161 - Choosing Your Publishing Path

Episode 161 - Choosing Your Publishing Path with Isabella Maldonado

November 22, 2022

I talk with Isabella Maldonado about CHOOSING YOUR PUBLISHING PATH, including when your publisher closes up shop, getting rights back, going hybrid, getting into bookstores, coordinating indy and trad releases, and her experience with Kindle First Reads.

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing.

A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez) and the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series. Her books have been translated into 20 languages.

"When they gave the rights back, the ebook version just vanished. And there was still some print copies out there that people could order, but very soon I got a letter saying, do you want the rest of these, you have to pay for them, otherwise they're gone, So very soon those books were completely unavailable." —Isabella Maldonado

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Links

Isabella's Links:
https://twitter.com/authorbella1
https://www.facebook.com/authorisabella
https://www.instagram.com/authorisabella/

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I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Isabella! There are a couple of episodes from the Seven Processes of Publishing with Orna Ross that I wanted to recommend as great companion pieces to this conversation:

Episode 103 - The Third Process of Publishing: Production with Orna Ross
Episode 104 - The Fourth Process of Publishing: Distribution with Orna Ross
Episode 107 - The Seventh Process of Publishing: Selective Rights Licensing with Orna Ross

Did Isabella’s discussion of her experience with both traditional and indy publishing make you rethink any of your plans for your own career? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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