Amazon

After self-publishing The Quest of Bathasar, I decided I'd do the same with the fantasy I wrote that excited the agents to whom I submitted it--The Sceptre of Terran-Gayle.  Amazon had started an on-line publishing arm called Createspace which was a lot easier to use than Lulu.  Each step of the way was explained and corrections suggested.  Before the book was published on Amazon, I had to proof a copy.  Lulu didn't do this.

When I received the copy I ordered from Lulu, Balthasar was already in the public domain.  As I said in a previous post, I was not happy with results.  With Terran-Gayle, this awkward period was eliminated since I could make changes before it became public.  And I did.

I gave the book to hubby to read and he made a major suggestion of reversing chapters 1 and 2.  This made so much sense that I wondered why my agent hadn't clued in.  As I resubmitted the changes, Amazon announced a contest called the Breakthrough Novel Award.  Self-published books were eligible so I submitted mine.  The Sceptre of Terran-Gayle was one of 1000 chosen from a field of 5000 young adult novels.  I was pretty darn excited.  I didn't make the second cut but I'm feeling better about my writing so can accept this rejection.