Have you ever wanted something so badly, but had no patience to wait to get it? No patience to see whatever it was you wanted to happen come to fruition? Or perhaps you felt the thing you wanted would be better done yourself instead of allowing someone else to do it. Well, I guess you can say I am guilty of all the above.

My debut novel has been a long time in the making, years, in fact; from the first thought to the final word written. It wasn’t a continuous writing journey. There were several lapses of non-writing time due to the extensive traveling I did for work. But then everything settled down and I once again had free time to put pen to paper.

And because I had invested so much of my time into writing the story, it became my fourth child. I nurtured it and took pride as I completed each chapter. Then this past June, my novel was done. A decision had to be made. A BIG decision. Do I write a query letter and a synopsis and send them to every publishing house I can locate?  Or do I research the self-publishing route, which is now called Indie Publishing.

My novel had all my emotions wrapped up into, as well as time. I was scared of what changes I would have to make, if, by the Grace of God, my manuscript was accepted by a publisher or agent. I’ve read articles upon articles throughout the years of edits an author has to do until the novel meets everyone’s satisfaction. I’ve also read that the turnaround time is long. Mighty long. My impatient inner-self did not like the sound of waiting for an acceptance. Would I give up after receiving the first rejection letter? Would I have an anxiety attack? Would a rejection destroy my motivation to write other books (I am currently working on my second novel and have a third one part way done as well)?

So then I thought about Indie Publishing. I signed up for free brochures, which also included my inbox getting slammed by several companies who said they can help me…for a cost. The fees were staggering. There was no way I could afford thousands of dollars up front. Then I heard about CreateSpace, a division of Amazon. I must say I was very impressed. No up-front fees (unless you want them to do the formatting, the editing, etc). I read the community site posts and many seemed pleased with their experience.

After much thought, I decided to give CreateSpace a try. It has been quite an adventure, to say the least. I had received a proof (there is a cost, but only a few dollars, pending the size of your book). I also received a digital proof, which I read through and compared against the hard copy. I made notes on the pages where changes needed to be made, edited, then re-edited, then reviewed the entire manuscript again, reformatted the file, re-read the manuscript, etc. Having a daughter who is a literature/journalism major was a huge help. I know I drove her crazy.

Now I await the arrival of the second proof. If all is well, then my debut novel, SAVING ALESSANDRA, will soon be released.

Christine Maria Jahn