You never know what the future will bring as Calista Taylor found out. She took a tough situation and went her own way with her steampunk writing, not only getting published, but also self-publishing, and starting her own business. Anyone in need of book covers can rely on her expertise. Congratulations to her for having her non-fiction steampunk book released next month and check out her available steampunk fiction.
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I’ll admit, my path regarding agents hasn’t exactly been a straight forward one. I never got “the call”, but rather an email from the woman who would soon be my agent and would represent my steampunk romance and mystery, Viridis. Unfortunately, soon after signing, the agency dissolved—not exactly what you want to hear when you’ve finally managed to land an agent. Luckily, my agent and several others formed their own agency, and I was brought along. Again, another unfortunate turn of events occurred six months in when the new agency decided to drop adult fiction and stick with YA and stories for a younger audience. Part way through submissions, I found myself agentless. Not exactly a fun situation, and I was forced to shelve that book and the second I had written in the series.
About a month later, I blogged about making a leather corset to wear to a steampunk convention. Low and behold, an agent read it and thought he could really sell a steampunk craft book and wanted to know if I’d be interested. Amazingly enough, without ever having to query, I found myself with a new agent, though this time it was for a genre I’d never even considered—non-fiction. That book ending up selling, and will be available in the next month under the title, Steampunk Your Wardrobe.
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In the end, with the market turning favorably towards ebooks, I decided to dust off my steampunk fiction series, and self-published it myself. I’ll admit, it’s been a pretty amazing ride, and with my next book, Jack—A Grim Reaper Romance, I ended up half-heartedly querying a dozen agents before deciding to self-publish it myself. Even better, and completely unexpected, was the cover design business that got started when I self-published my first series.
Publishing can certainly be a rough and rocky road, but I’ve learned that there are many paths, and one seldom travels in a straight line.
You can find Calista and her fiction books at her cover creation site. Her very cool steampunk craft book is on Amazon.
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