N.L. writers’ group connects self-published authors

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Anyone who’s ever tried self-publishing can attest to the challenges that come with it — from editing and design, to printing and distribution — it requires a broad range of skills.

A new group, Independent Publishers of Newfoundland and Labrador (IPNL), aims to make the process easier for its members.

“I had the idea through personal experience,” said the group’s founder, Jeff Kelland.

When he published his first book, Grace Ungiven, he ran into the challenges that come with independent publishing.

“I began to realize, gee whiz, if people get together — if we all got together — we’d answer a lot of the problems ... we’d be each other’s resources and connections.”

Kelland reached out to the writing community and the group already has about 50 members. Half of them reside in St. John’s and the rest are spread across the island and in Labrador.

This without yet formally founding the organization.

The group hopes to officially form the organization and elect an executive next week.

Once it incorporates as a nonprofit the intent is to apply for funding. They hope to create a virtual storefront on the group’s website, ipnl.ca, where the public can peruse independently-published books by members.

For aspiring author Daphne MacNeil, it’s exactly the kind of opportunity she was seeking.

Retired from her career, MacNeil is pursuing her passion for writing about personal development.

MacNeil said she writes a lot for herself but has never published. She was interested in joining IPNL because of the mentoring aspect.

“These people have walked through it,” she said.

Those people include self-published author Scott Bartlett, whose novel Taking Stock won the Percy Janes First Novel Award and the Lawrence Jackson Writers’ Award.

There’s also Herb Hopkins, who has published four works in the past decade since he’s retired as a teacher.

His book of poetry, A High of Zero, the original volume with hand-carved walnut covers, resides in the Rare Books Collection of the National Library of Canada in Ottawa.

“I’m at a stage in my life now where I want to share what I’ve learned,” said Hopkins.

Despite the many struggles the five group members said, for them, the benefits of independent publishing outweighed the challenges. When asked about those benefits, Hopkins proudly produced a list of 24 advantages of independent publishing over trade publishing, which he wrote himself.

His list ranged from having complete control over the final product, to being one’s own boss and having self-determined deadlines.

“But it’s not for everybody,” he said. “You have to have a certain amount of skill in different kinds of areas, you have to have a certain kind of character ... putting on a marketing ad is a completely different skill than sitting down at a desk and writing a story . ... For me, it’s allowing people to tell their stories that might not otherwise have a chance to tell their story.”