Martha Kennedy posted: " A comment this morning made me think about "why." This is a really interesting question because indie publishing has opened up a new answer to that question "Why publish my book?"The new answer? "Because I want to." These are all books I published" "Summer is the season of inferior sledding" - Inuit proverb (Women's Wilderness Legend)
A comment this morning made me think about "why." This is a really interesting question because indie publishing has opened up a new answer to that question "Why publish my book?"
The new answer? "Because I want to."
These are all books I published -- I'd say more accurately designed and had printed -- because I wanted to with really no thought (or illusion?) anyone would want to read them. Three of them have been for sale, but will not always be. Three of them will never be for sale.
Why do that? The simple reason is that I enjoy the creative challenge of designing a book. In the case of THESE books there is something more. Fledging (red book) is my first novel. When I found the typed manuscript some time back, I decided to honor that young 20 something woman, her typewriter, that life moment, her romantic and life challenges. I gently edited her book and "published" it. I printed two -- one for me, and the other for a woman I regard as my "real" mom, a mom of the heart. She got it 100% and shared her similar story which is now folded among the pages of this story. I love this book, but no one needs to read it.
Boys on Bikes has a similar story. When I was in my late 30s, early 40s I hung out with the junior high age boys who lived in my hood. It was a unique experience, I think, cinematic, and beautiful. BUT the story belongs only to me and the boys. I "published" two copies. One for me, and one for one of the boys with whom I'm still in contact. I've found all the photos I have of that time and put them in his copy and I'll send it all to him soon. I need to write a little letter to go with it.
Il Treno was written in response to a call for Goethe stories. Goethe has a big role in this story, but the story is an autobiographical story of a journey to Italy in which I had to overcome a broken heart and anger to get something good out of a ten day peregrination when all I really wanted to do was go home. The magazine loved the story, but it didn't fit their theme which was Goethe as a scientist. "Beautiful, literary writing. We're sorry we can't use it." Again, the only other reader of this book is my "real" mom.
Each of these books honors an experience, a woman I was once, a stop along the way. The other three are similar, and, for now, they're all for sale. Originally I wasn't going to make Finding Refuge (my life with cranes, dogs and nature during 2020) public, but people have bought it and loved it which is really wonderful and unexpected. Who Cares If There's Life on Mars? is a collection of my short stories compiled in honor of a former boyfriend who died of HIV/AIDS. I don't think anyone has bought it, and I'm not sure it's still for sale. I don't care about selling it. I just felt Peter deserved a beautiful book and I wanted my stories in one place. My little poetry chapbook is familiar to anyone who reads this blog, but it, too, was just a project to design a chapbook and put my recent sonnets together in one place in honor of my dad.
Projects like these have their place, I think, and I also think it's a really great aspect of indie publishing that we can do this now.
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