Smaller Can Be Bigger by Mariam Kobras

Fifty days from now I embark on my first prelaunch book reading tour.

Yes, me. Who would have thought it?

I managed to lure a publisher into signing me.

Being a just-signed author and no longer just a writer is a very strange experience. You work for this day, you long for it with every fiber of your being, and when it comes it is more exhilarating and a lot more anticlimactic than you ever thought it would be. There are no fanfares, and the limo does not show up outside your door to whisk you away into instant stardom, but you do get the breath-taking moment of someone telling you (via webcam in my case) that they believe in your book and want to publish it. What magical words! Incredible, heart-stopping words.

For me, they came on Good Friday, while lunch was bubbling away on the stove and the family was grumbling about it being late, while I sat in my son’s room, uncombed and in pajamas (a holiday, remember) and listened to this nice lady telling me about my future. I nodded to what was being said, probably a little stupidly. I remember smiling a lot!

My family was decidedly underwhelmed. When I came out of seclusion after SIGNING MY BOOK DEAL they asked if we could please, now have lunch, and yeah, big deal, they had known all along this would happen, so stop hyperventilating already and get that pasta out of the pot. Please.

My Mom’s reaction: “You could have had this way earlier. You were only too lazy to write.” Thank you, Mom.

The hubby was happy, of course, and bought me some champagne. We also saved a lot of money the following two days because I didn't eat anything at all.

The best thing for me was that I caught the publisher I really had my eye on from the start. I did not want one of the big houses, and I really did not want an agent. Talking about agents is deep water, so I’m not going into that here, but I will say this about choosing my publisher.

Being accepted by a small publisher is a sensational compliment. Imagine what it means to sign with a big house: you are one of many. You are no risk, no big deal. There are plenty of bestselling authors on their lists already in case you fail.

A small publisher, on the other hand, can afford only so many failures. They have to choose very carefully who they will take on. They must have a good concept of what will be successful and what will not, because it might just send them down the drain if they pick the wrong manuscript.

I don’t know how many submissions my new publisher gets every week, but I guess there are enough. And out of all of those they picked me. They decided to put their money in MY book, a first book, and from a nobody. The best part of being with a small house is I get all the attention, all the help, encouragement and support I can soak up.

Maybe I feel so good about this because I love to shape things myself and not just be pushed into an existing system. I don’t feel eaten up by a huge publishing machine, and I have a say in everything that is being done.

Maybe I have written the book that will make this small publishing house into a big one. And maybe this small publisher will turn me into a pop-star among authors and my book into a bestseller. It has happened before.

I like to dream big. Walt Disney said it best, “It’s fun to do the impossible.”

Works for me.

 

Mariam’s book, “The Distant Shore”, will be published by Buddhapuss Ink LLC.