Once more…

I’ve been in the midst of moving to a new hosting provider, and have been keeping up the “old” account to confirm that everything is setup correctly on the new account, before canceling the prior service.

Apparently, the latest post I made, for my just published debut novel, The Rifts of Volgren, was done, inadvertently, on the “old” account – so when I canceled that service last night, I lost that post… hence why I’m announcing this once more (though, to be honest, it doesn’t feel quite the same way as when I first announced it last Saturday).

This is it! This is the day (or it was, last Saturday – see what I mean?)! I’ve just released my debut novel, The Rifts of Volgren, and it’s now available for your reading pleasure.

My hope is that you enjoy reading it, that it draws you in and becomes a member of that exclusive club, the “I really want to read that one again!” List™.

Thanks for joining me for this journey. After you’ve read it, please be sure to write a review on your favorite platform – that helps tremendously!

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Eight Months of Progress

So, my last post was right on the money – it did indeed take much longer than expected to get the cover done, but for different reasons than I expected.

After a few days of trying my hand at creating a cover, I realized that while I may feel familiar enough with the software to create one, my artistic sense hasn’t yet been developed well enough to make a cover I would have been satisfied with.

So, I bit the bullet and worked with a cover designer to get it done. That finished up, finally, towards the end of October, or beginning of November, at which point the last thing remaining (of many last things, of course), was to finish going through the changes from my editor. Throw in a two-month international trip overseas, with two young kids, and what turned out to be several weeks of work took several months instead.

That being said, the cover is done. The edits are done. The only things left are to:

  • Format the ebook; ultimately I’ll also format it for print
  • Create the site for the book
  • Put it up for sale!

I didn’t reach my goal of publishing this in 2022, but it will certainly be done in 2023 – and should, fingers crossed, be out the door in the next few weeks.

I. Can’t. Wait!

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Cover Design

I’m not gonna lie, this is probably the step that will take me the most time. My full time job is as a software engineer, and I have a decent bit of experience as a graphic designer from when I was a solo web developer, doing all the graphics for all of my own products.

As such, I feel like I can make the cover myself – but I’m also absolutely sure I’m not the first author to self-publish who believes that, and the current state of the market is such that you can’t fly by with a mediocre, noticeably sub-par book cover. So, I’m taking my time to do market research, see what covers are like in my genre (man, I love local libraries and online bookstores). This provides two benefits – I can see what readers expect a book cover to look like in my genre, and I have base material with which to, as objectively as possible, compare my design efforts to ensure they are up to snuff.

I’m taking this on while my editor is going through the copyedit of my manuscript, and my optimistic self is hoping I can have the cover done (or close) by the time the edit is done at the end of this month.

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It’s all about the ISBNs

Now that the final self-edit is complete, I’ve moved on to actually figuring out how to get that massive bit of text compiled and formatted into what you, Dear Reader, expect when you’re reading an book on your phone/Kindle/paperback/whatever.

Since I’m using Scrivener (and have been since 2006 or so), compiling the book into various formats appears to be as easy using the “Compile for Export or Print” option. This pops up a modal where you can select various formats, and hopefully that ends up getting me most of the way there.

But, I also have hope that this book will make it into print, and that means I need an ISBN. This is a Brave New World for me, so recently I’ve been digging into how ISBNs are used, where to get them, and how much they cost.

One important factor to note, you can get a free ISBN from Amazon or DraftToDigital, but there are strings attached I’d rather not have to mess with, so I’ll be paying for a block of ISBNs to use as I see fit.

Once I’m comfortable with the process of formatting my novel, and happy with the results, with relevant ISBNs associated with the various formats I’ll be making available (PDF, ePub, mobi, etc) then it will be on to…

Cover design! Onward and upward~

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Progress!

So, about seven weeks after the last update, I’ve now finished the “final” self-edit of my first book. Woohoo! That didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it might.

There’s still a lot more to do, of course. Got to get the cover done, find and hire an editor (waffling on this one, to be honest, just so I can get it out the door sooner), and get the book formatted for release. This is all new stuff for me so I’m not sure how long it will all take.

