Local Self-Published Authors Are Ready For Success

By Nancy K. Crevier

While neither knows the other, two Newtown authors are joined in the same endeavor: self-publication of their works. For both of these women, promoting themselves and their writing was not the issue. What was important was maintaining control over decisions about the final publication and ending up with a quality product.

Self-publication, in which the author foots all of the overhead costs, is a way of doing so. Promoted as an easy way to put their product in the marketplace, Shelby McChord and Nancy Lee Schulz had varied experiences with the two of just hundreds — maybe thousands — of self-publishing firms from which an aspiring author may choose.

Shelby McChord is the author of A to Z with Dogs, a children’s book she has written and illustrated. Originally a project for a children’s literature course she took at the University of Vermont in 1977, A to Z with Dogs took the backseat after a Boston publishing house told the young McChord that she was “trying to accomplish too much,” with her alphabet book. “‘A’ is for ‘apple’ was probably enough for kids in 1977,” she muses. “‘Massive’ and ‘Mastiff’ were probably more than they thought kids could handle. Kids nowadays are exposed to so much more education.”

Discouraged by the mainstream publishers, she set aside her dotty Dalmatians and bullying bulldogs to spend the next 25 years as manager of creative services at Champion International in Stamford and navigating the stay-at-home mom life with her three children. Her cavorting canines, however, were not totally forgotten.

In 2003, with her oldest son starting college and her younger two close on his heels, Ms McChord began to look forward to a third career. She had continued to draw and write through her stay-at-home years, even designing greeting cards for the Airedale Rescue League. Rather than let sleeping dogs lie, she dusted off her spiral-bound project and started looking at the possibility of taking A to Z with Dogs to print at long last.

An uncle, a cousin, and her husband, Holt McChord, had self-published books. Encouraged by their success — “They were successful for what they wanted to do” — she decided to take the plunge. Finding a self-publishing company that required no contract was a priority, as was making certain the book was copyrighted. In November 2003, after researching many online self-publishers, she contracted with an online self-publishing company that met her criteria to handle her book.

Has self-publication been an easy trail to travel?

“Thank God, I have kids,” she exclaims, running her hand through her hair. “Being computer literate would’ve helped.”

The company required her to do everything online. For Ms McChord this meant learning to use a scanner and unfamiliar computer programs. She was responsible for cleaning up every scratch, smudge and smear on her artwork, and needed to cut, paste, and move around type for every page before submitting it on disc to the company.

For someone to whom “cut and paste” meant literally taking out the scissors and glue, transferring the skills to computer was not an easy task. She laughs as she says, “I cried a lot and Austin [her eldest] helped when he came home from college.”

Even numerous proof-readings, resubmissions, and endless hours on Photoshop did not prevent errors, however, and Ms McChord paid extra each time for corrections. One hard copy came back to her with the “H” page missing entirely, another missing all of the copy for “Z,” despite being on the disc. Final cost? Close to $3,000.

With the continued encouragement of her family and her dogs, Lily, a pug, and Pearl, an Airedale, A to Z with Dogs is at last in print and available at BookSurge.com and Amazon.com.

With a clean, hard copy in hand, she is awaiting the delivery of her 150 hardcover, cloth-spine books. If she chooses to promote the book, the task will be left entirely up to this self-published author, with no professional advice or support.

Despite the frustrations she encountered, Ms McChord plans to self-publish again, and encourages other unknown authors to do so. Mainstream publishers, she feels, want a polished prototype from unknown authors. Self-publishing “gives you a beautiful finished product to present,” she emphasizes.

Self Help, Self-Published

Dirt Rich: The New American Gentry is the title of Nancy Lee Schulz’s venture into self-publication. The book is currently available at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and iUniversal.com.

The subtitle, Living in an Affluent Neighborhood on NO MONEY really gets to the core of this self-help book, which, like Shelby McChord’s work, languished in the drawer for many years after its conception. Paralleling Ms McChord again, Dr Schulz steered her way through careers (as a singer, a substitute teacher in Newtown, and as a psychiatric aide at Fairfield Hills) and raised two children. A divorce and remarriage along the way added to the distraction of publishing her book.

The thread that held things together through her life, though, was writing. Two years ago she pulled out her notes for Dirt Rich that had survived a house fire in 1985, and asked herself, “Why did these survive when so many other things did not?” A doctor of psychology since 1998, Dr Schulz felt she had a calling to help people find their gifts, determine what is their purpose on earth.

So what does being “dirt rich” have to do with that? And what exactly is the new American gentry?

“Having no money can be a blessing if you recognize what brings you joy,” says Dr Schulz, a Newtown resident since 1969. “Noticing what you have is key.” Her book, which she describes as funny (“Life’s a hoot!”), practical (“Life’s not always simple.”), and deep (“Being here in the moment.”), addresses the angst people feel when they are restricted by old rules and ways (the “old” gentry).

Also an early victim of negative mainstream publishers, Ms Schulz decided that self-publication was the best way to get her message out. On a neighbor’s recommendation, she chose an online publisher that, like Ms McChord’s self-publisher, works without a contract and allows Dr Schulz to retain the copyright. After taking her own advice to “Put your head down and do the work,” she spent more than a year and a half rewriting. A representative was assigned to help her with any questions, and specific editorial comments were provided for her consideration.

Because she had used computers for years and was dealing only with type, no color illustrations, she found herself easily navigating the website as she went along. Dirt Rich was submitted electronically in September 2004 and appeared in print on December 10.

The company’s response to her book was nothing short of thrilling. Being awarded the Editor’s Choice Award, an honor that only the top five percent of submitted materials receive, was a confidence builder. “When you decide to do your best, that’s what makes the new American gentry!” she exclaims.

Any frustration she felt in self-publishing was, she says, of her own making. Maintaining faith in herself and focusing on the task meant she had to rely on herself a lot. She did not want to run for help each time she encountered a glitch, despite the accessibility of the self-publisher’s staff. Nonetheless, there were occasions that called for a helping hand. Not knowing how to handle the graphics for sketches and the cover, she hired Tweak Designs of Newtown to come to her aide. It was money well spent for a service not provided by the self-publishing company.

What does $1,000 get her besides lovely hard-covered books? Promotional materials for advertising, booksigning banners, bookmarks, and tips on public relations are part of the package.

Dr Schulz plans to take advantage of the marketing techniques given, as well as the solid advice on how to get the book reviewed. She hopes that her March 13 book signing at Booth Library will be the first step in achieving her goal: To see if she can do some good with this book.

An industry criticism of self-publication is that self-published books get lost in the thousands of other titles listed on Amazon.com and the self-publishing companies’ websites, and that selling the product to the public is the difficult element self-publication companies do not warn would-be authors about, nor do they lend much support toward that effort.

Because Ms McChord’s motive was to end up with a finished product to present for selling elsewhere, she is not at all worried about A to Z with Dogs going adrift in cyberspace.

Dr Schulz, on the other hand, uses strategies that she hopes will ensure Dirt Rich does not get buried. Online descriptions of her book, connecting it with those of well-known authors in the self-help genre, is one technique she uses.

“Of course I worry,” stresses Dr Schulz, “It’s very, very hard. The best I can do is align myself with the books [listed on Amazon] that are most like me.”

So, in a dog-eat-dog world, these newly published Newtown authors venture forth to take on the world of words via self-publication. If it worked for Walt Whitman, who’s to say it can’t work for them?