It’s been quiet around here for the past couple years, but that is about to change. I’ve made several important decisions regarding my writing and publishing journey. That means this site, as well as my life, will soon get a lot busier.

My writing journey so far.

I’ve been writing books since I was a teenager. My first was an epic fantasy over 200k words in length that took about 8 years to finish. Its sequel took another 2 years. By the time I finished those, I learned a lot more about the publishing industry, enough to realize these books would likely never see the light of day. Writing them was essential to learning the craft, so it’s not a complete loss. But my debut book needs to be my best and reflect all the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

In 2015, I started writing another book, this time a sci-fi dystopian. This book has had several working titles over the years, including QUOTIDIAN and FOREVER AND A TUESDAY (check out the blurb here and leave your own title suggestions). I cast it out to dozens of agents, but it never got any bites. Thinking the tide of dystopian had come and gone, I believed the best course of action was to get my foot in the door with yet another book.

UPENDED is a Hard Sci-Fi novel (read blurb here) that I started writing in 2017 and finished in 2019. A couple years of editing later, it also made the querying rounds. And while this book did get in front of a few agents and publishers, it was ultimately passed over. Again, I told myself the next book was sure to get me past the gatekeepers.

Undeterred, I started MOTUS, (read blurb here and offer other title suggestions) another hard sci-fi novel, in 2022. Like everything else I had written to date, it was an outlet for all my scientific what-ifs, was genuinely enjoyable to write, and was a book I would have desperately wanted to read if it existed. Only time will tell if it passes muster with an agent and publisher.

This is not the sum of all my writing endeavors. Over the past ten years, I have also published ~10 short stories, two of which won awards. It was much easier finding a market for these stories as there are loads of literary magazines, contests, and publishers to choose from. Short form content like this is less of a risk for publishers since it pays by word instead of a percentage of royalties and is seldom in need of an editor or significant marketing services.

I have also started and made significant progress on 3 different novels, with 20-50k words already written for each of them. I’ve put all of them on pause to avoid working on multiple projects at the same time. One of these is the sequel to UPENDED, tentatively titled UNTETHERED. Another is a hard sci-fi twist on the LitRPG genre, which I read regularly. And the third is a hard sci-fi, tentatively titled CORED, set in the far future. I’m eager to continue writing these other books, but first I need to make some headway on publishing.

The reality is, even if I weren’t writing in a niche genre like hard sci-fi, getting an agent is hard. Publishing is a business, and more and more traditional publishers are running with trends and genres that have a ravenous reader base and leaning on their established clients rather than take risks on newbie writers. So, after nearly 10 years of sitting on my novels, hoping the next one will get me through the door at a publisher– and that they will magically want to publish my backlist– I’ve made a decision.

My decision.

I’m going to self-publish.

Ever since my writing journey started, traditional publishing was touted as the “real” path to success and legitimacy as a writer. But things have changed over the past ten years. Traditional publishing is being slowly worn down under a tidal wave of Indie publishers. Many of these books are just as professional and high-quality as anything traditional publishers can provide, and their authors make just as much if not more in royalties. As for the stigma, most readers have no idea if the book they’re reading is traditionally published or self-published. And for those who are aware, many choose Indie over traditionally published books for the same reason they choose a mom-and-pop store over a corporate giant. For me, the biggest pros in favor of self-publishing are creative control and timeline. In traditional publishing, the author has very little say in the cover design of their book, and they are often stripped of many media and language rights, limiting their ability to release the book in other formats. And if I were to sign a traditional publishing deal today, it could still take 2-3 years before my book was published. The cons, by comparison, are rather miniscule. Traditional publishers rely on their brand to make the majority of their sales, and they rarely invest many resources into marketing new authors. In fact, they will ask you to do much of the marketing yourself. And as far as covering costs, there are a huge number of resources for Indie authors that make this largely painless. Reedsy and 99designs, for example, offer editing and book cover design services at reasonable prices. The fact that you get to keep most of your royalties when self-publishing means it will be easier to make that investment back. Indie authors can also get their books in stores, assuming the bookstore has a reason to stock them, and self-publishing ebooks is no different than traditional, except the self-published author is the one to set the price.

Another major factor influencing my decision was the rise of AI slop. Since several opportunists– I refuse to call them writers or artists– are now flooding the publishing space with generative AI content, I worry legitimate, human-written books will be even harder to market and sell if I delay my book release any longer. And truth be told, after so many years, I’m eager to take that last step through the gate to experience the other side of the publishing wall.

Which books and when?

As far as the order of publishing, I would like for my debut book to be MOTUS, though it has a bit further to go than UPENDED. However, MOTUS is still in submission and under consideration at a publisher, so until I hear back, most of my preparations have gone into getting UPENDED ready for release. Since I hear it’s advantageous to publish books fairly close together, I may also hold off on publishing UPENDED until I have its sequel, UNTETHERED, finished and ready to go. Last will be QUOTIDIAN, since it requires more editing than the others. And while all that preparation is underway, I will continue to make headway on my works-in-progress so there isn’t too much of a delay between these books and the next.

Next steps.

I will hire an editor and cover designer for each of these books. Right now, UPENDED is the only one that has received the full treatment. I found a book editor on Reedsy, and have already submitted, received, and incorporated edits for UPENDED. The editor, who is also an avid scifi reader, had these things to say about it:

“Really enjoyed working on this…Definitely a strong introduction to these characters, this scenario, and the future adventures/challenges it promises. Mix of plot/intrigue, hard sci-fi, and character/relationship works really well.”

Granted, I was paying them to give me feedback, so take it with a grain of salt.

For the book cover, I hired an artist on 99designs and the results are spectacular. I intend to do a cover reveal as soon as I schedule a release date and have the opportunity to make changes based on the proof copy. Stay tuned.

I wish it didn’t need to be said, but at no stage will generative AI be involved in the writing, editing, or cover design.

Beta readers and ARCs.

I would like to have a few more eyes on these books before they are released and gather a list of individuals interested in receiving an advance reviewer copy (ARC). If you want to take part, please go to my contact page and send me a message letting me know you would like to be either a beta reader or receive an ARC. Please specify which book(s) you are interested in. You can read the blurbs on my Books page. Since it is so important at this early stage to have readers and reviewers who are familiar with the genre, please only request an ARC if you are familiar with and passionate about sci-fi and hard sci-fi.

Pre-release Marketing.

I don’t intend to spend much if any money on ads or other risky marketing strategies, but I will be ramping up my social media activity in an effort to create a buzz and build a following. Release week is vital for the success of a book, which means I need as many preorders and early reviews as I can get. I may even attempt a blog tour if anybody is interested in hosting me.

If you would like to help, please sign up to be an ARC reader or follow me on Instagram (p.a.kramer) and facebook, or like, follow, and share.

It’s my hope, in the next few years, you will see a slew of new books released with my name on them.

Until next time, write well and science hard.