Beyond Writing

As Schism draws nearer to publication, I thought I’d draw the curtain back a bit and give some insight on what goes into the book beyond just the story you read.  After all, for most of us, our journey with a novel begins when we pick it up to start reading, but for the novelist, it begins long before that.

The writing part is fun and easy.  To an extent, even the outlining/brainstorming is fun.  However, in order to bring a work to market, there are many more steps involved, starting with creating a business.  Even if you don’t want to go as far as I have in setting up an LLC, if you ever intend to be paid for your work, then the government is going to want to be involved.  It’s boring and tedious, but it’s also necessary.

Then there’s the cover.  It has to be designed, proofed, redesigned, and properly formatted.  Since I write in Microsoft Word, I need to go to a formatter so it can be put into “book form.”  And given that most of us publish ebooks too, there’s a special format for that, which the work must be converted into.

Even when that’s all done, it’s not like you hit a button and *POOF* - your book is on shelves.  You’ve got to have a way to print or get your work electronically to folks.  For me, that’s CreateSpace and IngramSpark.  You have to upload so they can check for formatting errors, you have to price it, and you have to designate the outlets.  You should also – not required, but HIGHLY recommended – get a proof copy so you can look over what it’ll be in print.  If there are mistakes, then you have to get those corrected and resubmit.

But even when your book is ready to go, how will anyone know it’s out there?  That requires at least some marketing, even if it means only telling your friends and family.  They should know the release date so they can breathlessly await your work.  Then, after all of that…

…you can finally publish.