In fact, when you type “The End”, you are just getting to the hard part. Over and over. I was reminded of this by a couple of things… first, a promo (now ended) that I had set up and was running for my book Lies and Omissions… second, by the release a couple of days prior of Unknown Caller… and third, by my work on another future book. Each of these represented something tougher than writing the book in the first place. Read More
A cousin of mine called over the weekend to talk to me about how she should go about publishing her book. (Quick shout out.. you know who you are, and I won’t out you… but when you publish it, I’ll gladly give you some promotion on my blog, FB page and everywhere else I can! Family, right?) And the above mentioned things were all part of the conversation.
Many would-be authors type out that “The End” and then think it’s the end. Not even close. It’s barely the beginning.
There is editing.
It would be cool if there was just one kind of editing. Instead, there are three. To be fair, one of them might have been done before “The End”… that would be developmental editing. Does this idea suck? That is the first hurdle to clear. You might have a chapter, an outline and a written story idea. You have the developmental editor go over your plan with you and tell you if it is marketable. Sometimes, especially with newer writers, we don’t do that until we have a book. Or we don’t do it at all…
Then there is story editing. Does the plot make sense? Are there plot holes? Do we need to rearrange the story? Do the character progressions and story arcs work? There is a LOT there, and paying for a professional to do this is EXPENSIVE. The editor is going to know your book and your characters better than you when they are done. That time and energy, not to mention expertise, isn’t free. But it can be immensely valuable.
Finally, there is line editing. This is the one we all think of. Grammar, spelling, typos. Those need to be squashed like bugs. And, I don’t care WHO you are, they are in your manuscript. Even famous writers with a platoon of editors will release books with mistakes in them. But we have to fight them as hard as possible. All this happened after you wrote the book… and let me tell you, going through your book, over and over, looking for a better way to say something, making sure you didn’t screw up, and that everything makes sense… while staying true to your vision… that is hard. Possibly harder than writing the book in the first place.
Might squeeze a few beta reads in there, too… taking the feedback and using to edit the story.
(just a note, I have found and corrected about 50 mistakes in line as I worked… There will be more later).
And Formatting… If you self publish.
If you hire a publisher, they may (repeat… may) do this part for you. However, in order to get a publisher, you had to format a manuscript to submit, so you still aren’t off the hook. Font, spacing, margins, chapter breaks, page mapping. Whether the book is being read on a phone, tablet, computer, or paper, all of those things have to be considered. And checked. And probably corrected. You can’t control everything. But you have to control everything you can. And make it perfect so someone doesn’t trash you in a review.
And make the cover art fit. And work. And show up when scanning through the stacks at the store or the listings on the online portal.
Just when you thought you were done, here come all of the details that have to be squared away prior to publishing. And it is tough. Or expensive. Or both. And frustrating.
Good grief, I’m glad I’m done… But wait, there’s more.
Marketing.
You did all this work, selling a book or three might be really cool, right? Well, guess what… that is harder than writing the book.
If you happen to be a famous author, the publisher will do this for you. Not out of the goodness of their heart, but you won’t feel it as the cash is slipped out of your voluminous royalty checks. For the rest of us, we are either cutting checks every month, or working our butts off trying to get our title in front of prospective readers. Probably both.
Even giving away books can get expensive. I haven’t used any of the REALLY effective paths, yet. I can’t afford them. I generally spend about $50 to give away books. Some of the bigger name lists cost 5x=15x that. Yeah… $3000 fees to GIVE AWAY FREE books. I can’t justify that. Maybe one day. I won’t get into WHY authors give away books beyond saying that it is part of marketing, and as an Indie Author, I am my marketing department. I can do it myself or pay someone to do it.
None of it is cheap or easy. It isn’t even easy if you just pay someone. Some authors pay someone to pay someone to do that job. You know it has to suck if you want to pay for a level of people to insulate you from even knowing about it.
Yeah, I thought the hard part was writing the book. It should all be coasting after that… making loads of money from my brilliant writing. But, alas, reality disagreed. The real work started after the book was “done.” I found the diamond, but then had to cut it, polish it and then sell it… over and over.
And then there are Reviews.
Talk about chapping my hide.
The BEST marketing is a solid set of reviews. Lot of them. I have given away a couple THOUSAND copies of Planning Vengeance. I have 14 reviews. So, I am running about a 1:200 ratio. I would love to have 50 reviews on that book. That would pull in the readers MUCH more effectively.
I don’t have that many reviews on the rest of my books, though. (blatant plug: PLEASE review my books if you’ve read them!) So I also have to set aside time to hunt for reviews. But, to me at least, it beats paying for questionable reviews. I’d rather an honest three or four-star (especially four) over a BS five-star. Readers can see through those, and I think they just annoy readers. I WANT five-star reviews, but I want to earn them, not pay for them.
Anyway…
I’d LOVE for you to read and review my books. You can find them on Amazon here. Check it out.