Even after that’s all done, though, there’s still the prep and pre-launch stuff to do as well. Need to spruce up the site here, get the mailing list stuff all squared away, etc. I’m toying with the idea of launching direct to my list here first, before releasing wide to other platforms. It would be nice to get some reader feedback and reviews prior to the “general” launch – heaven knows I’ve based many a decision on what the reviews said about a book or other product, so I’m sure others do the same.

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Life

It’s hard to believe more than twelve years have passed since I last posted here (the prior post was written in December 2010, but wasn’t actually posted – I’ve done so now and kept the original timestamp for posterity’s sake). So much has happened since then that can best be described as Life™.

Even so, the dream is still alive. I still have an unpublished (pre-published) novel. It’s still better than I remember it being. I’m now firmly convinced that you, Dear Reader, might enjoy diving into the world of Wysearth.

The publishing landscape has changed very drastically since I last posted here. Self-publishing is much easier, more mainstream, and more respected (it seems). And I’ve changed as well, needless to say.

So stay tuned, I’m working feverishly to finish the final edits and birth this labor of love for all to enjoy.

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Slogging through the No’s

Yes. My time of rejection has come. I’ve now sent out my book to five literary agents and one publisher. The good news? There are still two literary agents who haven’t rejected my novel yet.I always knew this was how the game played. Every reference book, website and other source I’ve seen has stated that literary agents and publishers reject close to 100% of the manuscripts/queries they get sent. Ouch.

But, as I often remind myself, even bestselling authors were at one point unpublished, and there is an axiom often heard by aspiring authors: there is a word for writers who never give up…published.

So here I am, ready to brave the coming onslaught of form rejection letters. I won’t paper the walls of my house with them, but I am going to keep them – just so I know which unfortunate souls were stupid enough willing to reject my writing.

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Reincarnation

A few days ago I was at an SCBWI Tokyo event for children’s book writers, and heard this really exceptional quote from Alvina Ling, Senior Editor at the Little, Brown and Company publishing house:

“Published authors aren’t necessarily the best writers – just the ones who didn’t quit.”

That really struck a chord with me, as everything I’ve been working on for the last year has been to support my goal of becoming a published author.

This event came right after I returned from Nagoya, a few days after I finished reading Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell. I don’t agree with everything he says, but one exceptional point that he raises (and that I’ve heard somewhere before) is that the elite in any field, whether it be music, sports, business, or writing, have spent an average of 10,000 hours honing their craft.

10,000 hours.

Seems like a huge number, doesn’t it? That’s three hours of writing, everyday, for the next 9.1 years. Daunted yet? I’d be a bald-faced lier if I said I wasn’t.

What’s encouraging is that you, like me, probably already have quite a few hours under your belt. This is simply a reminder of the importance of writing and honing your craft every single day. And, most importantly, never giving up.

Hrm, seems like I’ve heard that before….

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Great googly moogly!

It’s always encouraging when you pick up a manuscript you’ve been setting aside for several months…and it ends up being better than you remember. I’m completely biased, of course, but The Stonemen’s Legacy isn’t total crap after all. Apart from a few doofy sections that need to be spruced up a bit, it was remarkably fun to read.

Obviously, my opinion only counts for so much seeing as how I’m still unpublished. Even so, I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and have no problems being brutally honest with myself. Only time will tell if the rest of the literary world agrees with me. 😉

So, I’m striking onward fearlessly. Encouragement is something every writer could use more of, especially those of us who can’t yet rush to the local bookstore and see our works in print.

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Back on track

Just got back from reading a friend’s blog. Ara Burklund is a rather amazing writer who is literally on the cusp of breaking into that most-holy-of-holy places we all want to be…Getting Published. Less I be misunderstood, she’s not quite there (yet), but just by looking at her writing regimen it will come as no surprise when the inevitable actually happens.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this road to becoming a published writer, it’s that writing must be pursued seriously and every singly day. Not in spurts, or only when you feel like it, or when there are no other distractions around. “Real” writers write something daily on a consistent basis and never give up – that’s the only difference I see between them and the “casual” writer.

We all get off track from time to time, of course, but the important thing is to pick up where we left off and do our best to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again. That being said, I’m now back on track.

How about you?

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