Hello to everyone

Hello. I'm new to the boards, having followed a link from Fantasy Faction. After briefly looking around, I saw the wealth of information available, so I look forward to benefitting and contributing.

I'm a new author, having self-published my first book this past November. I didn't try traditional publishing due to the length, and have since realized how difficult it is to break out from the pack. However, I love writing and look forward to having stories out there for people to enjoy. I am interested mostly in Fantasy, though I do enjoy SciFi as well as the occasional straight-up fiction, and if something strikes me as interesting, I'll read that as well.

I'm hoping to refine my abilities as an author, get a lot of great feedback (and give it!), and ultimately carve out a niche for myself in this large world of publishing.

Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome. My own experience in self-publishing has taught me two things. 1) I need an agent, because I'm terrible at marketing myself. 2) There's a reason why publishing houses are still in business, because self-publishing is a lot of hard work that distracts you from what you really want to do, which is write books.

Alcasgra said:

Welcome to AW! Congratulations on your self-published book. =)

Just FYI, even when you publish with a publishing house, you still have to do some marketing on your own. I have released/am about to release books through five different publishers and I still do some of my own promotional activities to get my name out there. I get to know some of the nicest and most supportive readers that way. It's amazing. =)

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Well, that's probably true, too. There's very few golden tickets out there; the rest of us have to keep grinding away. But, I'll tell you what. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing. Writing is amazing, and our community is filed with amazing people, both fans and other writers.