Writing a novel is the dream of many freelance writers, but few of us achieve this formidable goal. A first novel is therefore always an exciting event for a freelancer although the path to being published is often strewn with obstacles and decisions unfamiliar to the unpublished.

Daniel Sugar is a Toronto-born and based freelancer who has written for various celebrities and a number of TV shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A fan of the work of Sidney Sheldon, Jackie Collins, J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown and other best-selling authors, Salem Burning is his first novel.

THE BORN FREELANCER: Daniel, you've set your first novel in a turbulent and iconic era - that of the Salem witch trials. In it, a dishonourable young man breaks his engagement by falsely accusing his betrothed of witchcraft. The twist is, she turns out to actually be a witch. How did you come up with the story?

DANIEL SUGAR:  One day I thought, what if someone told a lie and it just happened to be true? And then I thought, and what if that happened in 1692? Once I had those two things, the entire story flashed through my mind and I couldn’t wait to write it. I saw the whole thing very clearly... It all poured out very quickly – I had a first draft in 9 days and then I polished it for about a year.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  What kind of research was required to construct a believable narrative?

DANIEL SUGAR:  While I was polishing the novel, I did a lot of research so that everything would seem authentic, the clothes, the food, the homes. I did an enormous amount of research for the scene where Lilly actually goes to trial. I was really afraid to make a mistake because the Salem witch trials actually happened and people really were executed. I took it very seriously – you have to honour the dead – you can’t make light of a terrible and shocking historical event.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  You've chosen to self-publish. What made you choose to go that route and not a more conventional author/publisher route? DANIEL SUGAR:  The bump in the road was rejection by literary agents who told me I have a very commercial style of writing. When people send you e-mails praising your style and your novel you think you’re going to get an agent. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way and I had to look for another way to offer Salem Burning to readers. Twenty years ago, the novel would have just gone into a drawer and would have been forgotten.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  So you opted to self-publish. Why choose Amazon?

DANIEL SUGAR: There are no barriers to self-publishing on Amazon - any writer can publish. The process is completely automated.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  Take us through it, step by step.

DANIEL SUGAR:  The process is: Format your manuscript for ebook and paperback and design your cover and then format the cover as well. I am certainly not a computer expert so I worked with an excellent company called ebooklaunch.com. They do cover design and formatting and can give you mobi, pdf, epub files - whatever you require. Within just a few days, my manuscript was formatted.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  Your cover is remarkably eye-catching. Did they come up with it or did you?

DANIEL SUGAR:  I told ebooklaunch.com my ideas and they gave me an image I liked immediately - the whole process was completed within one week. Once your text and cover files are properly formatted, upload them to the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing site.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  It all sounds a bit intimidating.

DANIEL SUGAR:  Amazon guides you through the process - you don’t have to know anything about computers. If I can do it, anyone can!

THE BORN FREELANCER:  Do they do your marketing as well?

DANIEL SUGAR:  Marketing is completely up to the author. The day I published on Amazon, I sent an e-mail to all my friends and told them about Salem Burning. Then, I did an online promotion with Books Butterfly and Bargain Booksy. I also opened a Twitter account and a Facebook account. I’ve never used social media before but it’s fun!

THE BORN FREELANCER:  You've put "Salem Burning" out as both an e-book as well as a more traditional "dead-tree" edition. Why is that?

DANIEL SUGAR:  I did some research and discovered that a lot of people like to read novels on their phone or iPad or computer so I published in both a paperback and e-book format. It’s also come to my attention that a lot of people like to listen to audio books as they’re driving so I’m hoping to publish in that format as well.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  So after all that work, how is it doing?

DANIEL SUGAR:  "Salem Burning” is now on Amazon’s Best Sellers list and Most Wished For list in its category of Alternate History.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  Would you choose to self-publish again?

DANIEL SUGAR:  I’m currently working on the sequel to Salem Burning and, when it’s completed, I hope to once again publish with Amazon. With the first self-publishing experience, there was, of course, a learning curve. I know very little about computers so I was intimidated but the process turned out to be quite straightforward. I would encourage all writers who have been thinking about self-publishing to try.

THE BORN FREELANCER:  Finally, what advice in general would you offer to other freelancers wishing that they too could write and self-publish their first novel?

DANIEL SUGAR:  The most important thing I’ve learned from this experience is to never give up. Be relentless. If you have a story you believe in, don’t listen to anyone – just get it to readers. Fortunately, we live in a time when Amazon has made that possible. I really think they’ve done a great thing for writers.

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Our thanks to Daniel Sugar for sharing his thoughts on self-publishing his first novel, "Salem Burning". He is currently working on the sequel entitled, The Witch and The Guillotine. It takes place during The French Revolution.

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You can email the author directly with questions or ideas for future posts: thebornfreelancer at gmail dot com.

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Got any stories about writing and publishing your first novel? Or why it has stalled - again? Share them with us in the comments below.