Cynthia Ayala \/\/ Blog Writer<\/p>\n
I was seventeen when I published my first novel. It was awful; I regret it every day. The book, not the experience. But it taught me so much and even though I look back and wish I had spent way more time on the editing and cover design, that was the moment I decided that I wanted to be a publisher, not just a writer.<\/p>\n
It was tough at first. I sent out my novel to small publishers and literary agents, getting rejection letter after rejection letter. If I knew then what I knew now I would have realized that my novel was not ready to be published on any level. But I didn\u2019t. I felt deflated and depressed much of the time, wondering if I was good at all at my dream. I spent days at my desk typing, forgetting to eat, until my mom would call me asking what I had for lunch. Then I would just sit there at 6 pm every day, wondering why I was still writing when no one but my mom and boyfriend at the time were the only ones believing in me, when I didn\u2019t believe in myself.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t get to go to Emerson when I wanted. I had to defer twice due to some financial issues, which just deflated me even more, and for a while I started to stop believing in myself. But the time passed and I continued writing and I spent that time writing my Harry Potter fan fiction that people were loving, and it was through those reviews that I started to believe in myself and my ability to write again. And when I finally went to Emerson, I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted to do with my life.<\/p>\n
And it happened again. I had to take some more time off from school after my sophomore year because I didn\u2019t get on-campus housing and I was unable to find an affordable apartment before I returned to Florida. So I took that time a year and a half and I got a part time job at the movie theater by my house and I worked on my novel Blood Hunger. I also decided that I didn\u2019t want this novel to have anything to do with my previous work so I picked up a pseudonym, Nia Dragin. Nia was a nickname of a character I wrote about and I loved that character \u2013 she was all kinds of bad but with a good heart she tried to hide. And the Dragin came from my love of dragons. And that was that. I remember I did some research on printing my novel and what happened was I came upon Gorham Printing services and they sent me this free booklet on preparing a book for printing. I still keep it, even though I know how to do things better just because it\u2019s a good resource to have around. It helped me along in my way and got me started on the path I\u2019m at now. I came up with a rudimentary logo that was \u201cNia Dragin Books\u201d in some fancy illegible font in a black circle and I searched for an artist. I eventually found this great guy who did amazing work who said he would do it, I just had to send him a copy of the book when he was done. It was great! The cover came out just how I wanted it to, it looked perfect.<\/p>\n
When I got my first proof copy I was thrilled. I jumped up and down and decided to use my savings for this. This was in 2014. I was so excited and all my coworkers were happy for me. My bosses let me create ads and put them up in the breakroom and when I got the book I was shocked at how many people wanted to buy the book from me. It was a thrill. I was officially a published author by my own right. And I loved doing it.<\/p>\n
When I returned to school, I took more publishing courses, especially one in book design that gave an introduction to InDesign. Then there was the Book Publishing Overview course and the copyediting course I took. I learned so much on those classes about design and marketing and the publishing system and in those classes, in the editing, in the fact that I had tons of fun copyediting, was where I discovered that I loved everything about it. So I stuck with it \u2013 I stuck with the plan to start my own publishing company and I got the LLC. I started saving up and bought ISBN\u2019s on Bowker. I never stopped learning. I learned about Ingram and everything it could do for me, how essential it was for me to get in that.<\/p>\n
That was where I found out about Blurb, which is every self-publisher\u2019s best friend. With Blurb and InDesign I felt like I was really on my way to designing a great book. I outsourced to Barnes and Noble Nook Press and worked with them via email and over the phone to design the back cover and the front cover and the results were amazing. It was what I wanted and they tried their hardest to create a cohesive theme to the first book. They were great people to work with. The biggest problem was the price. It cost me almost $600 that I had to pay in installments for the cover artwork. It\u2019s not outlandish but for a student who is paying rent and working minimum wage it was hard. But I did it because I loved my book, I wanted to publish it again and with my research showing that print-to-order was on the rise with publishers, it seemed like the greatest plan. I stand by it. Again, my friends and family bought the second book, showing me the love and appreciation that I needed. They helped me believe in myself.<\/p>\n
As I continued my process, as I continued my lessons in book editing, eBook design, and continued to play with InDesign and Adobe, I found that there was a lot I could do by myself. With Adobe there was adobe stock and it was there that I found the pictures and textures for my third novel. It was within my process of learning that I found my love of design. Making books is just fun. It\u2019s a lot of hard work but at the end, to see your image and hold it and know you created it, the feeling is that of joy. Sure there is all the nervousness of your book being out there, and yeah it sucks when it\u2019s not selling like you hoped, but that\u2019s not the point. The point is I wrote something and I put it out there. I\u2019m working to make my dream a reality. Maybe I won\u2019t be the next J.K.Rowling like my fianc\u00e9 says I will be (because he believes in me much more than I believe in myself) but I\u2019m not holding out some lost hopes that I\u2019m going to make it in a day.<\/p>\n
Hope is a big thing that you have to hold onto and setting up high expectations won\u2019t help. You\u2019ve got to be realistic, you\u2019ve got to keep going at it. I don\u2019t know if my publishing company will take off. It might fail, I might have to file for bankruptcy, or it might become so big and be the next Random\u00a0 House. I don\u2019t know, and it\u2019s scary to think it might fail. But even if it does, even if my books don\u2019t sell as much as I\u2019d like, I\u2019m still creating these works of art and sharing a part of myself with the world. I\u2019m making my mark, however small, and it\u2019s both scary and exhilarating all at the same time. It\u2019s crazy to think I\u2019m actually doing this. I\u2019m creating a marketing plan. I\u2019m learning so much about how to create simple book trailers, where and when I should send my book for reviews, and the power of hashtags (which are strangely very important in marketing), and learning that I can do this. As long as I don\u2019t give up I can try and build my company. I can help others on their own journeys. Already some people are coming to me asking me for my resources and I\u2019m only too glad to help. Because I know it\u2019s tough and I\u2019ve done all the hard work, all the research, put my heart and soul into everything to make my dream a reality. Heck, even if I can\u2019t make myself a bestseller, maybe I can make someone else one.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a journey I\u2019m still on \u2013 one I\u2019ll be on for the rest of my life \u2013 and I wouldn\u2019t change a thing. I don\u2019t even think I would go back in time and tell myself to not publish that book and to listen to what the rejection letters were saying (although they didn\u2019t say much) because then I don\u2019t know that I would have discovered my joy of publishing, of editing and copyediting and finding things like Grammarly and Natural Speaker to help me on my way. I\u2019d probably still be sending out query letters, who can say, but this journey I\u2019m on now, it\u2019s given me something nothing can take away: confidence in myself, and for that, I\u2019m proud of all the hard work I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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