How to Get Published is a continuing feature at The Book Bin where we ask authors to tell us their publishing stories. Was it a rocky road or did it come easy for them? Did they start with an agent and get a NY publisher interested in their book or did they self-publish? What words of wisdom do they have for all of us who would like to be published one day?
Today’s guest is David Brown, author of the Fantasy novel, Fezariu’s Epiphany (CreateSpace).
In May 2011 I self-published my first novel, Fezariu’s Epiphany. It had been a long journey, beginning back in 1999 when I was still at college. Back then I first discovered the Final Fantasy series on the Playstation and became inspired. They led me onto Norse mythology and after many months I had conceived the idea of Elenchera – a fictitious world of fantasy, but one where the characters would have far more prominence than the world in which they inhabit.
I spent ten years building the history of Elenchera, including 500+ maps, and by 2006 had written four novels. None of them were really up to the standard I knew I could reach and I became lost in the world history until late 2008 when I met my wife, Donna. She was the first person that really understood Elenchera and wanted to know everything about the world. No one but Donna has read any of the history of Elenchera and by the time we became a couple she had convinced me to start writing a new novel.
Fezariu’s Epiphany took six drafts to complete but with the backdrop to Elenchera in place it was easy to give the novel the historical setting it needed. Donna was my rock throughout the novel’s creation. Some elements of the novel were quite weak after the first draft but after talking over these frailties with Donna the novel was redrafted and by the sixth attempt it was finally ready for publication.
Donna and I made the decision to go down the self-publishing route. There were many reasons behind this. We wanted full control of Fezariu’s Epiphany and knew that with the novel being a different kind of fantasy not all readers would embrace the concept and that may extend to publishers as week. Although I believe Elenchera novels qualify as fantasy I know some of the feedback for Fezariu’s Epiphany has lamented the lack of common fantasy ingredients within the overall recipe.
The self-publishing path has been a challenging one and without Donna it would never have been possible. Overnight she became my agent, editor and publicist for the novel and considering she had no previous experience in this industry she’s done an amazing job. After self-publishing Fezariu’s Epiphany through the likes of Amazon and Smashwords we began the promotion work which started with a book trailer before moving onto blog tours. I’ve been taking part in these for many months and they are highly recommended. I enjoy interviews on the blogs but I also like the guest posts as well, being able to dissect Fezariu’s Epiphany and talk about my thought processes during the novel’s creation. It’s wonderful that people want to know these things.
Today Fezariu’s Epiphany has enjoyed some heartwarmingly good reviews (even some 5 star ones which is amazing) and many readers seem to not only love the novel but they have understood what I’m trying to do with the Elenchera novels. These are intended as a different kind of fantasy, more accessible to a wider range of readers with prominence solely for the characters. The foundations for a great future have been laid for Donna and I but we both know the next novel, A World Apart, will need just as much work, if not more, than Fezariu’s Epiphany. Whatever challenges await, Donna and I are looking forward to them.
David Brown was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and first conceived the idea of the Elencheran Chronicles at college in 1999. He spent ten years compiling the history of Elenchera, resulting in 47,000+ years of events, 500+ maps, 2000+ pages, several short stories and many much-needed acquaintances with Jack Daniels.
David also has a blog, The World According to Dave (http://blog.elenchera.com), which features reviews, stories and dramatic tales of the horrors of owning cats.
David now lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with his wife, Donna, and their six cats.
Fezariu’s Epiphany is his first novel. David is currently working on his second.
I'd like to say thanks for posting this - and I'm sorry I didn't leave a comment at the time (it was a turbulent personal time, I'm afraid). You have a wonderful blog and it was great to appear here.
Happy holidays and all the best for 2012!
Dave
Posted by: David M. Brown | 12/24/2011 at 11:28 AM