Karis Rogerson has had a life full of travel and diverse education that have helped shape her unique voice that shines through in her novels, poems, and journal articles with a focus on the life experiences of queer writers and readers. She was born in South Carolina, raised in Italy, went to school in Germany and Kentucky, and now lives in Brooklyn.

I spent a year writing the book. Three months querying, and another month revising before sub. Then, on July 5, 2023, with the highest of hopes and my heart in my throat, my agent sent out the first pitches on my YA sapphic romance novel.

This moment had been years in the making. I’ve wanted to be a published author since I knew that was a thing — I was 12 when I looked up the author of my favorite series and learned she’d written the first book at the age of 11. From that moment on, every day has been consumed by my drive to publish books.

Trad publishing has been the avenue I wished to take. At first, it was because I didn’t know self-publishing could be successful. Then, it was because I wanted the validation of gatekeepers putting their stamp of approval on my writing. Eventually, as I learned that publishing is a grueling industry that doesn’t reward merit over all, it was because I wanted the distribution, marketing, editing, and other capabilities of a traditional publisher.

This February, two things happened: I self-published a collection of my high school poetry, and my first book died on sub.

After both of those experiences, I’m still convinced that traditional publishing is the right path for me, at least right now. Here’s why.

Self-pub is outside my means

I don’t just mean financial means, although that is definitely a factor. For my poetry collection, I spent around $100 to get the ball rolling. I paid a friend $35 for an info session and for formatting my book in Vellum, the software most often used to format books for Kindle Direct Publishing and other self-publishing avenues. I also spent a little over $50 on a cover and some marketing materials, and then about $10 to get two author copies sent to me.

And that was for a 95-page book that was mostly just created to give me a reason to celebrate in the depths of winter’s despair.

For a novel, one whose financial success I’m invested in, the costs for editing, formatting, and covers would go up.

But the cost of self-publishing is also in time and knowledge. I don’t have the time to be a marketer and I don’t have the skills and know-how to position my book for the best success possible. In my dreams, once I’ve published a few books with traditional publishers, I’ll have the platform, skills, time, and money to be able to launch some indie/self-pubbed books. But I’m not there yet.

My heart is with kidlit

The first seven books I wrote were all Young Adult novels, geared toward a teen audience. Since then, I’ve written one adult romance and another YA novel, for a total of nine books. And even though I’m loving — relishing, really — writing books for adults, my heart is and will forever live with kidlit.

I have a whole host of other young adult novels I want to write; I want to dive into the middle grade age category; I’ve even got some picture books cooking. My heart beats in kidlit.

And the truth is, publishers like the Big Five and select midsize ones have the distribution setups necessary to have a successful career in kidlit. By “successful,” I don’t just mean financially. I mean that in order to reach kids and teens — the audience I’m desperate to reach with those books — I need access to publishers’ distributors, to their connections with librarians and educators, and in general to the infrastructure that comes with being part of the traditional publishing industry.

I crave the collaborative nature of traditional publishing

Listen, I’m an extrovert and a people-person. I’m that person who never understood why group projects were bad, because I love to collaborate. I’m serious. I love a group project. I dream of someday co-writing a novel or being part of some other form of collaborative storytelling.

My experience self-publishing, which admittedly is…narrow…is that while there are obviously others you work with, like editors and cover designers, ultimately the author is the head of the business.

That scares me! I don’t want to be on my own in these waters. I want to have the partnership of an agent, of agency siblings, of an editor, a publicity and marketing team. I want to have conversations about my books, spitballing ideas and brainstorming the best ways forward — for the individual project but also for my career as a whole.

I do not want to go through publishing on my own. Heck, I barely want to go through life on my own! If there’s a path that gets me in collaboration with other creatives and (forgive me but I must use this word) stakeholders, well…that’s the one I’m going to choose. Every time.

Juvenilia: Poems of a Twelfth Grade Year by Karis Rodgerson

Since she was young, Karis has been an emotive and captivating writer. In this collection of 43 poems, you see the first seeds of great writing as she walks you through her experiences as a high school senior in 2010-2011. Poems of longing, heartbreak, friendship, and self-discovery adorn the pages, weaving together a relatable and nostalgic story for anyone who felt a little lost in their teens.

Buy the book now: Amazon