The Business of Writing
Publishing your own book is not easy. Writing, editing, and formatting Helen's Daughter took thirteen months, with breaks in between to work on Orestes: The Young Lion. I now spend most of my time in historical fiction forums chatting and trying to get the word out there. Also, playing Gardens of Time on Facebook. *blush* I have not done any writing since the beginning of August. Painting and watching TV, yes. Writing, no. It feels very strange.
Many reviewers do not consider self-published novels, with good reason. Last week, I submitted my novel to two sites which do consider self-published work, and on Sunday thought I had a nibble when an interested reviewer contacted me about getting a copy. So I emailed her a .pdf, only to hear back that she was expecting a print book. I guess she didn't see the part that said the publisher was Amazon Kindle. I thanked her for her interest, anyway, and am now back to square one.
So if you plan to go this route, be prepared to work just as hard marketing as you did writing. But I have certain standards about marketing myself. I have seen many self-published authors spam forums about their releases. Or worse, create sockpuppets to review and promote themselves. I believe that such behavior actually turns potential readers off; it's just as important to foster goodwill with readers as it is to write a good book. So I refuse to engage in any chicanery or spamming. You will not see me reviewing my own work. I am actually the worst judge of my own work, anyway.
P.S. I am looking to write more posts for my blog, but would like to hear from readers as to what topics on the Mycenaean and Minoan world they are interested in that I have not already covered.