a reply to:
westcoast
Hi Tara! I've replied to your post over on my own book's “announcement” thread, but just wanted to repeat the sentiments here: it's great to see
you back posting again after your little time “away” (even though you were still browsing, as you said).
I've watched you adding title after title to your list of published books with a mixture of awe and quiet wonder. As I said in
this post where I mentioned you as one of the ATS authors I know, you are
quite prolific! You've taken a negative in life and turned it around to make a much bigger positive, and that's great to see.
I'm trying to do the same, but I'm not so prolific. It's partly that my stories tend to be longer, together with the difficulties in finding the
opportunities to write undisturbed. At least half of my new book was originally written late at night, along with virtually all the rewrites and
post-proofing work. But like you, just getting it done and out there was a motivator in itself.
What you said about professional-standard editing is very true. Even though I teach English and also do line-editing/proofing work for a living, I
still had a proof reader/editor go through the first printed proof. He suggested hundreds of changes and I accepted the vast majority of them. And
yes, his advice helped to make the book far better than it would otherwise have been.
Having the pages in actual print format is incredibly important. Being able to write on a computer is fantastic, but when the words are there on
paper, they give another dimension to it all.
Also, research has shown that almost everyone reads text faster on a printed page than they do on a screen. And the faster the reader is, the greater
that difference in reading speed is as well. So just from the perspective of re-reading pages to pick up errors, print is far more efficient.
The cover: tell me about it!
I have quite a few years' experience with image-manipulation software, but I enlisted the help of an ATS friend to
create the main images for the front and back covers. He did them beautifully. Then I was able to work with those and put them all together to make
something close to what I had pictured in my mind.
You compiled a great list of things that an Indie author should do to promote their work. I have to admit that I'm seriously lagging behind on some
aspects. Yes, I have my book on Amazon in print and Kindle, but I still need to set up the various social media accounts and do a good author page and
so on. Again, it's a problem of time and then being able to maintain them all. I even own a domain (Finding the Goddess .me) that I bought almost a
year ago, but having no idea how to set up a website, let alone make it look half decent, I still don't have one!
The obvious solution is to hire a pro to build the website for me. Ditto with running advertising campaigns. It's only money, after all. Well, at
least money is not an issue for me: I don't have any!
I guess many authors face this problem when they decide that going to Indie route to publish is better than never getting published at all. If the
budget is small, the options are limited.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to finish the planning for book 2 in the series so I can then get on with the chapter outlines. You emphasized that writing
series is a good idea and I totally agree. So, I have to decide exactly which direction the story should go. And that ain't as easy as some might
think!
But as I'm already getting people asking me for more, I have to get on with it!
About BookBub. It's fantastic that you have managed to get some of your work featured with them! That's quite an achievement in itself. Maybe in the
future, when my book meets all their criteria and I can afford it, I might give them them a try.
By the way, I've sent you a PM.