Jessica Degarmo grew up in Upstate New York and now lives with her husband, children, and dogs in rural Pennsylvania. When she is not writing, she is an insurance agent, the lead singer in a classic rock band, and an avid collector of gemstones.
She has published 5 books to date, the latest one The Storm Within, coming out soon.

 

Your five books have been published by three different publishers, one of them being Night Publishing. Now, Night Publishing is the publishing arm of  Night Reading that published How to Meet a Guy at the Supermarket, Hooking Up and The Storm Within. Could you explain how that works?

Well, there are a few ways that Night Publishing works. They run a reader poll every month and feature the first chapter of 20 or so books that are put up on the website. The winning entry receives a publishing contract. Another way is the good old-fashioned query, which is what I did. Writers may also get contracts based on referrals from current NP authors.

Did the fact that your books were published by Night Publishing help you find a publisher for the other books?

I actually received three offers for my first book, so no, I don’t think being published by Night was a factor in the others.

 

How long did it take for you to get a publishing contract with Silver Publishing for Decisions, and Pfoxchase Publishing for Six Weeks?

I received a contract for Decisions in about five days, and I received an offer from Pfoxchase within a week and a half.

 

Do you see any difference in the way your books are promoted by the different publishers and if yes, which ones?

Yes, there can be big differences in the way different houses promote their authors, but I’m lucky enough to have great publishers who work to promote their authors. But I will say that being an Indie is a never-ending swim upstream. Indies have to work harder to get their work out there, and a big part of an Indie author’s time is spent contacting people to do reviews, signings, interviews, etc. With the amount of people publishing books themselves, the public has a veritable fountain of new material flowing daily. To get and stay in the spotlight takes a lot of hard work.

 

What marketing techniques do you use personally in addition to the marketing performed by the publishers if any?

I use social networking a lot. I have my own blog where I do a lot of book promotion and general news about my life as an author. I have two Facebook author/book pages, and a twitter account that’s almost solely used for my writing news. I have a wonderful network of author friends who help me promote. I’d be lost without them! And I have the web, which I comb constantly for review sites and Indie author-friendly folks who like to help promote. I’ve been on TV twice and had two different signings/speaking engagements at local libraries. I’ve thrown book launch parties in both the virtual and physical sense, and gotten mentions in our local paper. It’s exhausting, but necessary.

 

Why did you choose to publish with a publisher rather than self–publish?

Well, I’m completely inept when it comes to cover design, formatting, and all that other stuff that goes into self-pubbing. I’d prefer to let experts do it. It’s also cheaper, as most publishers will handle the book covers, formatting, editing, etc., at no cost to the author.

 

Are you happy with that decision? What would make you consider self-publishing your next books?

I am extremely happy with my decision. I love all three of my publishers, and they haven’t steered my wrong yet, so I’m likely to stick with them for any of my new releases.

The only thing that would make me consider self-publishing would be the time aspect of getting a book on the market. Usually, it’s a long process between editing, formatting, cover design, etc., and since I’m extremely impatient, it’s temping just to do it myself. I have to remind myself that my publishers are very good at their jobs, and they want what’s best for both of us. The query process also annoys me because it can take a very long time to hear back. Sometimes it seems like the book could be out on the market and selling long before a rejection or acceptance comes back. But,  I know I made the right decision when it came to my books, and I haven’t regretted a thing.

Thank you Jessica for sharing your experience with us