Self-Publishing Part 8: STILL preparing the book for publication

Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness

When I first submitted my manuscript, I had no idea this would take so long, nor be so involved. This is hard work, and not for the doubtful, nor the impatient. It’s begun to feel like dragging a slab of stone across a field, and the closer I get to the finish line, the heavier it grows until it’s infinitely heavy.

After all these rounds of edits, the complete rewrite, all many changes over this past year and a half, the manuscript is still not, entirely, ready. In fact, so far, the book has made it only through Editorial; design is next. Nor have all the levels of the Traditional Publishing Path been reached. The final level becomes available only after publication, and the book isn’t yet ready for typesetting.

Still, iUniverse’s resources have started kicking in.

Since they are putting their own money behind it now, they do their best to ensure they recoup their investment in part by having a special design team take over the book’s interior and exterior design. I had a three-way call with the team discussing the ideas I had already sent for my cover. We covered the themes of the book, especially those of self-deception and the journey toward self-understanding, and the ideas I had mocked up. Finally they asked permission to come up with one on their own idea.

            Sounds great.

Then, I was told I would be getting four different cover designs to consider. They also said I can take elements from any one of the designs and use it in any other, effectively creating a completely new idea. By the end of the call, I felt satisfied that they understood what I was going for, and that they knew what they were doing.

Then, more waiting, for the mock ups of the cover and interior.

But this was not time to sit back and simply wait; the materials promised with the Rising Star status came with a sample marketing plan and work sheets to create a similar plan. Granted the sample was for a non-fiction title, so parts of it weren’t relevant to A Perfect Blindness, but the rest was very useful. By taking the extensive plans I had already sent into Special Recognitions Board to be considered for Rising Star, and laying them out by kind of promotion in the worksheet, I was able to break the intimidatingly large process up into actionable steps and check lists.

For the first time, it sank in that writing a book is probably easier than selling one. Even if not, it’s still a damned lot of hard work. But it’s what I want to do. I’ve more books to write, more to sell, and this is the foundation for the rest.

So—back to the computer to do what I can without an actual book in hand.

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