publishing - Sacha T. Y. Fortuné

Tag: publishing

On Writing

Support & The Solitude of the Writer Life

/

Writing a book is like starting a business. (And I’ve done both.)

Particularly when it comes to support from your network.

Or who you “think” is your network, anyway.

You know… your friends, your family, your coworkers or colleagues, and the like.

Almost everyone who’s aware of your writing “hobby” (because that’s the box they’ve put it into, in their minds) will have genuine words of support while your work is in progress, and maybe even when it’s out there.

But for many… once the time is upon us to actually support beyond saying “Congrats”… it’s crickets.

The Business of Support

Recently, a friend of mine opened a business. I stopped in, bought something, took photos, and posted it on social media.

Now, whenever I spot a post from this friend about the business, I’ll share and add a line or two encouraging my friends/followers to check it out.

And every chance I get, if I think someone’s even remotely interested, I’ll mention in a word-of-mouth convo: “Oh, if you’re looking for X, I know this place…”

Mind you, I’m not even that close to this guy. And this guy is BELOVED. He has hundreds, maybe even thousands, of friends. People know he’s talented.

But when he took this talent to create something bigger, I was in the tiny percentile that gave a rat’s ass.

Still, when any already-famous celebrity does the slightest thing, the average Joe or Josephina jumps on top of it to support.

…To yell “me too!” into a cacophony of noise that won’t make the slightest difference to its producer.

The (Writer) Cheese Stands Alone

Fortunately for me, I didn’t expect too much from my immediate real-life network in terms of writing.

I never have, if we’re being entirely honest here.

I’ve been writing FOREVER, and as a child I was lucky to have parents who would share my stories and novels and accomplishments with their colleagues, whether or not they read it themselves — just because they were proud I was writing.

But apart from those who brought you into this world… (and in some cases, not even them!)… I wouldn’t recommend counting on anyone else’s lifelong support for your accomplishments.

Even at university, when I was President of the Writers’ Guild at one point, I knew that this world — writers — would always be separate from my friends who I’d go out and party with.

I’m not saying that writers can’t party. Oh, we can, and we did, and we do!

But (almost) anyone you meet outside of that safe space of “Hey, we are both writers” will NEVER understand the struggle.

They’ll never know how much their support means, or maybe even how to support you. And that’s if they even want to!

Solitude & Sacrilege

I’m three years into my published writing journey so far, and I can count maybe 10-15 friends that have done even one of the following: (1) bought the book (2) downloaded a free copy when prompted (3) left a review (4) told their friends (5) done literally anything beyond say “Congrats”.

It’s not that my friends suck. I love my friends.

…But my friends aren’t writers.

They don’t live with fully-fleshed characters in their heads for 15-20 years.

They don’t spend countless hours trying to fix a scene to make it “just right”.

They don’t spend entire chunks of their day hopping from author Facebook group to promo Facebook group and back again, or literally years just browsing the internet trying to learn the marketing side of this craft.

They don’t understand that your writing, your fictional world, and your characters are sacred… and their blatant disregard or flippant remark may be hurtful.

They’re sweet, and maybe they mean well… but they don’t get it. They simply can’t.

Even if they try to (and most don’t), the reality is that everyone else is living their lives while you’re writing yours away.

Or, quite simply: they aren’t your target market.

But somewhere out there is someone who will support you in the ways you need. That person, that reader, that fan… for whom your story will change their life.

…It’s just really, really unlikely that that person will ALSO be your friend.

Education & Understanding

So if this post seemed bitter from the jump, I hope it’s not coming off like that now.

It’s not about writers screaming “buy my book” until their network is tired of hearing it, and it’s not about friends being unsupportive.

It’s about education and understanding. As writers, it’s our job to educate our network — tell others what we want, when we want it, and how much we would appreciate it.

As I posted recently to one of those bajillion author groups I now belong to:

You don’t often get things you don’t ask for.

So writers… (and I’ve seen the bitter posts on many author groups!)… ASK. Just ASK. Don’t be ashamed to flaunt your writer wares to your loved ones and explicitly outline: “This is how I would like you to help me, even if you have zero intention of ever buying or reading my book.”

