QIFLA

Question: Why did you give this page such a confusing name?
Answer: I could have called it a FAQ, and then you would have known exactly what you were getting, right? Except I can't say these are frequently asked questions yet when they're only questions that might get asked someday. So it's a QIFLA (Questions I Feel Like Answering) page, and maybe someday, if people ask these questions (although why would they, since I've already answered them?), I'll change the name to FAQ.

Question: Is Razor Productions a real company? 
Answer: Reality might be in the eye of the beholder, but the short answer is no, not really. The longer answer is that my son's initials are RZR.

Question: Why did you use a pseudonym?
Answer: Apart from the general coolness of being two people? Findability. My real name is owned by many, many, many people including a violinist, a lawyer, some social workers, several authors, and many more. On Amazon, it has 116 records. I wanted a name that would be easier to find. At the moment, I'm the only author with the name of Sarah Wynde on Amazon.

Question: Did you try to find an agent or a publisher for your books?
Answer: Nope.

Question: Why not?
Time: Time (mine), money (yours), and freedom.

Time first. I’m not talking about the time to publication, although realistically, it’s sensible to wonder if it’s worthwhile to wait years for your book to make it to print. But, no, I’m talking about my time. I’m a grad student and a single mom. I have a limited number of hours to put into my writing sideline. I could use those hours researching agents, writing query letters, organizing lists, searching for publishers – or I could use them writing. I’d rather write. Self-publishing, one, corporate-publishing zip. 

Money second. I'm not self-publishing because I think I'll get rich. My favorite writer joke: what’s the difference between winning the lottery and writing a bestseller? Answer: You can improve your chances of winning the lottery. I've survived as a freelance writer, and there are much, much easier ways to earn a living. (Waitressing is not one of them, however: I've done that, too, and being a writer is definitely easier than being a waitress.) I don't expect writing to become my day job anytime soon. But I hate that books have become luxury items. I like the idea of my book being a treat like a cup of coffee. Self-publishing, two, corporate-publishing, nada. 

Finally, freedom. A Gift of Ghosts opens with my main character looking in the mirror. This is a classic cliché of romance novels, and you should never, ever do it. I did it anyway. Every time I had a qualm while writing the book (other people don’t write this way, heroines who talk about resonance frequencies while having sex are too geeky, shouldn’t the hero be willing to do anything to save her life?), I would remind myself that I’d opened the book with the heroine looking in a mirror so it was never going to get published anyway and I should feel free to have fun. And I did. 

At the end, I looked at it, and thought about what an editor might want me to change, and shrugged my shoulders, and self-published. If you object to the main character looking in the mirror, you'll see that in the sample pages and stop reading. And if you don't, then you'll keep reading and maybe you'll have fun. But that's up to you, not to a marketing person who decides what sells based on what they’ve read before. (I worked as an acquisitions editor for over a decade so yes, I am a little cynical about the publishing business.) 

Have any other questions? Feel free to ask them!