Zarina Docken

Question:
What changes took place after you published your first novel, i.e. how different has writing been since you turned it into a career?

Answer:
After I received the e-mail from Neighborhood Press that they were publishing PHOTO FINISH, I felt elated, validated, and then sick.  Honestly, I did!  For some reason, I felt sick.  I think I was overwhelmed but also afraid that readers wouldn’t like the book.  After that, I had a children’s e-book published and then Sands Publishing published my romantic comedy, ANYTHING FOR A BUCK.  By that time, I felt I was working around the clock and neglecting my family.  I worked a full-time job, had a 45-minute commute one-way, tried to write on my lunch break and take notes into a voice recorder on my way to and from work…. It just really got to be too much.  Plus, I realized that once my children started kindergarten (they were in preschool at that time), my time with them would be limited even more.

I talked with my husband and we decided that I would leave my job and write from home full time.  If you’re a fiction writer, you know that you don’t make very much money from that; so I began freelance writing.  I did a number of articles and that made me feel a little less guilty about leaving a full-time job and steady paycheck.  I had more time with my children, and that made me feel a lot less guilty about the job and the paycheck.

My next novel, SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION, was a quirky comedy in which the heroine had two jobs: IRS auditor and children’s TV superhero.  As you can imagine, none of the traditional houses wanted to take a risk on it.  It was published, however, by Fantasy Romances, an e-book publisher that does a terrific job.

Still, I was dissatisfied with my fiction career.  I wasn’t making much money at all and the Catch-22 of finding an agent when you haven’t been published by a large publisher and vice-versa was tough.  I began researching self-publishing and became more and more convinced that this is something I could do not only for myself but for other authors.  I decided I wanted to create a publishing company where the publisher, editor, authors all had a good working relationship and cared about each other.  I wanted to give to other authors what I felt was lacking in the publishing community.  So, I began Grace Abraham Publishing.

Our first book was LAUGHING AND LEARNING: ADVENTURES IN PARENTING, an anthology of stories from parents around the world.  Though the book was well-received by readers, I had a horrible time getting it reviewed.  I had an even harder time getting distributors. 

Later that year, I decided to launch a mystery fiction imprint called Dark-N-Stormies. This time, rather than going the more traditional publishing route (2000-book print run), I decided to utilize print-on-demand technology.  Though many booksellers aren’t keen on stocking POD books, our authors and I have found they’re more than willing to work with us when we have signings or other events scheduled.  In addition, my POD printer has a distribution system in place that facilitates our getting into the more traditional markets.

The one difference now is that I have so many administrative duties that it’s hard to find time to write.  I still love to write, but now it’s sometimes put on the back burner while I attend to other authors’ books, editing, marketing, etc.

It has been slow going; but out of that first launch, one of our books MCLEARY’S MULLIGAN by Bridget Bell Webber, has been selected as a finalist in the ForeWord Magazine 2004 Book of the Year Awards.  We’ve seen steady sales, received great reviews, and we’re excitedly looking ahead.

Gayle Trent is the author Photo Finish, Anything for a Buck, and Spontaneous Combustion. She is the founder and editor of Grace Abraham Publishing. You can visit Grace Abraham Publishing at http://www.graceabraham.com or e-mail Gayle at gd830@hotmail.com .