Sometimes I get it wrong

Book Launch Decisions

I love being my own publisher. I get to use creative and business skills, and make my own decisions. But sometimes I make the wrong ones.

Bless Our Sleep is a good example. I came up with the character of George Clay in response to a call for an anthology about 1960s private eyes. He’s gay, recently discharged from the Navy, and chooses to reinvent himself in Miami Beach in 1969.

I expanded that story to a full novel, and I loved it. My editor did too, and encouraged me to look into traditional publishing. I had met an editor in the past who I thought would like the book, and I sent it to her.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with agents and editors, she was swamped, and after six months on submission I had to make a decision. I was getting traction with George Clay short stories. “Oyster Creek” was accepted for the Crime Hits Home anthology published by Mystery Writers of America, and was short-listed for an edition of the Best Mystery Stories of 2025. Another was featured in Best Private Eye Stories of 2024.

Even though she promised to read the manuscript quickly, I looked at the traditional publishing schedule. This was the spring of 2024, and if I was accepted by that press, it would probably be fall 2025 before the book could be published—if not later.

I said, “I could self-publish this and start making money immediately, or wait up to two years for my first royalty check.”

That clinched it. The book was already professionally edited, and I commissioned a cover, sent it out to beta readers, and published it myself in October of 2024. I paid for a review by Kirkus, a well-regarded publication. I paid for a few ads, and money started to come in.

I submitted it to the Shamus Award for best paperback original, and was one of five finalists for that year. But interest petered out, and to date I’ve sold 562 e-books and 62 paperbacks, for a grand total of about $1500.

I’ll never know what that small publisher would have offered as an advance, because I withdrew the manuscript before we reached that stage. But given even modest advances from traditional mystery publishers, there’s a good chance I would have earned more from the advance alone than the roughly $1,500 the book has earned since I self-published it.

The book might have gotten more traction than it did under my imprint. I might have gotten mainstream or gay press reviews, as I did with my traditionally published gay mysteries. And I’m almost certain I would have sold more than 62 paperbacks. I have an idea for another book with George Clay, but it’s on the back burner because book 1 didn’t take off. Who know? If I’d gone with that traditional publisher, I might be celebrating the publication of that second book right now.

In the end, the decision to self-publish an impatient one. In the future, if I have a similar conundrum, I hope I’ll be more patient and take time to consider all the options. If I had that decision to make today, I’d give the editor more time.

Being John Church is a different kind of example. That book really didn’t know what it wanted to be. Was it an MM romance? A mystery? A literary novel about love and loss? It took me several runs with my editor to get it into publishable shape, and even then I had a bad blurb and a bad cover. 36 paperbacks, 707 e-books, and another $1500 in royalties.

At least I can fix that problem. I’m relaunching Being John Church as a solid mystery (which it is) with a new blurb and a new cover. I did that for In His Kiss, a YA MM I wrote years ago, which was originally published by MLR. And surprisingly, sales have perked up for a book I thought was long dead.

I’m afraid my catalog of over 70 books is full of missteps like that, but at least I can try and fix some of them. And learn from those mistakes as well.

Dog of Secrets is doing very well, with lots of lovely reviews. Don’t forget to pick up your copy.

With love and gratitude,

Neil