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My Weird Indy Publishing Project: Recovering from Zip Planning

Last time (yesterday) I wrote why you should have a written plan because I, the master planner, had not done mine. And “YIKES!” what a mess I created. I spent yesterday writing that blog post (and doing the rest of my life). I spent today planning so I could start fresh on Monday with only 15 days to write Book 2!

Here’s the punch list I created this morning for the NEW Book 2.

DRAFT to LAUNCH
Book 2 Punch List

___2/21 FINAL Draft (manuscript, MS) completed:
02/06-2/20: ___The Story (chapters) (15 days!)
02/21-02/22: Front & Back Matter completed (2 days!)
___Front matter:
___Copyright page w/ ISBN created
___Table of Contents (ToC) created
___Preface or introduction written
___Prologue written
___Acknowledgements page written
___Ad placed
___Back matter:
___Excerpt from Book 3 written
___Bonus (if any) created
___Author page with contact info placed
___List of books updated and placed
___Ad with call to action written
___02/22: MS sent to EDITOR who gets 3 biz days to edit, (02/22-02/26)
___02/22-3/1: POLLS executed on FB and blog
__Title
__Cover
__Description
__Prologue
___02/22: BOOK COVER ordered (6 days to complete)
___02/25: META DATA completed (2/22-2/25, 4 days to complete):
___book description written
___categories selected
___keywords selected
___Title confirmed
___02/27-03/02: LANDING PAGE and MAIL CHIMP OFFER revised (5 days!)
This MUST be done before you send FINAL MS to formatter!
But if this is more stress than you can handle, blow it off til next series and just make Book 2 priced @ $.99 forever. It’s OK! You’re learning and this is just practice! I love you! You’re amazing! You rock!
___03/03: MS read & corrected by me (02/27-03/02, 4 days to complete)
___03/03 Book COVER & INTERIOR ready to publish
___03/03 COVER posted on FB & blog
___03/04 Book sent to formatter for ePub on A (4 days to do it, 4 days to correct it)
___03/05 Invitation to join mail list for free copy Book 2
___03/11 Uploaded MS for publishing [3 days allowed for Amazon (A)]

___03/14 Published (on Amazon & Draft to Digital)
___03/14 LAUNCH

(Sorry the timeline shows up so crappy. I spent an hour trying to get WP to accept it the way I created it — in DOC, in HTML — and just couldn’t figure it out. No more time to spend on this. I’ve got more planning to do today!)

Yippee! I am not as screwed as I thought I was! I CAN do this!

How does it feel to have this Timeline for Draft to Launch in hand?

Super! I can relax now, knowing that I can focus on writing the book I thought I’d already written. Remember in the last post how I discovered that – without story beats to guide me – I had gone astray and actually combined Books 2 & 3? That cost me because now I have to start over on Book 2, the one I hope to launch on March 14!

Because I did the Timeline from Draft to Launch today, I discovered that writing a new book 2 gives me only 15 days to write the whole story!

I should be panicking, but I’m not. As I have taught others to do, I have a collection of personal success stories* to draw from. One is especially appropriate for this situation:

I wrote a dissertation in 4 days (1975) so I could spend Christmas holidays with my family. FOUR days!

I CAN do this! And so can you!

I also discovered, reviewing notes from WRITE to MARKET that I don’t HAVE TO have my Timeline for the Launch at this moment (although it would be better if I did: less stress!). Here’s my note about that section of his book:

“Create your launch plan at least a month before publishing.”

Going backwards one month from my launch date (March 14) is Valentine’s day! I have from now (February 5 until February 14 to create MY Launch Plan. Whew!

YES, it must happen while I’m writing the book. Unfortunate! And poor planning for the gal who used to teach people in business and education how to plan!

Remember my comment about “generalization” – that just because you know how to do something in one context doesn’t mean you do in another context?

I CAN do this! Instead of Netflixing in the evenings, I’ll be reviewing what I’d learned about this launch process I wanted to try with my new series, Burnout to Bliss. And surely, in ten days, by Valentine’s Day, I’ll have created MY launch plan and my Launch Plan Timeline.

Who says writing is a staid art? I’ve never experienced so much excitement in all my life! Being an INDY author has all the game strategy and complex maneuvers of the master manipulator, crooked politicians, government agencies, and business leaders portrayed in BLACKLIST. (Excellent series!) I watched the last episode last night, ending my Netflixing until this puppy is launched!

SO! Bottom line, what did it cost me for my failure to plan? A lot!
• I have to completely rewrite Book 2 in 10 days! Instead of 45.
• I have ½ the time I did on Book 1 to accomplish every single item on my punch list, Draft to Launch.
• I have to replace pleasure in the evenings with more work, after working all day.
• I have to give up Netflixing until at least March 14.
• I have to give up my “Thursday Play day” until at least March 14.
• I will be under constant stress until it’s done or I choose to bail.
• It could come to the point where I have to bail from this project, not do it the way I wanted to do it.
• I will resort to laundromat only when it’s a have-to; no more Saturday laundromat and grocery shopping.
• I might have to skip blogging about the project until March 14; generally, I spend 3-4 hours on each post. I’m doing this one today because I’m going into “commando posture” to correct my error of zip planning. Recall that Book 1 is about an extreme BURNOUT experience—mine! I CAN do this!
• I’ll have to buy groceries from the neighborhood store because I can combine my daily walk (1/2 hour) with shopping thereby saving about an hour twice a week by not driving, parking, etc.

Whew! So that’s the way it is on My Weird Indy Publishing project today, Sunday, February 5, 2017. And now I must spend the afternoon mapping out story beats for Book 2 so I can start writing on Monday, February 6!

Till next time, please be kind to everyone you meet for we all have our hidden sorrows. ~Tzaddi

burnoutpdf-72dpi

Get Book 1, BURNOUT — How A Desert Lizard Restored My Faith, HERE.

If you already have Book 1 but still aren’t on the mailing list to be alerted when Book 2 comes out, JOIN HERE.

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