Hello, hello. Still at it.
I'm learning a lot at every step, which is good. Taking lessons from life is my thing. But it's slow going. I have received formal feedback from one of the five readers. Two are unlikely to finish it any time soon due to life stuff, and I'm hoping for conversations from the last two in the next couple of weeks.
I have done a read through/edit of the physical copy I did get back, incorporating notes and tweaking what felt off to me on the page (as opposed to on the computer screen). I feel like I need to keep moving forward, however, and will hope that nothing major is still pending.
Next steps are always hard on this road, because it's all unfamiliar to me, which translates to either too scary or too high a climb. For example, I need to engage a cover designer. I think I know what I want, and I think I know who, but...what size for the paperback? What will be on the back? What about an ISBN number? Um.
If I want this to be successful, and I do, I'm told I will need an ARC (advanced reader copy) team to write early reviews and Launch team to hype the big day. I will need a Facebook group (barf). A proper mailing list (too late). You can see how easy it would be to falter at the finish line, especially for someone like me, who does not take running leaps to clear hurdles, but will stop to look around, make a thorough inspection, and then slowly, carefully, heave herself over each one. I'd just as soon launch it with no fanfare or prep, just do it and back away. Which I write about in the book! My deepest desire is to be found in the crowd. It's a recipe for disappointment.
My process has been to just worry about the very next thing, but so much needs to converge to make this work, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I wanted to publish this in 2024 but here we are halfway through already. I just want to be done.
For today, I'd like to purchase my ISBN numbers (finally, after much study and waffling), write what will go on the back of the book, commission the cover design, and start making all the tweaks to the digital files. Ha, that's a lot, I know.
This will all be interspersed with research on finding a sensitivity reader and a proofreader, studying the launch process, and youtube videos about how to draw trees, my latest distraction.
Wish me luck! If anyone out there would like to be on the ARC team, let me know. :)
Comments