The Self Published Writers Road: A Guest Post By Author Tiffany King of Meant To Be

A few posts ago I had my wonderful friend & fellow author Kara Stefanowich's guest post and mentioned that there would be another guest post coming soon from another author with a different view on things. This is that post!

You, my loyal readers, are still taking my journey along with me, have seen the road of an unpublished author, and now you will see the road of the self published author. All are the same; but have forked off from the main path at one time or another.

Now, here is Tiffany King to explain why she chose the self publishing route with Meant To Be and if she regrets doing it!


To self-publish or not; is one of the most pressing questions for a writer, it is no secret that self-publishing holds a certain stigma. The idea that if an agent or publishing house did not put their stamp of approval on it means it must be bad is just crazy to me. That's like saying if you didn't go to culinary school you can't be a good cook, or if a band isn't signed to a record label, they must suck. The biggest misconception about self-publishing is that it is amateurish crap, that it was written and published within days.

What some don't understand is that self-publishers put their books through as many rewrites as books that are published, if not more. Meant to Be went through many hours of countless rewrites. Are there mistakes in my book of course but that being said, I have read many mainstream novels that also have their share of mistakes. 
Another aspect of self-publishing that many don't consider, is that the sole responsibility of marketing the book now falls on the author. They must find the avenues and social media networks to get their work out in front of the readers. This perhaps is the toughest part of all, sure you finally made it and have your book out there but now what do you do with it?


All that being said I choose self-publish for basically one reason; I didn't want to get lost in endless "slush" piles. I wanted people to be able to read Meant to Be now, not years from now. Meant to Be has already spent two years with us and I was ready to see what others thought of it. I recently read a post someone wrote that if you self-publish you took the easy route. I had to chuckle after I read it. When I wrote Meant to Be, I was working full-time, going to school full-time and juggling my family. I poured every spare moment I had into Meant to Be sacrificing many other things to get it ready to be seen. I'm unsure how the hours and sweat I poured into Meant to Be can be considered taking the easy road. 


I don't pretend to be the know-all of self-publishing and have only the knowledge I have gleaned from my experience with Meant to Be. Would I have chosen self-publishing if I had known all the work it involved? Absolutely! I have been very blessed through this journey and have met many fabulous people along the way. Countless individuals have worked hard alongside me to help spread the word and I will forever be grateful to them all :o)

As I have said before in my Review of Meant To Be, Tiffany is one of my dearest friends and having her to agree to do this post means more than she knows.

You can find Tiffany on twitter and her blog

You can buy Meant To Be at amazon and smashwords

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing the different paths that fork off of this long road that I am on and where they lead. Once again my friends, happy writing! :)