My Journey Through Self-Publishing

Hi. Now that my book has been published, I thought that I would tell you how/why I wound

up self-publishing it through Barnes and Noble Press, in case you are considering this option. I wrote A Hug from Grandpa Joe in 2021. During the next year or so, I submitted it to various traditional publishers: some big-name ones, as well as smaller ones. Some sent me form-letter rejections. Others did not respond at all.

Then I tried a couple of hybrid publishers. One accepted my book for publication, but they

wanted $6,000 from me up front! As a single mom, that was not do-able for me. So my

manuscript sat in a notebook in my home office for another couple of years.

In the fall of 2025, I submitted it to one more publisher who did not even have the courtesy to get back to me. By that point, I had had it with traditional and hybrid publishers, so, once

again, I Googled “self-publishing” companies. This time, Barnes and Noble Press came up.

The upside of self-publishing through Barnes and Noble Press is that you don’t have to pay any money up front, except to get an ISBN, which is essential if you want to sell your book. Another upside is that you can choose the quality of paper that you want to use. (Some hybrid publishers use really thin, cheap paper).

The downside of working through Barnes and Noble Press is that your royalties are generally

less than the royalties that you would earn through a hybrid publisher. But I’m okay with

that—I just wanted to get my book published and to get it into the hands of children who are coping with grief.

In my next post, I will tell you about my journey to find an illustrator.