Monday, April 11, 2016

“Legend of the Mystic Knights”, is it the end of the saga?



This week, I was going to discuss historians and their perceptions and influences how these factors reflect their accounts of historical events.  However, certain issues have occurred which I should address now on this post.

As many of you know, I am the author of the novel, “Legendof the Mystic Knights”.  This novel was a passion for me to write, and I have already completed the sequels.  Although I do enjoy writing this blog post, it itself materialized as a way for me to help promote that novel.

I recently was informed by Safkhet Publishing (the business that published my novel) that they are going out of business as of May 31, 2016. I am unsure of their reasoning (I am positive running a publishing company is a time-consuming endeavor and very a hard business to make a profit), but this fact is going to have a major impact upon the ability to purchase my novel.

As a result of the publisher’s closing, all rights to the novel will revert back to me. This means; I am now back to square one, in terms of my book.  I must consider if I want to self-publish, seek an agent, or another publisher.

All the above steps, I had done when I first tried to publish my novel.  For anyone like me, who is an un-established author, this can be a tedious and frustrating process. I cannot tell you how many rejection letters I had received when I first sent out requests on behalf of this novel.  The process to get a book published can be very discouraging for a new author.

I must also say that many small publishers, like SafkhetPublishing, do not provide much assistance in terms of promotion and marketing for your novel. This is not unusual, and has become a standard among these smaller publishers. They wish the author to take the blunt of selling their novel.  Again for someone like me, a first-time author with little knowledge of this business and industry, it became a frustrating proposition and the sales of my novel have not been astounding.

So now, I am facing the prospect of starting all over. I must determine if I want to get a new publisher, or self-publish. As for the latter, I am unsure of if I have the funds to do this properly, and also the ability to make it worthwhile for me compared to the work required.

Whatever the outcome, “Legend of the Mystic Knights” may be on hiatus for a while. The sequels themselves will be even on a later timetable then I hoped.  My worst fear is that this means the death of my novel and those sequels. To an author, a novel is like a child, and it is always hard to see them perish before your own eyes.

I do not want my novel to go gently into that goodnight; I would ask those who have been interested in my writings about medieval history, or those that like fantasy, to get a copy of “Legend of the Mystic Knights” while it is available. It was a pleasure to write, and I just want to share it with as many people as I can, before it becomes unobtainable.

It would be appropriate at this time for me to thank all of those who have supported me over this period. This not only includes the publisher, but also those who have read and commented on this blog, other authors that were willing gave me advice, to those followed me on Facebook and Twitter, and to those who have taken the time to include an author interview for me on their websites;  I truly appreciate your assistance, and if it wasn’t for you, my novel would have never been a reality.

Thank you for reading my post.

14 comments:

  1. William, I very much hope that your book Legend of the Mystic Knight is a spectacular success! Good luck!

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  2. Good on you William for pushing through despite the challenges. It takes a determined person. See each knock back as a step closer to your book being published.

    I am writing a short book and have started thinking on how well it will be received by publishers.

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  3. Sorry to hear that, William. I hope you will be able to find another publisher. Good luck to you and the process. May it be seamless.

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    1. Thank you for the assistance on Google+, I do appreciate it.

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  4. William I see that your book is available on Amazon so while you're deciding what to do next why not focus on digital sales? I'm working on a few book now, but my other books continue to sell as a result of my blog so it's a way to keep growing your platform and that is more important than ever to publishers. Whatever you decide I wish you all the best!

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    1. I have been focusing on digital sales, that is all I have for me currently.
      Several factors are against me right now, but as I stated in the post, it is now determining the outcome compared to the cost and effort to achieve it. After the publisher ends, I am back to squire one, there will be no book available. I will need to resubmit it for e-book as a self-published author, if I do not get a new publisher.

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  5. How horribly frustrating. I can imagine this is all super discouraging. I personally think this isn't the end of your novel. I think you'll get it back out there again, though it might take you longer than you like. When it is your passion, it just has to be done. Sorry about this setback.

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  6. I quite agree with your other posters, William--this does not have to be the end for you. As I repeated say to husband, sister (anyone not too sick of hearing it), I will write until the day I die. Because of that love of words, I will continue to seek ways to publish, share and earn money with my writing. I urge you to do the same. What we are today--and what are books are today--are not what they will be tomorrow! Best of luck.

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  7. Oh my gosh, that's so frustrating! I can't imagine how discouraging that must be for you. But you've already invested so much time and energy, you can't possibly give up now. In fact, you might even find a better outlet for your book, especially now that you've got some experience working with a publisher. Seriously, go for it! We're all rooting for you!

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  8. Hi William. I am very sorry to hear about your publisher. But alas, that is the way of the world these days. I've had other writer friends who have had to deal with the same situation. I really like Marty's idea of trying to market your novel digitally. You're already on Amazon. Try and get more reviews. Apparently Amazon will start noticing your book once you have 50 reviews. Get your book up on Smashwords. See if it can find its readership there. Best of luck.

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  9. Hi William. Sounds like an emotional experience for any writer who has invested a lot in his works to start at the beginning. Like others have mentioned, marketing your novel digitally may be the answer, but I'm unfamiliar with the process. If you truly believe in your book, then don't slow down in marketing it. Best of luck moving forward and thanks for sharing!

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  10. William, I've found the world of publishing downright confusing. It seems to be an industry in the throes of much change. I wouldn't be surprised if even the "bigger guys" expect a writer to still do much of their own promotion. I hope that this closed door will indeed lead to another opening for you. I'm a stand that it's an even better one.

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  11. Sorry, William, that this happened to you. You put so much work into your book. Don't give up on it. As it's already written, why not self-publish. Authors always have to market their own books, even if they get a publisher because publishers don't put any money into books these days that aren't blockbusters, unfortunately. Best of luck.

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  12. I wish you the best in sorting out your publishing situation, William.

    BTW, I know just what you mean when you say that you have a parent-child relationship with your novel(s). I'm a man and will never know what it's like to give birth, and yet I feel as though I have an inkling of what giving birth is like when I - OUCH - click the Publish button at my blog to send a post onto the Web. Also, it was almost like a death in the family when I lost many blog demos in the course of cutting ties with EarthLink a couple of years ago. In my own way, I've been there.

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