From Small Press to Self-Publishing with Laura Hunsaker

If you’re an author trying to decide between self-publishing and pursuing an offer from a small press, you may want to read today’s interview. We have Laura Hunsaker, someone I first noticed on Twitter because of the shirtless, muscular men strolling across her profile. As she says, “I write about Hunky Highlanders and Hottie Scotties. I create Steamy Time Travel Romances that warm up the night, and leave you craving more.” She started out with a small press but has recently jumped into self-publishing. I’ll let her tell you the how and why:

Interview with Laura Hunsaker

You published your first book, Highland Destiny, through a small press, right? Can you tell us a bit about the experience (i.e. what the publisher brought to the table and if you were pleased with how things went)?

At the time, I didn’t know another way, self-publishing has grown in leaps and bounds in the past few years. One thing I liked was that I had someone who read my manuscript and said, “Yes, we love this, we want to publish this.” It was awesome, since I was so new to the publishing world, to have someone willing to put forth the effort into my book. They knew what the audience would want, and helped me out with many of the niggling little questions I would think up at 3am.

One thing I didn’t like is that there was virtually no promo done. I did all of my own promo. Luckily I’ve been a book review blogger for a few years and was able to at least have a leg up on the reviewing aspect, but it made self-publishing that much easier, since I already did my own promo.

You’ve recently self-published a short story, Highlander Reborn. What made you decide to give the indie route a try?

Honestly, I was tired of waiting. I know that sounds lame, but seriously, I had a novella (Highland Games) that I submitted in the spring to 5 publishers, and as of now, I still haven’t heard back from 2 of them.

New Concepts Publishing asked for it (and they’d like to publish the whole Magic of the Highlands series) so it will release in December through NCP, but the point is that I’d still be waiting if I hadn’t accepted NCP’s offer.

In the meantime I had an 8K word short that I’d written for a submission call, and I was sort of annoyed at the publishing industry. So I asked around to a few authors and decided to go for it! It has been an amazing experience and I have been very happy with the results (and the lack of waiting).

Will you compare the two experiences for us? I imagine there are some things you liked about self-publishing and other things that having a publisher was nice for.

One thing that’s nice about being traditionally published is that so much is handled by the publisher, rather than the author.

With Highlander Reborn, I had to find an editor, find an image site, buy the image, hire a cover designer, and then format it. Ahh, formatting, the bane of my existence! Lol

With NCP all I had to do was write and then fill out an art form for my cover. But, at the same time, I accepted NCP’s contract in June and haven’t received edits or seen the cover yet.

I’m seeing more and more authors pursuing a hybrid model where they self-publish some of their titles and work with a traditional publisher for other stories. What do you think of this strategy? Do you think you’ll pursue such a route?

I think this is one of the smartest things authors can do. When you self-publish, you have so much more control over everything from cover to the release date. I loved the whole experience. In fact I’m already working on my next self-published novella and I can’t wait to talk to the cover artist again. Oh, but I will hire a formatter next time. I hated that part of self-publishing.

But it’s nice to have some things coming from a publisher as well. It can help create a fan base. There are readers who favor buying ebooks strictly from certain publishers, and publishers can get your works out to readers who might not otherwise have seen your book.

Why don’t you finish up by telling us what you’re working on next and, if you know, how you’re planning to publish it?

Sure! And thanks for having me. 🙂

I’m working on the next full length novel called Highland Betrayal for my Magic of the Highlands series, and that will be through New Concepts Publishing. But I’m also working on my next Nightkind novella that will be self-published.

 You can check out Laura’s work at Amazon or visit her site for more details and other book links. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.