Hello! My name is Kiyoshi and I am full of trepidation. Why am I trepid, you ask? Well, out of desperation and fatigue, and also just due to a general sense of curiosity, I have decided to embark on a journey to a place of uncertainty and a place that is over saturated with badly written (or so I've heard) romance: The land of the ebook. And the journey scares me.
But this is no cause for anxiety, you say. It's free to post something. You basically just write something, anything, and put it on an online ebook store and (hopefully) watch the money roll in. Whether that happens or not––most likely not––there is very little risk for me, you say. And while that may be true––the physical (well, I suppose carpal tunnel is a factor) and financial (aside from the internet bill) risk for myself is relatively low––the potential toll it may take on my emotions worries me.
Is what I've written well written? Is what I've written grammatically sound and is the spelling in order? And If what I have written is indeed written well and grammatically sound, is it a good story? And if those check out, will people discover it and will they read it? And if they do, will they enjoy it?
I have friends that have read it, and some have alerted me to misspellings and bad grammar, and I have made the necessary corrections, so I'm not
too worried about that side of things. I cannot afford a copy editor, so they are an invaluable resource. Some have even made suggestions to the story, and although I did make a change or two based on what they suggested, I largely took
Neil Gaiman's advice on how to handle that subject (Number 5). But if their opinions can be trusted, and I do indeed trust them, they seem to like it, and that has given me confidence, and I plan to go ahead and put this work on the web.
I have done minimal research, and it seems that while
some make money from it, far more do not. But I have read both encouraging stories and discouraging stories about the future of online publishing, so there is hope. If some people outside of my circle of friends read it and get some enjoyment from it it will be worth it, I suppose. And if I make a dollar here and there, that would be a bonus.
I have a few more edits to make and I have slapped together a cover for it, and come the new year, I will
put it out there, as they say, for the whole world (or just my neighborhood?) to see in the form of a digital book. I have written a short story that I am proud of and I want people to read it.
So, wish me luck and get yourself a copy. If it works out, I'll buy you all a cup of coffee.
