Maybe some of you were hoping I’d never mention my book again. Ha! No chance of that happening.
My first book, Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, is still in the process of being edited, but Rachel, my editor, believes there’s a good chance it’ll be ready to publish by Christmas. That would be cool, right? And by publish, I mean I intend to self-publish, even though I believe Mayhem could be worthy of traditional publishing.
So, why will I self publish? Because I’m 63.90 years old and don’t want to spend years shopping my book around. And with the number of folks submitting the books they’ve written during the pandemic, the chances of a publisher picking it up would seem to be slim. If I had connections in the field it might be different, but I don’t.
As Rachel sends back chapters for my consideration, I look over her suggestions and decide between my original words, her suggested words, or a combination of both. Often it’s the latter. I get very excited when she leaves my words as they are. That occurs rarely, but I’m learning a great deal.
While waiting for Rachel to send me chapters I wrote a short romance novel. 50,000+ words of fun (for me, anyway.) I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. I’ve had several folks read it, and none of them seem to think it’s awful, but it is totally different from Mayhem. It was a hoot to write.
Once I finished writing the romance I started on a sequel for Mayhem: Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, I’m about 12,000 words in. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed those characters until I engaged with them again. You know, they are totally dependent on me, and I felt guilty for leaving them idle for so long, It’s tough being a deity.
Thanks for hanging in there with me. I’m hoping the next time I mention my book it’s a plea to purchase it. I’ll try not to be obnoxious about it, but it is ME we’re talking about.
Peace, people!
Wise publishing plan
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We shall see!
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I think Amazon ..Create might be a good option for self publishing ….and, you save that $$
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My editor is guiding me through that process.
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Good…..so many options of interacting with readers too…..feedback, selling by chapter, etc….You can even start taking orders on the new book
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CHEERS to you, my friend. I am in awe!
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Thank you! Nothing I’ve written is going to change the world, but maybe they’ll distract us from thinking about it for awhile.
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If you are serious about wanting to publish by Christmas, start building your following and trying to gain interest in it NOW. I did so many things backwards and wished I’d done them differently. How I approached my release is one of the biggest ones. I’m really excited for you! Get ready for a crazy ride!
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It’s like learning to walk, right? These are all new waters for me. How would you have approached your release differently?
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Actually taking the time to find and build up an audience (lots of time on social media) and working on a plan for release, including attempting to have blogger’s lined up for reviews or even investing in a blog tour. Part of that is doing a cover reveal well in advance of the release. Really, there are a lot of different things and your genre may shift what needs to be a focus, so will what platforms you intend to publish on, but it is mostly attempting to create interest in your book before you ever hit that publish button. These are the kinds of things you’d see with any book, but is probably even more critical to a brand new author.
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Thanks! I’m getting anxious to see the cover, and I never can keep a secret!
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Be sure to let me know when you are ready to do one. I’ll be glad to post about it on my blog as well.
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Thanks! That’s be a great blog post!
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That’d be.
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Oh, I cannot wait! You will have a Kindle version, right?
I love sequels.
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I’m planning on a kindle version!
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Yay! I am so excited! Christmas, hurry up 🙂
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I think Rachel’s being optimistic! I need to call tomorrow and see if she has more pages ready.
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