What's been going on since epublishing

In November I e-published my first book. I only did it because some fool had stolen my story from Literotica and published it on Amazon. To compound the insult he began getting good Amazon reviews! So after a big headache I accomplished 2 things. I made a new friend in author Kalamazoo707 (whose story Ethan was also stolen by the same person), and I finally began the process to publish my own work.

Now it's February and I've been published for nearly three months. I've received my first royalty checks from both Amazon and B&N and I realize that I will probably not get rich from this (though luckily for me I wasn't writing to become rich), but I find that I really like doing it myself. That's not to be mistaken with I PREFER doing it myself. I'd prefer someone else do it--but since I wanted all my own royalties (minus Amazon's 30%) I have done it all on my own. With help from such authors as Violette Dubrinsky and KZ707, who are already published, I was able to transition pretty smoothly.

Self publishing an e-book is about a simple as it gets. The first time it's tedious because you do have to read everything and try to understand it (best just to watch the tutorial that takes you through the process in 5 minutes and it's real time. Five minutes to publish a book! No joke!), but once you do it once, it's like the proverbial bike. 

One of the drawbacks is that you have to do your own marketing, and you have to rely on word of mouth and good reviews. So you HAVE to put out your A game. I go back and re-edit previously published books all the time as I become more comfortable with the process.

But I still want to be published in the traditional way--you know, the way where you get an advance and are sent on book tours and provided an expense account for researching Italy because your next book is going to be written there but in actuality you are just eating a whole bunch of Italian food and chilling--okay, and occasionally writing. Yeah! I want that kind of life!

Amazon does offer new exposure and has expanded my fan base. But where I write is a very small niche in the big picture. Do 'mainstream' readers cross over into the realm of IR erotica/romance? Not many do, and there seems to be a stigma attached to author's like me; black authors that self-publish in this genre. Some think that writers like me are not talented enough to be published in the traditional way. But in some ways 'we' are more lucky than some of my unknown proteges that try to write 'mainstream' novels without a comfy little niche that 'our' genre affords us.

I believe the publishing world recognizes this genre and respects it even if some of the readers are slow to give it a fair chance. Well, that's my progress report. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress. And thanks again for all your support. Truly, it's appreciated!