Copped out? By that I mean I chose the easy, faster route to publication. It can take years to get a book published and this manuscript has been around since 1994 already. I know what the submission process is like. A writer has to send out query after query (publishers don't like simultaneous submissions and won't read Mss. from writers without agents) so a writer has to send one query at a time and wait sometimes months for a reply- and the process is the same to acquire an agent, many of which charge reading fees. I've been through this process multiple times already so I know what it is like.

I decided heck with it, and I am going to self-publish. There are a lot of self-publishing houses out there. Over 500,000 titles are printed annually and less than 500 come from the New York publishing firms whose names we recognize. One has to research the self-publishers even more carefully. They must have a good track record and a great marketing program. Marketing includes getting titles into major book store chains like Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon.com, copy-editing, copywrights, etc..

I opted to go with Xlibris. I have spent money on a lot of silly things in my life. It is time I believed in myself and am willing to invest in myself. Thank goodness it will not cost me an arm and and a leg! I can recover from this expense in three months time and even have the option of painting an image for the cover. I like that idea but really have no idea what to paint.