I would imagine that, for most people, paying a publishing house would not be a viable option.
Indeed, why should you when there are now so many different platforms such as Smashwords, Kobo, and Ingram Spark ( to name but a few ) that will happily do so, without taking too much of a percentage for the privilege?
I am in no way an aficionado of self-publishing, it is not rocket science!
Only very time-consuming.
But why not try if you have not done so already?
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are great platforms yes.
But you will never be to beat that sense of achievement, and what is the point in keeping your work in notebooks and then 10 years down the line thinking, “I wish I had done it”?
Of course, it may go belly up, but you tried!
“Me and my Shadow” was my first attempt.
I got the cover completely wrong.
( Here’s a wee heads up, the covers are a nightmare)
One size does not fit all!
(Another wee heads up, one manuscript does not fit all either)
Smashwords are very particular with their manuscripts ( it took 6 attempts before they would accept the one for my last collection).
It is all very much a learning curve.
As I said in the audio that accompanied my first post, “Me and my Shadow” still was not the best, but I tried!
This poem I would say is one of the better ones in that collection.
(yes I know I am shooting myself in the foot, but I am honest)
Scars
We are all made up of scars hidden beneath the surface in the depths of our souls.
We hide them away to make people stay.
We think if they saw them, they would look the other way.
But the truth is, our scars are part of us, like it or not.
They are there to remind us of all our lessons learned and fought.
Without them, we would not be who we are.
Because life is never easy, and nothing stays the same for long.
So embrace your scars, don’t be afraid to be seen.
We all have ugly parts, even if that is hard to admit.
To hell, back and out the other side, our scars remind us that life is always a roller coaster ride.
Copyright © 2023 Maggie Watson
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