Help me publish my book

Hi friends,

I began writing my book almost thirty-five years ago, after losing a friend to suicide. At the time, I wanted to give voice to the difficult thoughts and emotions this had triggered. However, I found myself returning to my writing through a succession of sea changes over the next several decades - marriage, divorce, the loss of my parents, the birth of my daughter, and my return to graduate school to become a teacher. I realized my friend's death had opened up a much deeper well of memory, and what emerged was a coming-of-age story - about the return to one's earliest memories of grief and loss, and how the human spirit can create anew from some of our darkest moments.

The manuscript was completed in 2018, and shortly after received acceptance from She Writes (Press), an award-winning women’s press in the S.F. Bay Area. Known as a ‘hybrid,’ She Writes Press combines qualities of traditional and independent publishing, and has distinguished itself as an innovative model in the publishing world. Unlike vanity presses, its founders carefully vet all property, and have won accolades for the quality of their authors’ work. However, whereas authors do not typically pay traditional publishers’ costs, SWAP authors must pay up-front ( $7.5k covers printing, production, marketing and distribution), and in turn are granted a larger percentage of net profits on each volume sold.

When I was accepted, I was informed that my submission was “ready for publication” and “[appeared] to have been professionally edited.” I delayed signing with them many times for financial reasons, but in the aftermath of the Pandemic, I felt the desire to move forward by whatever means I could find. I am now reaching out to meet the current publishing release date of 2024, for which initial payments are due this Fall.

Please consider offering a contribution of any amount you can afford, and accept my heartfelt thanks for helping me to accomplish something I’ve dreamt of for so long. I have included a synopsis of my story with the comments of Thomas Livingston, a published author and contributor to Playboy magazine, who was the first person to see my manuscript and encourage me to publish it.

I will be so very happy if my book can be released before I resemble the very wise woman pictured with her cat in the famous illustration below.

- Kristen