RUNE RIVERS ON SELF-PUBLISHING

Welcome back to Writers In Progress! This week I have the pleasure of interviewing Rune Rivers, a self-published author. Thankfully, this one was much briefer than my previous interview with Nat Lockett so this will be done in a more traditional style.

Rune Rivers is a 23-year-old trans man from the Pacific Northwest. By day he is a licensed massage therapist focusing on structural bodywork, and by night he is a self-proclaimed insomniac writing about or drawing his characters.

I first asked Rune to tell me a bit about his self-published series The Soul of Lucifer (the first book of which I am currently reading!) His description is as follows:

“It's about Oren, a modern-day angel who harbours the soul of Lucifer — hence the title. She discovers this fact about herself that's been hidden all her life. From there, she uncovers the true abuse and gaslighting she's been raised on and has to take on the war she's inherited.

There's much exploration through the series — for not only her, but the extended cast as a whole — regarding religious trauma, late bloomers coming of age, gender identity and sexuality, and more. It's new adult speculative fiction and, despite heavier topics, I do try to balance the levity.”

As a queer person raised in the church, I've been eager to ask Rune about the religious influences in his work as I’ve had some similar experiences. I was finally able to talk with Rune about this during the interview! Here’s his response:

“Growing up, I was raised Christian and my family hopped around churches a ton because nothing was ever up to my mother's standard of religion. There's a lot of built-up shame from the strictness that comes with that, following restrictive moral codes to appease an invisible force. When I came into adulthood and started expanding my worldview I realized how messed up that all was, and I wanted to see if I could explore that safely through writing somehow.

As I have, it's allowed me to be more open and I've found so many people who have experienced the same trauma. It's simultaneously wonderful and harrowing, honestly, that there are others who relate so heavily to that kind of upbringing, and have experienced worse abuse themselves in the name of purity or redemption or whatever flavor of "fixing" came with theirs.”

Queer people often struggle to relate religion with their experiences and many turn to creative pursuits to process what happened to them and how they feel about the divine. My childhood best friend, a deeply religious lesbian, once described the experience of being religious and queer as like sitting in a nest in the hands of God, fearful of the wind trying to blow you down. In her mind, it was the external forces that make religion an unsafe place.

While this isn’t how all LGBTQ+ people feel about religion, the complicated emotions many have towards religion are the kind that demand to be heard. My current project, Run Says The Devil, grapples with a similar feeling of being the devil in the eyes of those around you while your oppressors declare themselves gods.

It’s these queer, complicated stories are often excluded from the straight-and-narrow lines of traditional publishing. Self-publishing has allowed authors like Rune turn to find an audience for their stories. This medium has experienced a recent boom with the rise of the e-book, Amazon, and Kindle, making it more competitive for those seeking publication.

When I asked Rune about his choice to self-publish, he said that his journey was shaped by his preexisting experience self-publishing and the understanding that “the querying process is not for the faint of heart.” (Which, he’s quite right, it isn’t. If you would like to find out more about what querying is, why it’s so daunting, and how to navigate it check out my interview with Nat Lockett)

Regarding those who would be ‘more suited’ to self-publishing, Rune thinks that “anyone who's got the patience for self-publishing” should have a go. He acknowledged that marketing yourself is the hardest part (aside from formatting!) and added that “If you don't have a 'traditional' story to tell, if you want to keep in those pesky mature themes (like "queer people existing"), then self-publishing is the way to go.”

I followed up by asking Rune about whether or not he would consider traditional publishing in the future. He had this to say:

“Personally, I don't think I'd really commit to tradpub. There seems to be a lot more that goes on behind the scenes, and I'm pretty content with having so much say in what happens. I mean, I design everything down to the covers, so the story is very much my own. I feel like tradpub authors still have to advertise just as much, unless you're a big name, so I don't know that it's much better or easier.”

Rune brought up a good point; in self-publishing, you’re the one that controls every aspect of your story, for better or for worse. Traditional publishing, by contrast, is rigorously controlled by many gatekeepers. From agents to editors to the publishing houses themselves, there’s always another hurdle you have to pass just to have your work published, to say nothing of what changes they may request along the way. Rune also points out an ill-acknowledged fact: traditionally published authors still have to do a lot of the promotional work.

With the goal of trying to help those deciding between pursuing trad vs self-publishing, I asked Rune about the pros/cons of self-publishing.

“You're in charge, which means all of it comes down to you (editing/hiring an editor, making the cover/commissioning the cover, marketing, etc). Unexpected surprises have actually come from the community! Yeah, there can be bad eggs, but the self-publishing community as a whole is really supportive and we really look out for each other.”

Community is such an important thing in developing your creative voice, staying motivated, finding support, and making friends. No matter what part of the journey you’re on (drafting, querying, published -- trad, indie, or self) don’t underestimate the value of a community. Rune here cites its importance in uplifting other self-published authors, but there’s a place for everyone. If social media is something that scares you (which, same!) Writers In Progress has a Discord server you can find here. Come by and say hi!

For those already thinking about self-publishing, Rune shared some of his experience with the technical side of things.

“I use Kindle Direct Publishing for paperbacks and Kindle. The setup is super streamlined in 3 major steps: description, content, pricing. Description stuff being your title, blurb, genre, age groups, etc. Content being the inside and outside of the book (they let you pick sizing, matte/gloss covers, paper type — personally recommend cream!). Pricing, self-explanatory, but Amazon does take a cut for printing and what have you.

The hardest part of these is content formatting, so I definitely recommend getting Word (since it's compatible with the site) and learning things about cover PDFs (if not commissioning your cover).”

He added some of his own tips and tricks as well:

1. Google Docs is great as it’s free and available offline, but it’s more likely to let grammar mistakes slip by and Word is more compatible with KDP.

2. Familiarize yourself with whatever self-publishing site you plan on using. (Don’t be afraid to reach out to customer service!)

3. And, as noted above, the community can be your best asset.

Overall, self-publishing isn’t as scary as a lot of people might think it is. There’s a community to support you, similar marketing expectations, and more creative freedom than in other forms of publishing. While it’s not for everyone, requiring a fair amount of patience and a bit of a learning curve, self-publishing is a more viable option than ever.

Rune concluded the interview by thanking me for the opportunity and reminding me that “the angel Michael merely had a better PR team!”

You can find Rune on Twitter and at his website. Check out his series Soul of Lucifer, on Amazon.

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