We live in a shareable world driven by social media influencers, and amidst the cacophony of noise, any little nudge will help.

So, writers, ask for that nudge! Here’s mine:

You can share my posts, my promotional images, my Author website, my purchase links, my Facebook page @SFortuneAuthor, my Instagram feed @sfortuneauthor, or my Twitter feed @authorsfortune.

 

 

Related posts:

Comments Off
View Post
Hart & Cole Series

The First Pancake… Take 2!

/

…And BOOM, just like that, my revised Book 1 is done.

The pre-order is now live and available here on Amazon in time for the release on January 1st, 2021. I’m also just about ready with the print version, which I’ll publish in a few days. Here’s the new trailer:

 

I’m excited. I know it’s a bit silly to be excited over a book that I’ve already published, but it’s been quite a journey.

“Climbing The Walls” was my “first pancake”.

The first launch was in July 2018, so the January 1st, 2021 date will be about 2 and a half years since I first became a published author! Crazy, right? Where did the time go?

I’ve learnt a lot since then, and spent months in writer agony wondering if I’d made a huge mistake.

In retrospect, I finally admitted to myself that I may have gone a little gung-ho on the first pancake. I was so excited about the process of FINALLY publishing the book I’d been sitting on for so many years, that I didn’t research and fully understand the market beforehand.

The result was an epic book that — though many readers LOVED, they did comment that it was a bit long-winded.

The Big Chop

Took me awhile, but I finally decided to give the people what they want.

I chopped it down from 550+ pages to 385, the exact length of the other two in the series. And since I’m anal, I’m pretty sure that length (385 for print) is going to be my set point for other books going forward.

It’s a nice balance to get you DEEP into the characters’ emotions, without taking up your entire week or more to wade through.

And I’m proud of my new, sleek book baby.

It’s the same book but just so much better, now that I looked at it with a critical writer’s eye and decided to CHOP, CHOP, CHOP!

So… what’s next?

I’m still sorting out some of the last-minute hiccups over the next couple of weeks, so it’ll be a quiet launch. I still need to unpublish the old one, and link the new one to the series, and transfer my reviews.

I also haven’t booked any promos or book tours as yet, but all of that in time to come.

After initial feedback about the book length, I held myself back from promoting it in some avenues since some bloggers couldn’t commit to reading it. So now I’m a lot more comfortable offering up the shorter version for their enjoyment.

Hell, I’m a lot more comfortable offering up the shorter version for my OWN enjoyment.

Loving your writer self

Overall, I’m super-pleased I decided to do this. It was an epic job to whittle down my first “book baby” to a sleek, no-fluff new edition that will now be leading the series, but I’m so glad I did.

I’m also thrilled with the new cover, which now has more in common with the rest of the series and also gives away more of what the book is about.

And, of course, I’m also adoring the miracle that I was able to pack in the same story but in a much shorter length.

I’ve grown so much as a writer since I first hit “Publish”. This new book is like a brand new me.

No regrets.

Much love to any fellow writers out there who are knee-deep in the “REVAMP” of an already-published book baby. It takes even more out of you than the first version! Keep your head up, and love yourself enough to grow and adapt.

You need to love your writer self, you need to love your stories, and you need to own your book babies.

For me, the best part of this experience is that now that I’m more comfortable with Book 1, I can finally, finally FINALLY settle down and focus on NEW books in the series. I’m hoping Book 4 will see the light of day by 2021.

In the meanwhile, if you haven’t read “Climbing The Walls” as yet, or you enjoyed it and you’re in the mood for a re-read, be sure to check it out. Pre-order for January 1st, 2021!

Buy Now (ebook)

Buy Now (paperback)

Related posts:

Comments Off
View Post
Hart & Cole Series

Happy Birthday to my first Book Baby!

/

This past year has been a wild ride with a lot of ups and downs, but thankfully no regrets.

I’ve learnt so much since I first published, and grown so much as a writer AND as a person. I’ve learnt to rejoice in the triumphs of praise, and also to take criticism to heart to improve my craft.

