Author Spotlight: Connie Biewald

Digging to Indochina

iUniverse Star author Connie Biewald didn't have any trouble finding an agent to represent her novels. Unfortunately, publisher after publisher rejected them, citing marketing difficulties. "Was it young adult or adult?" Biewald said. "When that had been said about each of my three books, I decided there wasn't much I could do to change that voice I seemed to have. I like my books and feel that they are qualitatively equal to a lot of fiction being published by traditional publishers. I had confidence people would like them."

Biewald decided to take the self-publishing route. "I waited to self-publish until it felt empowering, not settling for less," Biewald said. She went on to publish three novels with iUniverse—Bread and Salt (2005), Roses Take Practice (2006) and Digging to Indochina, published in August of 2004 but reissued in 2006 as an iUniverse Star title.

In choosing iUniverse, Biewald researched print-on-demand publishing through the Internet and had several conversations with people. "iUniverse seemed the most established and well-organized," she said. Biewald has also been impressed with the quality of service she's received. "iUniverse provides a professional service," she said. "I've been pleased with the control I've been able to maintain over my work."

Marketing her books herself has proved a challenge to Biewald, but she's viewed it as her "assertiveness training program." She's also grown as a person by being forced to promote her own work, and has found success not only in sales, but also in balancing her life. "My success lies in the fact that I have managed to have a writing life, a teaching life, a family life and social time. It's not easy to do all that. Of course, I've had lots of help from friends and family. That network I've cultivated is my greatest success. I don't take it for granted."

Biewald's next project, a nonfiction work she's co-authoring with a colleague, tackles the decline of school recesses. "We think there are huge and maybe terrible implications in taking away unstructured play time from children," she said. "How will they learn to be artists, inventors, dreamers, thinkers? When do they get to learn from each other and not just from adults?" The book is still in the early stages of writing, but Biewald is hopeful it will find an audience.

Biewald's advice for those wishing to self-publish? "Resist the temptation to publish a book before it is ready," she said. "Because you, and only you, are putting the book out into the world, you want to feel that it is the best it can be."