Self Publishing is the simple answer! After sending my manuscript to several book publishers and getting rejected, and then COVID happened, I decided to self publish the book. It was a hell of a lot of work, with contributions from talented friends, and many misguided wrong turns along the way. Finally in the spring of 2024 we had 500 books printed and ready for distribution. The first print edition! Available through my website in paperback and EPUB.

Sales and distribution are probably the biggest challenges for self-published authors. Because we aren’t part of the traditional publishing enterprise, we have to find our own access to the trade of selling books, which is near impossible.

Enter Friesen Press, a non-traditional publisher for the self-published author! And for marginal fees, they help you publish your book while offering access to avenues like editing services, book design, printing, distribution, sales, marketing, and publicity. You have all options available to you that a traditional publisher would provide if they signed you as an author.

Book One, Place from THE SOUND of ICE CRACKING trilogy is now part of the Friesen Press imprint. The second print edition! Available July, 2025 in bookstores and online in North America, Europe and Australia. You can order the book at your local bookstore, ask your local library to order a copy to sign out, and purchase the book at online bookstores like Indigo and Amazon. Hardcopy, paperback and digital versions are available options.

how do the two print editions differ?

A copy edit, is the simple answer! The second print edition got one, while the first print edition did not. My brilliant editor friend/former girlfriend was side-lined with long covid and unavailable to copy edit my book. (I didn’t trust anyone else to do it!) Also, this being my first publishing gig, I hadn’t realized how much editing is required for the elusive perfect text. (Seven separate edits.)

The first print edition is imperfect, riddled with mistakes throughout the text, however I maintain that it is still a good read and the cover couldn’t be more perfect. My manuscript was completed in March of 2018 and I was anxious to get the book out to the public. By December of 2023, the book designer was moving to Vancouver, (the other side of the country), and our time together was limited. Book One, Place, first print edition was a remarkable accomplishment for two first-timers. But it needed a copy edit.

The second print edition, with the addition of a copy edit, reformatted design (largely the same design) and expert guidance from my publishing specialist, is near perfection. As an aging neurodivergent with ADD, I have learned when to wave the white flag whilst pursuing perfection. Near perfection is the best I can do! Book One, Place is up to par literary fiction, with a slimmed-down narrative that reduces the page count by one.

A few important paragraphs were added to smooth out POV issues in the first print edition (Point of View, is my Point of Vexation). The second print edition has a more suitably titled Introduction in place of the Prologue with a reduction in its length. A few chapters were re-distributed for easy of reading and lastly, the ending has been refined. Hopefully the second print edition reads like a smooth ride in grannie’s gliding chair.

*First print edition, Book One, Place, copyright 2024 is a limited edition while Second print edition, Book One, Place, copyright 2025 is unlimited in potential number of printed copies.*