Welcome to the Chaos: Why I Chose the Indie Publishing Path and Brought the Mic Along With Me

"Self-Publishing is not a fallback plan. It is a tool in your toolbox."

Hi! I'm Mica Merrill Rice, your podcast captain speaking, and I'm here to guide us through thoughtful discussions with authors and industry professionals so that you can confidently and professionally self-publish your book like a trad-author. 

In this episode, I share with you 

- a little bit about me

- my journey to becoming a writer

- the wins and woes of publishing my first book

- and the why behind starting this podcast. 

So let's be bold. Write Smart. And Keep Turning the Pages. 

Have a publishing question? Email me at [e-mail]

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Website: micamerrillrice.com

Instagram: @micamriceauthor

Facebook: @micamriceauthor

TikTok: @micamriceauthor

"Traditionally Self-Published" theme music is written by Landon Bailey and performed and produced by LNDÖ

Episode Transcript

UNKNOWN (00:00):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
What's up plot twisters and a warm welcome to
my page turners, the readers andlisteners just stepping into the
story.
Whatever title you fancy today,I'm so happy you're here with
me.
I'm Mika Merrill-Rice, author,indie publishing advocate, and
your podcast captain.
I'm here to help bring youknowledge to help you make your
books the best they can be.

(00:25):
Whether you want to write yourown art or you're on the fence,
I'm here to support yourjourney.
So be bold with me, write smartwith me, and let's keep readers
turning our pages.
This is your captain speaking.
A little about me.
I'm a mom to two sons and ablack lab named Denver, Nona to

(00:46):
my furry grandson named Oliver,and wife to my best friend Dave.
I'm a part-time, for now,author, and I also work
full-time as a program managerin the corporate world.
In my spare time, when I'm notwriting or recording, I
volunteer as a soccer managerfor my youngest and cheer my
sons as loudly as whenever I getthe chance.

(01:07):
They love it.
I'm certain of it.
They just don't know it yet.
Writing was something I havedone for decades, but never
published anything until 2024when I published my first
thriller.
But it didn't start withfiction.
I started with a bleeding heart.
Back when I was a teen, I had ahard time.
I guess most of us do, right?

(01:28):
I struggled with suicidalthoughts.
I had a hard time with my peersat school.
Basically, I hit rock bottom.
Some Someone suggested I keep ajournal, so I did.
I began confessing everything onthese blank pages that no one
would ever see and it felt good,but I still struggled.
I had so much pain inside andcraved an even bigger creative

(01:48):
release.
This is when the poetry started.
I had no formal training.
No one told me how to do this.
It was like this thing inside mecalling me and somehow I knew
how to do it.
Like a child learns to walk orspeak.
I began writing pages and pagesof poetry about the feelings I
had inside me and some about thepeople in my life.

(02:10):
Though all of my poetry waswritten from the darkest moments
of my life, the first one I everwrote was about love.
I have never published a singleword of my poetry other than the
love poem and I likely neverwill.
I still keep those old tatteredpages in a special folder as a
reminder of how far I've come.
That oldest piece, it waswritten over 30 years ago.

(02:32):
Writing was not a linear path itwas uneven windy and there were
even avalanches along the way Ididn't always know I would write
a book but when I look back thesigns were always there in
English classes in high schooland in college I excelled not
because I was a straight Astudent I wasn't I hated

(02:53):
secondary school and I neverwanted to be there but English
classes and being part of theyearbook yes please that was
different I loved those classesand that was reason enough to go
to school My professors told methat I had a gift.
I didn't believe them, ofcourse, but still, I kept
writing.
I did this until my first sonwas born and then shifted all my

(03:15):
focus on raising my son andbuilding my career.
I was in a different season oflife, going through different
things.
The writing stopped.
I could not find the words, ormaybe they couldn't find me.
I went on, went divorced, livedsome single mom years,
eventually finding the love ofmy life, married again, had one
more beautiful son, but still...

(03:35):
the words would not come back.
I would need to hit rock bottomone more time.
I had just turned 40 and Iwanted to do something other
than sit behind a desk andmanage projects and programs all
day.
I had a ton of stress and nooutlet.
I call it the midlife crisis orperhaps it was depression.
Depression is wild if you'veever dealt with it.

(03:57):
You can either open your eyes orclose them.
In this case, they were openedonce again.
I wanted more for myself and I Iaccepted that it was okay to
want something for myself evenif only part-time.
I wanted to be creative again.
I'm always encouraging my sonsto reach for the stars and
pursue their dreams but I wasn'tdoing this for myself.

(04:19):
Eventually the idea started tosurface again.
I took advantage of thisawakening and I put the pen back
to paper.
It was January of 2020 and I hadset a resolution to write a
book.
I had this crazy idea runningaround in my head for a few
years that had come to me when Iwas rocking my son to sleep one
evening.
I sat down and I wrote my firstdraft of my book Deep in the

(04:41):
Woods.
It took me 10 months to get myzero draft done.
While in the midst of revisions,life would get in the way once
again.
Edits were slow.
I had moments when I couldn'teven open my Word doc and others
where I was productive.
Eventually it all got done.
I did it alone.
I did it all without askingquestions, only using YouTube

(05:01):
and Google searches to get myanswers.
I never felt so So happy andalone at one time.
I created my book in a vacuum.
Too scared to ask questions ofanother human being.
I didn't know if what I wasdoing was right or wrong.
I didn't even know if the bookwas great, but I was happy with
it.
My first book baby for the worldto see.
Ultimately, I was proud ofmyself.

