A Publishing Alternative: Getting Your Writing to Your Readers

Author Tom Sundell offers an alternative route to traditional publishing, getting his work directly to his readers.

What I Learned | Professional Practices

by THOMAS SUNDELL

Those of us who feel compelled to write fiction are in good, if massive, company. Many, maybe most of us who write fiction hope to be published. Likely you’ve heard the stats: roughly four million books published a year, of which 2.3 million are self-published. Between the mainstream giants, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and small independent publishers, with Amazon and other e-book publishers, and self-publishing, there is little barrier to being published.

But what we writers want is the validation of readers.

A Publishing Alternative: My story

My first novel, A Bloodline of Kings, was published by an independent press in 2001. Confession: Crow Woods Publishing is my wife’s firm, with a total of six books published through 2022, only one of which is mine. Still, who else would publish a 220,800 word novel from an unknown author?

The novel was well-received, earning positive professional press reviews, testimonials from well-known authors, such as Bernard Cornwell, positive (5-star) reader reviews on Amazon, placement and book signings in Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, and independent bookstores, and featured in several newspaper articles and a radio talk show. A Bloodline of Kings became a finalist for historical fiction from the Independent Book Publishers Awards. Ultimately, it was picked up by Minoas SA, translated into Greek, abridged by 10% and sold in Greece as well. Total English and Greek version sales were 1,500 to 1,600 copies. A pleasing experience, even the book signing event in a Des Moines, IA, bookstore for which five people showed up, including my niece and her husband.

My second novel (2004), Battle Hymn, is 195,700 words. Again, I could not expect a traditional publisher to pick it up. I toyed with the idea of self-publishing the novel. For a time, Crow Woods Publishing considered it, but my wife eventually declined. The idea again of putting such effort into promoting the novel was daunting for me.

After that I ceased to pursue traditional publishing seriously, but kept writing fiction: Texas Fever (75,000 words, 2005); A Mother’s Ambitions (53,200 words, 2006); Voyage of the Screw Steamer Penetang (82,800 words, 2006); and so on to the current day and work on my twenty-seventh novel.

Then in January 2017, I established my website (sundellwritings.wordpress.com) on the WordPress platform and began publishing what I refer to as a Blog, although it amounts to publishing my writings with a brief commentary. To date, I’ve published 26 novels (including an e-Version of Bloodlines) and several hundred short stories, flash fictions, poems, and essays, as well as advance excerpts of the novels and other pieces. All of these writings are available to download without charge.

And downloads there have been.

Publishing Alternative: The Results

I have 20 regular followers and well over seven hundred non-follower visitors as of October 1, 2023. The bulk are from the U.S., but I’ve had some visitors from more than 30 other nations, with China providing the second largest number. Downloads since July 1, 2019 (when WordPress began tracking downloads) have totaled 24,983, of which 1,571 were my various novels (as of October 18, 2023).

As for marketing? This has amounted to the site’s weekly posting appearing on the WordPress reader, my weekly notice to friends on Facebook, my notice to acquaintances on LinkedIn whenever I publish a novel, and passing out business cards to those who take an interest in what I write. Beyond the nominal cost of the business cards, that marketing is free, including the WordPress site, since I never upgraded it to the subscription version.

The point of all this is to ask: what do you want from your writing? If you have aspirations for fame and/or fortune, my route is not for you. If the writing itself is what’s important to you and reaching enough readers to validate that writing, then my way might be a path for you.

There is one additional advantage to the publishing alternative I’ve chosen: I can modify my published works. As a result of critique-group or beta-reader comments, or my own re-reading, I’ve made small edits to the text, and at times made more substantial revisions, which I upload to my website as revised editions. Not possible with a printed version, which was brought home to me by the hardbound version of A Bloodline of Kings.

One further advantage of the route I’ve taken: I never have to write another cover letter and synopsis to an agent or publisher.

---

---

THOMAS SUNDELL is a retired Human Resources consultant. A Chicago area resident, he is the author of more than 30 novels and novellas to date, and hundreds of shorter fictions. His latest release, Ma’at, brings to life ancient Egypt's forgotten south - a land of gold, gods, and women whose voices echo across time.