“Believe in yourself, and in the quality of what you want to say.”

                -D.A. Adams on what it takes to be self-published –


The world of literature includes writers who in the beginning of their careers chose to self-publish their books.  In any discussion about self-published books, you will find yourself encountering names like Margaret Atwood, Anne Rice and Christopher Paolini (Eragon).


Self-publishing continues to be a topic of heated conversation in author’s circles.  There are those who will do it, there are those who argue that self-publishing is taking the easy road.
But how easy is self-publishing really?  How much effort goes into promoting a self-published book? What does an author have to take into consideration when deciding to follow the self-publishing route?


D.A. Adams, author of The Brotherhood of Dwarves, speaks of his own experiences as an author and as a publisher, even as he launches into the second printing of his first book, The Brotherhood of Dwarves


Q:  When did you start writing and what was it that pushed you to pursue professional publication?


D.A. Adams:  I’ve really been telling stories for as long as I can remember.  I wrote my first book when I was in second or third grade. It was a story about a dog, a cat and a bird and how they invented the game of hide and seek.


I consciously started writing at 17, when I became aware of polishing and craft.


On pursuing publication:  I am a writer, and as a writer, the only way to get a response is to get things out there for people to read.  For my writing to be complete it needs to be read.


Of all the things he has written, D.A. Adams is proudest of The Brotherhood of Dwarves.   When he completed his first novel, he went through the rounds of sending it to several publishing houses. However, the bureaucracy and response times tested his patience.  


D.A.Adams :  It was frustrating how slow publishing houses were.  Just getting a rejection takes months.


Being a person of entrepreneurial spirit, he decided to take his own chances and put up Third Axe Publishing, a publishing house established especially for Brotherhood.  


After securing investment to cover the initial costs, he contacted an outside editor, Sherrie Shuler, and together with her went over the final draft for several revisions.  Through a former student, he was able to get in touch with a printer who helped him put the book together.


In reply to a question regarding reader response to his self-publishing effort, D.A. Adams says that there are those who will refuse to read the book because it is self-published.  


D.A. Adams:  That’s their own problem and their own prejudice, but for me, I don’t let that element get to me and influence the decisions that I make. There are lots of good writers out there who are working hard to get their name noticed.  Just as with mainstream publishing, there are good self-published books, and there are bad self-published books.


Influenced and inspired by his father who always encouraged his imagination and creativity, D.A. Adams looks back at the sacrifices his own father did for himself and for his family and recognizes him as being the biggest influence in his life.  


In his journey as a writer, perhaps one of the key people was his fourth and fifth grade teacher, a lady called Rebecca Fontana who was the first person to get him interested in reading
for pleasure.


D.A. Adams: Everyday, during lunch periods, she would read a story to us.  She read all kinds of different stuff, among them the Chronicles of Narnia which introduced me to the fantasy genre.  Her love for stories and for reading rubbed off on me.



During his college years, he was a rowdy and self-destructive teenager, but he had a handful of instructors who saw beyond that and guided him in the right direction, showing him that he could be more than what he was at the time.  


Among the writers who influenced him was a southern gothic writer, Harry Crews.  


D.A. Adams:  There is an element in his writing that speaks to me more than anybody else.  


As an undergraduate in Memphis, D.A. Adams had the unique experience of being selected as one of those to interview Harry Crews, whose roots in rural Georgia, growing up underprivileged and isolated from the bigger world, are similar to D.A. Adams’s own background.


Naming other influences, D.A. Adams speaks of C.S. Lewis whose Chronicles of Narnia became a “gateway into fantasy.  A gateway into using imagination and creating other worlds.”


Another British short story writer, V.S. Pritchett, became one of his personal favorites.  


D.A. Adams:  I found an anthology of his short stories in a used bookstore.  For five or six years, I devoured every one of those short stories repeatedly.  They were so well crafted and I admired his writing style.


As a teenager, he remembers reading Fritz Leiber the touchstone of Sword and Sorcery writing, and he talks about the influence Ernest Hemingway exerts on every young American writer.


D.A. Adams:  You won’t find many young, male, American writers who haven’t been influenced by Ernest Hemingway.  I am a fan of the nuts and bolts of how he wrote.  If you go back and read most of his writing, you’ll see a lyrical quality and a rhythm that is very beautiful.  


Perhaps the most difficult part in writing Brotherhood of Dwarves, comes from the transitions that took place in Adams’s life while he was writing this novel.  His wife was pregnant with their first child when he wrote the first eight chapters of The Brotherhood of Dwarves, a week before his wife gave birth, his grandfather died, and soon after that his grandmother followed.


D.A. Adams:  Loss and joy weighed heavily on me.  I had to keep going through that grief, and I had to keep going through the things that followed that loss.  


When asked about the inspiration behind The Brotherhood of Dwarves, D.A. Adams tells of how in his teenage years, his cousin, Sam Self, introduced him to the world of gaming and role playing.  These games became an outlet of expression for the shy and awkward D.A.  


In The Brotherhood of Dwarves, the name Roskin, is based on a character he played during all those years of role-playing games.


When his cousin Sam died, D.A. wanted to pay tribute to him and to the influence his cousin had on his life.


This along with his faith in the story he had to tell, provided the momentum that pushed him towards self-publishing.  


D.A. Adams:  It’s a lot of hard work.  So if you’re not willing to put in time and energy, then don’t sink a lot of money into something you’re setting up for failure.  Be willing to travel, be willing to take the risk of sitting at a bookstore for hours selling only one book or no books.  You have to believe in yourself and in the quality of what you want to say.  If you believe you have a future as a writer and have trouble getting in to a publishing house, self-publishing is one way of making a name for yourself.


“For any new writer who is an unknown, it’s up to the writer to go out there and make his name known to the audience. If you want a successful career you have to go out there and create a base.”


“Promotion for a self-published writer is almost the same as a new writer published by a traditional publishing house.  Most companies don’t invest a lot, and most new books by new writers lose money.  It falls to the writer to get out there and be visible. It is a lot of work.”


“Most of what I’ve done have been festivals or conventions or group book signings with other writers.”


“It has been done before, and it can be done again.”


D.A. goes on to speak of writers who have started out their careers as self-published authors, and concludes that the lessons one learns as a self-published author are lessons that can be put to use when the author is picked up by a publishing house.


Quoting British poet, W.H. Auden:

“Some writers confuse authenticity, which they always ought to aim at with originality, which they should never bother about.”


D.A. Adams:  That quote to me really speaks volumes of what a writer should try to do.  Too many are focused on being unique and original, but there is nothing new under the sun.  If you can be authentic and true to the story you have to tell, you have the chance to be successful.


This is the quote I’d like young writers to tack up and read and focus on every time they sit down to write.


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The Brotherhood of Dwarves is available from Amazon.com.  Other outlets are listed on the official website of Third Axe Publishing