It’s about time for an update, isn’t it?
Those of you I talk to regularly are vaguely aware of what’s going on with my writing “career,” but that one person in England who accidentally bought a book might still be curious. So this is for you, one person in England!
I was actually quite close to releasing the second book. I’d gotten it back from the editor and all I needed was a final proofread and a cover. I still need that, because there was something scratching in the back of my head. It felt like it wasn’t ready for release after all, and I needed a second opinion.
Through someone at the Writing Forum, I was directed towards a professional editor. That’s not to say the ones on Fiverr are amateurs, but sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone.
These editors, whom I will not name yet, in case I was wrong about them, are professional pros. They charge a professional price too, which is fine, but they also have a professional schedule and won’t have time to work on my book until August 15th, which is too bad.
It’s a bit of a shitty feeling, knowing you have a book lying still inches from the finish line. At least I know it’ll be better for it in the long run.
But if you were anxiously waiting for a new story about Eddie, Rooney, and Rosalie, then it’s all bad news. There will definitely be no release whatsoever before September 15th, and probably not for a while after that.
I’ll have to work on the issues the editors raise, and then I’ll still need to have it proofread, formatting, and have a cover made.
Yeah, I could have a cover made right now, but the designer will need more information than “make it look like this.” The size of the spine is going to depend on the amount of pages the book will have, which I don’t know yet. Best I could do now is have an ebook cover designed, but I’ve got Rocío working on a few other non-book things first, and they turned out a bit more complex than I estimated.
She’s probably not a fan of me right now…
Also, when that’s done, I’m hoping to work with her on the design for a different book cover.
Yes! There is another story waiting in the wings. Mostly ready to jump out and be read. The reason it’s not jumping out yet is because it’s going to be promotional. It’s a short story, and the plan is to release it for free as ebook only. This due to print costing money. If I start handing out free print books, it’s gonna cost me. I like you, but there are limits.
Anyway, it currently doesn’t make a lot of sense to put the effort in a free short story when there’s only one real book to promote, so I’m holding it back until there are two books. Not a lot better, but still.
I’m also still figuring out how to provide a free book. All the self-publish options I’m working with now want a slice of the pie, and I’m sure they’ll have something to say about there being no pie at all.
So don’t pin all your hopes and dreams on a free book that might turn out not to be free at all. These are just plans. No definite decisions have been made yet.
In the meantime, I’ll just be scratching away at what is supposed to become book three. Ideas are starting to take a coherent shape, so I’m positive. Of course, everyone is positive when they get pregnant, until the throwing up starts.