The Quiet Before the Release

Things have been very quiet on both this blog and my creative writing blog (Sojourner Mountain) for about two or three weeks now. The reason is pretty simple: I’ve been head down writing and revising my fantasy novella THE PRINCE OF GRAVES. The story has been mostly complete since early December, and I’ve been editing and revising in a frenzy. Now things are finally coming together, and I think a late January release is beginning to materialize. I can’t tell you how happy I am about that.

There’s still plenty to do though! The remaining key tasks:

* Send the manuscript to beta readers. This will happen on Monday
* Working with my artist to get a cover finalized and produced
* Secure my ISBN numbers
* Review all the great self-publishing resources out there to make sure I’m not missing
anything
* Map out my promotion strategy and decide how to get the most bang for the buck
* Complete final edits, based on my beta readers as well as my own fresh review (I plan on
stepping away from it for the next couple of weeks while I work on the self pub logistics)
* And finally, hopefully, PUBLISH

This will be my debut work, and I want to get it right. So if at any time I decide THE PRINCE OF GRAVES is not ready, I may push the date. So far, that’s not in the cards.

I also plan on writing an article for Sojourner Mountain about why I’m self publishing this work (and the sequels) while still searching for an agent for my first novel, CHASING AFTER VANITY. With some luck I’ll have that written this week.

So there you have it. I’ll post updates the closer I get. I also plan on collecting some “lessons learned” and compiling them into an article for other new writers. So if you’ve got anything you’d like to share about your journey to self publication, please message me!

Thank you, and happy writing!

2 Responses to The Quiet Before the Release

ddinstitches says:

January 8, 2012 at 12:46

Good for you, it sounds like your really going for it. I finished my first novel last year and I’m still editing it. I hope to be in a position to approach agents with it towards the end of this year, as I’m studying at the moment as well, so that gets in the way sometimes. I think I’ll probably end up self publishing as well though, as ther are so many of us out there with great ideas just waiting to be in the right place in the right time. Good luck, I look forward to reading about your publishing journey.

- W.E. Linde says:
  
  January 8, 2012 at 15:41
  
  Thanks for the comments! Self publishing has come a long way over the last few years. I truly think it is a viable option for serious writers. Good luck with your manuscript and your agent search, when you get to that point. It’s been slow going for me, but part of that is my fault.