As I mentioned in a previous post at the beginning of the year, I was planning to publish my fifth book in the fall. September, to be more specific. On my birthday, in fact. I thought that would be a nice present to myself.
Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.
I won’t be publishing a book this year, which makes me sad.
But plans change and when they do, you just have to go with the flow.
So, what happened?
Here’s the short version: I had a book I wanted to publish. I gave it to a critique partner and hired a developmental editor to go over it. I really liked this book. I liked the hero and the heroine, their love story, and all the subplots. Then I received their feedback and was shocked to discover that both my critique partner and my dev editor did NOT like the book. They didn’t like the characters, plot, and even some of the subplots. I was upset at first, but I decided I could still go ahead and publish the book as long as I made all the changes they suggested. But there were a lot and as I started to go through the manuscript, I came to the realization that if I made all the changes, it would be a completely different book. One I wasn’t sure I was interested in publishing. Could I have ignored their advice and published it anyway?
Of course. That’s the great thing about self-publishing. I’m the boss and I can do what I want. But I like to put books out into the world I think readers will enjoy and if two readers already didn’t enjoy it, I’m afraid others won’t either.
So I made the difficult decision to put this book on the backburner for the moment until I figure out what I want to do with it.
None of my other completed books are ready for publication, which means I won’t be releasing anything this year.
While it makes me sad, I also know I need to do what’s best for my readers and myself.