The Joys of Being an Indie Author-Entrepreneur

A New Tradition: Patria Christmas Stories

Yesterday afternoon I was busy preparing for the submission of the next installment in my children’s Kingdom of Patria series, a Christmas novella entitled The Chronicles of Oliver Stoop, Squire Second Class: The Quest for Clodnus’s Collectibles. (Absorbed with this novella is where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks.) As I type this, the book has not yet been green-lit for sale on Createspace and Amazon, but I expect confirmation any time now. Inspired by Dickens, I have long wanted to inaugurate a tradition of Patria Christmas stories, and am gratified that I’ve finally begun to do so. I don’t know if I will publish a Patria novella every Christmas, but at the same time I don’t want this book to be a one-off project.

The original idea was to write something in the neighborhood of 12,000-15,000 words. In the end it weighed in at over 16,000, which seems to be just the right length for such a thing. While not nearly the length of a Patria novel, it’s long enough to engage a child for a good part of a lazy afternoon before the fire over the Christmas holiday.

It dawned on me while writing the novella that I had never written a work of fiction of this length before. I find that I like this length. With my high school English classes I’ve been reading an essay by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition,” in which Poe, in the context of discussing the origin of his famous poem, “The Raven,” explains how his first consideration in writing the poem had nothing to do with its theme, but with its length. He wanted to write a poem that his audience could read in one sitting, because he believed that was necessary for the poem to achieve maximum emotional impact. Granting that literary works of different lengths will pack different emotional punches, I agree with Poe that there is a distinct experience that comes with reading a work in one sitting, including a novella.

The Joys of Being an Indie Author-Entrepreneur

I was saying to someone just yesterday: I am not an ideologue when it comes to indie publishing. There are many ways to skin the proverbial mole and I remain open to all opportunities and adventures. But today I come to praise the joys of being an indie-entrepreneur. Which brings me back to yesterday afternoon.

At one point in the proceedings I was doing some 11th-hour work on both the final PDF of the interior design of the book and the final PDF of the cover design (see above). I was triangulating with two others: Ted Schluenderfritz, the illustrator who has been doing most of the art for the books and kingdomofpatria.com since the launch of Trojan Tub Entertainment in 2011, and Melanie Stephens, who has designed the interiors for all three Patria print books. As Melanie is also an illustrator, she’s also contributed some wonderful drawings and other creative elements to Stoop of Mastodon Meadow and, now, The Quest for Clodnus’s Collectibles. By mid-afternoon there were still some of Melanie’s illustrations for me to approve, some last edits to make of the text, some back-and-forth between me and Ted on aspects of the back cover design. The emails were flowing freely. I had set a deadline for submission to Createspace by close of business. But what struck me at one point during all of this creative flurry was, simply this:

That, with assists from two talented illustrators, I was able to sit in my rocking chair more or less at my ease, sip some free-range chai tea, and produce a highly attractive book which I will soon be taking to market. I was busy no doubt, but I was also stirring some other pots while minding the Patria production line. My hardest work was already done, of course, but still: how wonderful and joyous it is in our digital age to be able to pick oneself, create one’s best work, and ship it–all from the laptop sitting on one’s lap.

And now, from that same laptop, I am able to announce this good news to fans of the series. Never has it been easier to become an author–provided one is committed, as I happily am, to taking up the challenge of combining the creative work with the business of being an entrepreneur.

So what are you waiting for? Do you have a book inside you that you are eager to share with the world?Are you intrigued by the idea of building a business around your writing? The joys of being an indie author-entrepreneur can be yours with extraordinarily little inconvenience. Just pour yourself and cup of free-range chai tea and go to it.