(05:24):
Good or bad, I felt a sense ofpride.
And now it was time for me tolet it go.
To traditionally publish orself-publish?
That is the question.
when it was finally time for meto publish I had choices to make
I could write a query letter tryto find an agent and then try to
land a traditional deal or Icould learn how to do it on my

(05:46):
own I never thought ofself-publishing as a fallback
plan I thought of it as a toolin my toolbox I had read so many
blogs and forums about the prosand cons of traditional self and
hybrid publishing I weighed themall there was no right or wrong
answer my goal was to publishthat was it?
Plain and simple.

(06:07):
I decided on my first projectthat I would do it on my own.
There was far more that appealedto me than not.
This was a chance to have morecontrol over what went into the
book and I could publish on myown schedule.
Naturally, I had somehesitations.
I was worried that no one wouldtake me seriously.
This is when I decided that if Iwas going to self-publish, I

(06:28):
would run this like a business,because it is.
I would need to run my ownsocial media campaigns and pay
for ad space I scheduled booksigning events and engaged with
readers wherever I could findthem.
I carefully considered everydecision for my little company
because it cost me money andlots of it.
If I was going to spend my moneyon ads, I ought to have a great

(06:49):
story too.
No spelling errors, no plotholes, and I had to make sure my
cover popped just like mybest-selling peers.
You see, I wanted to do thislike a traditionally published
author would or as close to itas I could get.
I didn't want to self-publishbecause it's free.
It is not free.
I would invest in a professionaleditor, narrator, engineering

(07:13):
studio, and eventually a coverartist because having a
professionally produced book wasimportant to me.
I thought I had done all theright things, and in some cases,
I did.
But I realized after I hitpublish on my first book that I
still had so much to learn.
There were things that I couldhave done better.
This is a feeling that nevergoes away, and honestly, I hope
it never does.

(07:34):
I hope I'm never comfortablewith my writing I want to
challenge myself and continue toimprove with time this meant
that I would need to startapproaching people to ask for
help with my second manuscriptnow underway I was determined to
not only approach this asprofessionally as possible but
that I would need to finallyopen my door and ask questions

(07:55):
the questions that the craftbooks could never answer for me
but I knew if I still hadquestions there were others that
likely did too so I decided tobring a microphone with me.
I have a mic and I'm not afraidto use it.
This show was born out of asimple idea.
Authors, any author, deservetraditionally published

(08:17):
knowledge and tools for theirtoolbox.
I wanted authors to know thatyou can do this without giving
up your independence if youdon't want to.
When I set out on this journey,I noticed that there are plenty
of resources for traditionalauthors, but what about authors
who are curious about what itwould take to do it on their own
like a traditional author.
I saw an opportunity to askquestions and learn from the

(08:40):
best in the industry so thatauthors can make informed
decisions about how they want topublish their work.
The goal of my show is to giveyou another tool in your
toolbox.
I want you to think ofself-publishing as an option,
not a last resort.
One that you can use to get yourart into the world and own it.
And I also want you to do soprofessionally and confidently

(09:03):
so that your unique voice doesnot get lost in the crowd.
I've read so many books thatI've never seen the eyes of
another human being before beingpublished and it shows.
Please, for the love of wine,don't do this.
You and your book deserve tostand up to the best sellers in
the world.
There are many options forpublishing and ultimately the

(09:24):
choice is yours.
This podcast is for the seriouswriter, for those that are
determined to go about this theright way, for those that want
to know what is possible, forthose that that want to make the
dream a reality.
On my show, you will find a mixof guests and topics.
I will interview traditional andself-published authors, debut

(09:45):
authors, influencers, marketers,editors, booksellers, and so
many more.
We will cover what you need tolook for, how you can craft your
book to stand out, and at theend of each episode, you'll get
actionable tips that you canapply to your writing and your
publishing journey.
My hope is that you will havethe confidence to make an
informed decision about how youwant to publish your work.

(10:06):
I want you to see what ispossible.
I call my community of listenersthe plot twisters and the page
turners.
The plot twisters are thewriters who want to learn more
about what it takes to be atraditionally self-published
author.
Maybe you're stepping into thisfor the first time.
Perhaps you've been in the gamefor a while and are exploring
your options.
Whatever the case, you're readyto learn everything there is to

(10:29):
know about this business and weare ready to help.
And my page turners, you are mycurious readers, the ones who
love to talk about books, readthem, and are hungry for all the
behind the scenes that go intothe process.
Don't worry, you'll get to hearfrom your favorite authors and
what inspired them to write.
You may even meet your newfavorite author right here.

(10:49):
Or perhaps this will open a doorto a world you never imagined
for yourself before.
So if you're ready to write it,to own it, and to publish like
you mean it, you have found theright place.
Are you ready to get serious?
If you're ready to learn and bea part of the growing
traditionally self-publishedcommunity, I welcome you.

(11:10):
You can do this and we've gotyour back.
And if you feel that thispodcast resonated with you, I
encourage you to subscribe,leave a review, and don't forget
to share with your author andreader friends.
Let's build this community uptogether.
I'm here for you, cheering youon wherever you are in your
journey.
And feel free to join me on mysub stack to come and chat with

(11:30):
me about your journey too.
I love to engage with newfriends.
To kick off my first season,I'll be publishing a short back
to school miniseries startingwith editing 101.
Editing by far is one of themost crucial things you can do
to level up your writing journeyand you're about to learn all
about it.
So get ready students.
I've invited some industry prosto share their knowledge and

(11:52):
their best kept secrets.
So lock in with me and let's getready to grow.
Until next time, be bold, writesmart, and keep turning those
pages.