Blessed & Curvy

The Journey of a Self-Published Author vs. a Traditional Author — and How You Can Support For many writers, the dream of seeing their name on the cover of a book has two main paths — traditional publishing or self-publishing. Both routes have their challenges, rewards, and misconceptions. As an author who has chosen the self-publishing journey, I’m often asked, “What’s the difference, and how can we support you?” Traditional Publishing Traditionally published authors sign with a publishing house, big or small. These companies handle editing, cover design, marketing, distribution, and placement in bookstores. The author may receive an advance but earns royalties on sales. Traditional publishing can provide credibility and visibility, but the process is highly competitive. Agents, query letters, and rejections are part of the norm. Creative control is often limited, with publishers having the final say on edits, covers, and sometimes even the title. Self-Publishing Self-published authors...

Whenever I am at an event for a book signing I am always approached with a reader who has a story that they want to write a book about. I have only a few minutes between greeting and signing a book so I advise them to either reach out to myself later for details or do your due diligence and research. We all have a story to share with someone on various subjects that goes into various categories of books. I chose for myself when I was starting out to write about poetry and later I started writing nonfiction.  How did I start? I decided to write a book after the passing of my mother who had Alzheimer’s. It was what my determination was to publish a book and I didn’t know where to start.   I reached out to my niece who had written a book and she sent me information on self publishing. I chose self publishing versus traditional because I wanted to have the control of writing on subjects that I wanted and not feel boxed in. I love the internet because you’re...

I am asked all the time once someone knows that I am a writer. How did you publish your book? I tell everyone that I started writing in my journal and once I had enough content I started taking pieces and putting them into the outline. I challenged myself to write poetry and nonfiction with the outcome that the reader would find motivation. I wanted the reader to take what I had wrote and relate in some parts to the topics. Then I started doing my research with other writers on what they were doing. I also used Google to find self published publishers over traditional. Once I felt that there was a relationship I read all of the contract before signing on the dotted line. I uploaded my manuscript and the work began. I was contacted to give a synopsis of what the book was about, where did I want it to be sold, how many pages was the book. What type of formatting did I want to use, the color of the pages and lastly help in selecting the book cover. Again resea...