are key themes in Finding the Plot, so it seems entirely fitting that I have chosen to lead by example and add my less-than-perfect medley of websites to my author profile!
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