After the high of completing the second draft and getting some extremely positive feedback from an Alpha Reader, I’m about to embark on the next triad of actions, and I have to say, they scare me more than anything else that I’ve been up to so far.
Okay… well 2 out of the 3.
First, is prepping to send the book out to beta readers. I am still looking for a few willing to commit and have fun with the process. I know I’m making a big deal and possibly getting more input than I might need, but I’m looking for fans of the fantasy genre and if I can find someone in the industry who wants to offer an opinion, I’m really interested in that too. Forgive me, I don’t know any better.
This means that I am putting together the PDF, after I am done with the 3rd edit where I’m going to sweep through the book using a text to speech program, and another editorial bit of software to catch very difficult/clumsy, icky sections, problematic grammar and all that goop.
Once completed, and the beta readers are going through it all, I am going to have to start laying out my limited funds for a cover artist. The importance of having a stellar cover is so hard to understate. I just look at my own behavior when looking at books. Crap cover, I keep browsing. I don’t care how much the reviews say it’s awesome. Sad but true. The only time I don’t follow that is when I am more or less researching an author. Having done graphic design in the past, I have a very good eye for a pro cover, and will have to make sure this hits the quality I want.
Then probably a line editor. I wish I could get a developmental editor, but that’s too expensive for me and so I’m going to have to just trust my instincts and what my alpha/beta readers feedback provides. I perhaps waited too long to get one to hit my desired deadline, but that’s okay. I’ll look into pre-orders to help out with that if I can, once I learn how to set up my merchant pages and everything. Right now I can’t even handle thinking about that yet because I’m so ignorant of it all and have to learn more fast.
As an enticement for some people who may be interested, I desire to set up a free copy for those who volunteer and complete the beta read (questionnaire and all before the deadline). I’m also toying with doing a paperback, and possibly hardcover release (if I can find a service that does POD hardcovers… I haven’t researched it.) Beyond that, I’m just formulating things for my marketing and sales plan. Lots of ideas to come.
So now’s the time to hop on the bandwagon if you like what you see and think you want to be part of the final celebratory dash of this marathon. Sign up, and be a part of the fun!