My First Novel: A Shout-Out to My Writing Mentor

By the time I typed THE END on my debut novel, I’d already decided I wanted to self-publish it rather than go the traditional route, and I owe much of it to my writing mentor, Lee Gabel. More accurately I suppose you could call him my self-publishing coach, my go-to person for pep talks and advice about what my next play should be. I’ll circle back to his awesomeness in a minute.

But first, a little preamble about how he helped me choose self-publishing over traditional.

After innumerable conversations with Lee about the pros and cons of both options, one main concept seemed to rise to the top every time: that to be a successful indie author, you can’t be afraid to tackle a project yourself. That clinched it for me. As a person with an inherent DIY streak, it seemed inconceivable, once my manuscript was finally finished, to wait for someone else to notice my work.

Oooh, I can hear a collective groan from authors out there who are in the midst of trying to secure—or have secured—a book deal from one of the big publishers.

Before I get any hate mail, I understand the process of traditional publishing doesn’t involve sitting around twiddling your thumbs and waiting for the phone to ring. I understand the legwork. The endless polishing of your manuscript. The stress of trying to figure out your book’s audience and marketability. Then finding an agent, writing a synopsis, and submitting query letters. And all this must happen before your amazing book is even seen by an editor at any publishing house, let alone one of the coveted Big Five. A process that might take months but will probably take years.

To that I say: No thank you.

As soon as my book was finished, I wanted to get it straight out there for the world to see. I couldn’t accept that my book, based in present day, might sit collecting dust for one, three, perhaps even ten years, at which point it would need to undergo a fairly substantial overhaul in a bid to keep it current.

I also didn’t want to relinquish control. The book is mine and mine alone. I wrote it after all; shouldn’t I have a say in the final content and the cover design and even the release date? Of course, it also meant I had to take control of everything else beyond the fun, creative part: the legal matters, the promotion, and the marketing to name just a few.

In a nutshell, a self-published author has to wear many different hats; some are beanies, some are 10-gallons.

So about six months before I finished my manuscript, I serendipitously connected with my old college friend, Lee, who’d self-published four of his own novels by that time (he has six now), and took on the role of being my self-publishing mentor, whether he liked it or not! Kidding aside, he’s been the most gracious, patient, and generous coach a beginning writer could wish for—always happy to lend his expertise and pull me up that mountain.

Even with his years of self-publishing experience, Lee is quite adamant he’s not the “indie God” I paint him to be. Yes, I say, there are many writers with more expertise (the best ones having written books about it) but Lee’s hard-fought battles in the trenches have served this little newbie well.

It was also through Lee that I saw possibility. Here was a real-live person demonstrating the three crucial traits of the indie author: creativity, tenacity, and the willingness to evolve. Here was someone who plucked a bunch of words out of thin air, transcribed them into a computer and shot them into the universe with a few clicks of his mouse, all from the comfort of his own home. And people were buying his books! If that doesn’t inspire a burgeoning writer, I don’t know what will.

I would later learn that as easy as Lee made it look, it takes a helluva lot more than straight-up creativity and dogged determination to sell your own books. It also takes having a tough shell. And patience. And it doesn’t hurt to have a darned good mentor.

So here we are, year and a half since I first reached out to Lee, where not a week goes by that I’m not bugging him with some indie-related concern. To be fair, I do consult Google before firing a note off to Lee. I understand the daily struggles of a full-time author, and I certainly do try to minimize the interruptions. Except, ahem, when I’m having a major writers’ meltdown. Then, he inevitably becomes my unsuspecting sounding board.

Like the time I sent him this note: “I f%#g hate WordPress!” and a week later, “I just killed my laptop with my bare hands.” He also had to endure the brunt of my frustration when Facebook decided to shut down my account without warning or good reason. It was later discovered to be a widespread glitch affecting many, many users, and my account was restored within 24 hours. But those were tense times for a new author on the brink of publishing her first book, and my coach was there to talk me off the wall.

If that weren’t enough, my mentor also happens to be a graphic designer.

Lee’s help didn’t stop with the step-by-step self-publishing guidance and psychological support. No. Can you believe this? He also created the cover for my debut book. He deserves a medal for that marathon. Seriously. It was a six-month process through which, as always, his patience astounded me. Even now. Just last week I sent him a request to tweak my cover’s spine for printing since the interior formatting was finally done and I had the total page count nailed down.

My next mission, apart from writing a sequel, is to become much more proficient with the Affinity design suite lurking in my computer, which is a wonderfully capable, less pricey alternative to Photoshop and InDesign. It’s what Lee uses for all his cover designs, which you can see for yourself by visiting his website.

Now to pay it forward.

I hope it doesn’t seem like I’ve taken advantage of Lee’s helpful nature, because I can see how it might come across that way. From the beginning, Lee has maintained that he’s only too happy to lend a hand, especially, he says, since we’re friends from way back. And you know what? I believe him. If I ever get to the point where I’ve built up a similar knowledge base to pass on to another writer, I hope to pay it forward. For now, I’ll just keep learning the ropes and growing as a writer and hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

What about you? Have you ever been lucky enough to have a kick-ass mentor to pull you up that mountain? Or are you one yourself? Don’t be shy to toot your own horn. I’ll be the first to say that you’ve earned the right! Drop me a comment below.

And don’t forget to check out Lee’s handiwork on the cover of my new book, TimeBlink: A Novel. You can also read how I arrived at the final design of that cover in next week’s post.