For my undergraduate thesis, I translated the Second Shepherds’ Play from Middle English into modern English. A few years later, I polished it up, and decided to put it online.
I tried to go through a traditional publisher, first. I was at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, c. 2011. There’s a hall with publishers’ tables, and you can speak to reps about your manuscript ideas.
My heart was pounding. My hands and my voice shook. They told me no, because I only have a Master’s.
I self-published through Smashwords. I didn’t care about making money, just sharing it. I priced it at 99 cents, because $0 can feel so suspicious. I think I made $10 in royalties in my best year.
Smashwords is now owned by Draft2Digital. I got an email today that authors who earn under $100 will be charged a maintenance fee of $12 a year. So for me, that would mean paying for the privilege of selling my book online, in addition to their cut of any books I sold.
Soooooo I’m in the process of delisting my book. You can read it for free on Archive.org:
