In the world of writing, a new publishing platform is quickly rising in importance: e-publishing. Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook have become the new avenue for many writers to get their work in front of readers. Recently, Kathy Warnes published “Rachel, A Prism of History: The Story of Rachel Jackson.” I interviewed Kathy about her book and her publishing experience. Here’s what she had to say:
Tell me about the book. I know it’s about Rachel Jackson, but tell me a little bit more.
Rachel Donelson was born into a genteel Virginia family in 1767 which means, as far as women’s history is concerned, she was a transitional woman between the frontier woman who besides being a mother and wife also was required to be a partner as far as work and defending her providing for her family was concerned. Her father taught her “boy” skills like shooting and rowing and her mother and sisters taught her housewivery arts like sewing and cooking, reading and writing. Her father also taught her some accounting because he was a surveyor.
When she was 17 she met and married Lewis Robards from a Kentucky family. Historical evidence indicates that Lewis was jealous and abusive and some points to his involvement with a mulatto servant girl. Rachel decided to leave Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where she and Lewis were living and go back to Nashville where the Donelsons lived. She met Andrew Jackson who was boarding at her mother’s stockade and eventually they fell in love. One story goes that Lewis threatened to kidnap Rachel and drag her back to Kentucky, so she decided to visit a friend of her fathers in Natchez, Mississippi. There was no one to accompany her, so Andrew Jackson went with her. Supposedly, they were married in Mississippi and after some months they returned to Tennessee and lived together until Rachel died in 1828.
When Jackson ran for president, scandalmongers circulated rumors that Andrew and Rachel had run away together and lived common law until Lewis finally petitioned for a divorce and the Jacksons remarried. Jackson was extremely sensitive about the rumors and the circumstances surrounding their marriage. Historians have not treated Rachel well. She was well educated for a woman of her time, a good money manager, and probably the only person on earth who could calm Andrew Jackson and smooth the rough edges of his personality. Male historians have called her scandalous, and unequal of Jackson in education and ability, when actually Jackson married up instead of down when he married Rachel. I wanted to tell her story and highlight how much Andrew Jackson loved her, how much he owed to her.
What made you decide to publish through Amazon?
The print publisher that I sent the book to hung onto it for a year after they told me they were going to publish it . In the meantime, someone else came out with a book about Rachel. I didn’t want all of my work and research to be for nothing, so I thought if I published it on Amazon it would at least be out there and people might have a choice of which book to read or read both of them!
What were the major challenges of publishing through Amazon?
For me, the biggest challenges are marketing and publicity. I am not good at blowing my own horn or peddling my own product. The technicalities of publishing on Amazon are about the same as publishing on Smashwords. You have to prepare a clean, Microsoft code free manuscript. It takes time, but is very doable for - even a non-technical person.
Would you do it again?
Yes, I would and intend to do it again. I just have to get the marketing and social media aspects down a little better.
Any advice for others who may want to publish their own work?
Advice? Yes, I think you have to decide what you want to accomplish with the book besides publication, I mean. If you want to use it for a career stepping stone, you need to make sure that self publishing is considered legitimate in your field. In some academic disciplines, it isn’t. If you deeply believe in your book and think it will eventually get readers, you need to market well and be patient an persistent. I have to follow my own advice!!!
What’s next for you?
Yes, I’m working on a children’s book. It’s a story set in De Zwaan, the windmill that is now in Holland, Michigan, brought over here from the Netherlands in the 1960s.
What is your editing process like?
My editing process is lengthy. I first do a draft with as much care and love as I can. Then I go over it with a fine tooth comb and try to make it as perfect as I can. I usually edit chapter by chapter and ask myself editing questions. A few of them include: Do I like this character? Does the character change during the story? What does the character want? Does the character achieve the goal? Why or why not? Is the outcome of the story logical? Does the setting fit in with the story? How important is the setting to the story? Does the story’s theme come across clearly enough? What is the point of the book?
And, of course, I try to make it as technically perfect as possible, good grammar, spelling, punctuation.
I know you have a special interest in women’s issues; do you think women are treated differently in the publishing world and is that changing?
That’s a thought provoking question. I think they were typecast in the 20th century into romance books, children’s books, etc. Now women write adventure, sports, pretty much anything they want to write. It’s a lot better than the days when women had to use male names to get their books published or pretend to be a man!
If you have recently published on Nook or Kindle, let us know about your experience. What marketing techniques worked for you? Would you do it again?
Thanks,
Mary
