Self publishing:

It might have taken a psychic to guess that Therese Coniglio had a novel inside her when she was living in Hawaii and producing a public-access show about reggae.

In fact, that was exactly what it took.

The Huntington Beach resident, who moved to California in 2001, often visited a psychic in her former home state to seek direction in her life. During one visit, the psychic told her something she hadn’t anticipated.

“She said, ‘Write the book,’” Coniglio said. “I said, ‘Which book?’ She said, ‘You know.’ So that inspired me to go attempt it. That was the only book I had in my head, so I figured it must be that one.”

That book turned out to be “Searching for Savage,” Coniglio’s first novel, which she self-published six weeks ago. Before that visit to the psychic, Coniglio had mused about writing a mystery story set in Hawaii’s reggae scene, and though the words came in fits and starts over the next 10 years, she breathed a sigh of relief when the book finally arrived from the printer.

To date, Coniglio said, “Searching for Savage” has sold 55 copies, 20 of which she purchased herself.

She has no agent and no contacts among publishing houses; no critics have reviewed her work.

The book is available through two online sources: CafePress, which also printed it, and Amazon, which distributes “Savage” through its Kindle eBook catalog.

But according to Coniglio’s editor, Daniel Oldis, that obscurity isn’t the barrier to writers it was in the past.

Oldis, an information technology consultant who has published several books through major presses, spends much of his spare time mentoring aspiring authors. Often, he encourages them to self-publish their first efforts and garner word of mouth before approaching a larger company, because most online distributors keep records of how many people have purchased a book.

“Because the whole model of publishing is changing now, what I sort of recommend to writers is starting out with publishing on CafePress or Amazon and building up a readership, and for the next book, going to Random House, Alfred Knopf or so on,” said Oldis, a Costa Mesa resident.

Oldis, who heard about Coniglio through a mutual friend and helped format her novel for publication, said he thought “Savage” could lure more readers than the average self-published effort.

“I work with different authors,” he said. “Some are genre writers. Therese’s book will appeal to a wider audience because it’s real characters in real-life situations.”

The plot of “Savage” involves an adult brother and sister who learn that their estranged mother has left part of her inheritance to a mysterious stranger. The siblings travel to Hawaii to find the recipient and find themselves enmeshed in the underground reggae scene, then discover a journal their mother kept that reveals secrets of her life.

Coniglio found much of the novel’s inspiration through the work she did for “Reggae Vibe,” the public-access show she masterminded for five years. One real-life venue, the Waikiki Shell, even factors into the plot.

The author, who runs a day care service out of her home, has started work on her second novel, which she plans to self-publish if a bigger offer doesn’t come through. But the responses she’s gotten about her first effort have been at least encouraging.

“The guy who put it online, his sister borrowed his copy and she wouldn’t give it back, she liked it so much,” Coniglio said. “I had to give him another copy.”

How To Get It

Therese Coniglio’s “Searching for Savage” is available at www.cafepress.com/1AugustMoon. 403679380 or www.amazon.com/kindle.