From Rejections to Good Reviews: An Indie Author Celebrates Wins and Losses

Being a writer is great. The author gets to create their own world with imaginary everything, and they can exert complete control. Where else can one do that?

Most writers want to be read, though, and with that there’s the desire to be published. An author quickly learns that acceptance rates at literary magazines are low, some as low as 1-2% of submissions. That means lots and lots of rejections. Not only that, t the response time can be as long as 3-6 months. 

When I finally achieved getting an acceptance, my husband, Larry, bought me flowers. That was awesome. But we soon learned that the flowers would be few and far between. That’s when Larry got clever and gave me the gift of the screaming goat (see video). It made us laugh, so the rejections didn’t feel so bad.

Rather than wait for others to accept my work, I took matters into my own hands and became an indie author, a writer who self-publishes her own work. It’s rewarding, but marketing one’s own book takes a lot of time and energy, and is quite a different thinking process from writing. 

There’s nothing like the feeling of being a published author. The road is long, winding, full of setbacks, and can be expensive, but it’s an accomplishment. After a publication occurs, both positive and negative events occur:

Positive

Sales/downloads – Yay!

Good reviews – Yippee!

Negative

Readers who like your book but don’t leave a review – Ack

So-so reviews – Ugh

Flagging sales – How much can one promote a book before alienating an audience?

I already had the screaming goat to help with the negative stuff, but I felt the need to celebrate small successes on a more regular basis. After a search for something as adorable as the screaming goat, but different, I settled on a stuffed woodpecker that has a squeezable sound. Not only is the Northern Flicker a favorite Pacific Northwest bird, this stuffed bird makes two distinct sounds: wick, wick, wick, wick, wick, and a drilling into wood sound. Drilling into wood reminds me of writing in a way — it’s hard.

When writing times are tough, the screaming goat comes out and we have a laugh, and I shrug my shoulders. When publishing times are good, the woodpecker comes out, and we celebrate. What do you do to boost your spirits and celebrate your wins?