Over the course of this process I am being constantly reminded of just how much I have to learn, an everyday it seems what I didn’t know wants to bite me. Nobody told me about all the technical processes behind releasing a book and no matter how much research I did before, I’m still caught in the dark. I keep my head up by reminding myself how much easier the second book is going to be because I will have already learned all this.
So what are these hiccups?
Lesson number one: Never hit the big orange button
As I detailed before, I accidentally let the paperback go live and had to retire the title all because I hit the big orange button on createspace. yippee.
Lesson number two: Author Copies are a pain in the ass
I had a wonderful time sending out arc copies to various readers and seeing the reviews starting to come in has brought me so much joy. But I only had a limited number of copies leading to the heart breaking decisions of saying no to good friends who asked for books and swore up and down they’d review it. I know they would, but a real friend would also want to buy the book and support me.
Unfortunately with the merge of Createspace and KDP I was unable to get anymore proofcopies because KDP puts a big watermark across the cover and I ain’t letting them touch my cover.
Lesson number three: It is still hard to do author events and not have books to sell
In 2016 when I committed to finish FH and get it out I got a table at a local author event and had to sit with half a table, last minute, with no books to sell and just my pictures. whatever “branding” if I had any was just my drawings. It was embarrassing, but it was a good learning experience. Yesterday I attended this event a second time, this time, I was much more prepared.
It was an absolute blast and way too short, I wish I could have stayed all day. Unfortunately I had no books to sell, only my proofcopies to show off. but I did have bookmarks and businesscards to spread around and it felt much more professional. I only had one person ask to buy the book and it was so hard to tell her I couldn’t because it wasn’t released yet.
Lesson number four: I am a great public speaker and I need to quit doubting myself
This is more motivational on my part, but I knew ahead of time that all the authors were going to introduce their books in front of the attendees, and that meant I had to prepare something because I hadn’t fully worked out my elevator pitch. I wrote a 500 word bit, overthought it to death, underlined my keywords, and when they called my name I jumped up there grabbed the mic and–LOST MY FREAKING MIND.
I took one look at the first line of my speech, recited it mechanically, then internally screamed FUDGE IT! I’m gonna improvise!
I hit most of the points in my written speech, and I’m sure the ones that weren’t really necessary got phased out. But I shocked myself with how well I kept eye contact, and remained confident even while panicking. It was the greatest high of the day and afterwards, so many people came over to my table, and I had some great conversations.
I want to do that more.
Lesson number five: Setbacks are unprofessional, but human
I’m extremely self conscious about any typos or weird sentences and try as I might to catch all of them, I’ve had several people point them out and my brain has completely flipped upside down. I’ve decided to do another last minute proofread but this means my release date must be pushed back.
I want to bring my best work to the table and I won’t settle for anything mediocre, so here I go again, into editing! November is going to be a crazy month. but this gives me a few extra weeks to put some final polishes on the book.
I’m so sorry for the delay, but now we have more time on the Preordering side of things, so if you preordered the book don’t forget to enter into my giveaway Here
E Kathryn's Shadows 