A New Decision, A New Direction by Patty Blount

 This month's theme is DECISIONS. They're scary, aren't they? Are you making the right decision? What if it turns out to be a mistake? 

What if...what if...what if...

If you're here, reading this post, you probably know I've been blogging here for YEARS. You may also know I have half a dozen Young Adult novels out. You may also have noticed that I haven't released any new titles since 2018. 

That was not my choice.

My publishing contract was up and my editor didn't like any of my new ideas. I am still writing, but nothing has sold. Do I give up? Do I keep trying? 

It's been 6 years. 

How long do I give it? 

Or, do I take matters into my own hands and try something completely new? 

I'm still writing. And I finished a novel I've been working on for years. Twenty years ago, it was called POSTPARTUM DECEPTION and was about a woman grieving the loss of her husband and baby. It never sold and when my I got published with a YA title, I decided to completely rewrite PPD as a YA paranormal. I gave the main character a surviving child, now a teenager, and promoted him to main character instead of his mom. At that time, my agent liked the idea of maybe spinning this into a series or a trilogy. I wrote the first book, THE SKY WAS SCARLET, and was halfway through the second book when my agent advised shelving the entire project because paranormal wasn't selling. 

Back in the drawer it went. 

Years later, I decided to rewrite it yet again and change the title because BENEATH A SCARLET SKY had just hit the best seller lists. And this time, I decided to self-publish it. 

Whoa, baby, was THAT a tough decision. I've traditionally published nine novels with 2 different publishers. What do I know about self-publishing? So, I've been doing research and one thing terrifies me about self-publishing. I was going to release it via Kindle Unlimited, but learned teen readers don't buy many Kindle books. To address this statistic, I think I need to offer a print-on-demand option, but not quite sure how to do that yet. 

I picked a new title. It's called THE SMELL OF SMOKE & ASH. I found an amazing cover artist on Upwork and chose this cover and I adore it! I had more control over this cover than any of my traditionally published books. The house in the background is real; it's from a photograph I got from a beach vacation. The car is also real; it's my dream car -- a '69 Pontiac GTO convertible. I even picked the font! I wanted something that looked like it was rising out of smoke. 

Self-publishing was a huge decision -- one that has no safety net. I'm nervous about it, but I'm also having fun because I have more control over the direction of my work than was possible with traditional publishing. Decisions can be scary, but in this case, they can be fun. 

Stay tuned! 

Oh, and if you're willing to leave a review prior to this novel's Halloween release date, I'm happy to send you a review copy!