KinStone Publishing, LLC

I've been keeping my eye on the indie-publishing movement since 2008, and I honestly believe this is the next phase of publishing--or at least is on it's way to becoming just as credible and even more lucrative.  Everything is crazy in the publishing world, right now.  So many books that get rejected by the big publishing houses are going out on their own and making bank.  "Indie-Publishing," or "Self-Publishing" doesn't carry the negative connotations it once did.  Technology is making it so easy to publish professional looking books affordably, and then market them for practically free, that it's really appealing to authors, especially since they can make much more than mainstream authors if they play their cards right. 

In the rejection letters I received from agents, there were only one or two that gave specific reasons for rejecting my manuscript, the rest were simply not interested, because it didn't fit what they were looking for at the time.  Well, what if my book becomes the next trend?  How can they be sure they didn't just bypass the next big thing the public is going to love?  Honestly, I can't even know that, but I think my story is worth taking the risk on, and I hope many readers end up feeling the same way.  Which is why I've decided to stop submitting to agents early in the submission process and take things into my own hands.  As of today, I am the official owner of my own publishing company:  KinStone Publishing, LLC.  (I know, it's very exciting!) 

I read recently in my Writer's Digest magazine, an article on indie-published author Weldon Long:  he was the winner of the 2010's Writer's Digest Self-Published book awards for his memoir The Upside of Fear: How One Man Broke the Cycle of Prison, Poverty and Addiction.  What he said in his interview solidified my decision to take the indie-road.

"The biggest mistake you can make," he said, "is expecting others to make your dream happen." That's when something clicked in my mind.  Why was I waiting for someone else to make my dreams happen--that's the epitome of servitude, in my opinion.  Being an independent thinker and spirit, I was going completely against my moral code by relying on mainstream publishing to make my dreams happen.  And so, here I am, "A Lone Reed," as Greg Kinnear's character, Frank says in You've Got Mail "A Lone Reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce." :) (I love that movie.)

Here's to Bootstraps and the American Dream!