In fact, I’d hoped to launch the revised, slimmer version of this book today, but that self-imposed deadline had to be pushed back. I’m not going to stress about it, though. I’ve got some personal battles going on lately, and right now I need to put “Sacha-the-person” ahead of “Sacha-the-writer”… and that’s okay.

I know that once I’m back to full steam, I’ll write something AMAZING again. Until then, I’m satisfied with what I’ve accomplished so far.

3 books in 8 months was a huge feat, and I’m thrilled to have actually made money from my writing… and so humbled that I have fans that appreciate my books, and are looking forward to reading more.

And this book is where it all started. So I’m SUPER proud of this first book baby.

She was my first. She made me a published writer.

So happy birthday, book baby! ??????????

Haven’t read “Climbing the Walls” yet? The “Hart & Cole” series is available on Amazon — hop over and get started!

Related posts:

Comments Off
View Post
On Writing

A Conversation with a Skeptic-Friend-Turned-Fan

/

So I’m six months into this writer journey, with two books under my belt, and had a recent experience I thought worth sharing.

My friend agreed to let me share this once she read it first and once I kept her nameless, so here goes:

 

Confession: “I didn’t plan to read your book”

“So… this is really awkward, but I just read your book (the first one)… and I think I owe you an apology.”

Huh?

(I was lost.)

“I know you’ve been talking about this book and this writer thing for months now…”

Yeah, I’ve been a bit of a pain, I know — but as an indie author, if we don’t shout about our books, no one will read them…

“Right. So like, when you first published, I told you congrats…”

Yeah, I remember. Thanks, I appreciate your support!

“And I told you I’d buy it, which I did…”

Oh, great. Thanks again…

“But at the time I figured: okay it’s a few bucks, what the hell… though I didn’t really plan to read it.”

Ah, okay…

(Now I get the “awkward” part)

“I do read, but not that much, and I’m busy with work and my kids…”

Sure, I get it. Totally understand…

“And then, the other day, I was in a waiting room at the hospital for about six hours.”

(*We chatted for a bit on her personal family matter – this part I won’t share*)

“So I had my phone, and literally nothing to do for a long time, and I saw someone reading a book next to me, and I remembered I had downloaded your book months ago, so I hunted on my phone to see if I still had it… I don’t really understand this app thing, not sure if it disappears after awhile…”

Okay…

(This is getting to be the weirdest “apology” and most awkward long-winded convo ever)

“So yeah… I started reading it…”

Oh, great. Let me know how it turns out. Hope you like it.

“…And I finished reading it that same day.”

Bless your soul. Amazon says it takes 14+ hours on average…

“Yeah, that sounds about right. The six hours in the waiting room… then another hour on my journey home… then four more hours… took a break to organise my kids for bed and to get ready for school the next day… then the remainder of it I read well into the early hours of the morning… and I had work the next day!”

Oh, dear.

“In fact, I think I might have given myself a bladder infection coming down to the end, because I put off STOPPING for quite awhile.”

YIKES! Okay… ah, sorry?

“So… right. The apology part. Well… like, I always knew you were into writing, but somehow it just… wasn’t what I expected.”

What did you expect…?

“Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe that it was going to be too ‘high-brow’ for me to ‘get’ (like I said, I don’t read a lot) since I know you’re like, smart and stuff… or maybe that it was going to be bad or just kind of ‘meh’ and I didn’t want to feel awkward talking to you if I didn’t like it…”

Ah, okay…

“I just didn’t expect it to be like… like… I don’t know. You know when you binge-watch shows you stream because you just can’t stop? I’m not a big reader, and I just never felt that way from a BOOK.”

Ah, okay…

“Like I could PICTURE all these characters, Like I could FEEL everything. Like I wanted to BAWL and SCREAM and fling the book when I got to Chapter…”

(*spoiler – not sharing that part*)

(And now, I’m laughing — and noting who to keep in touch with, to one day help me write my Netflix pitch!)

“So… yeah. I just wanted to say — I’m so sorry I took so long to read it. And so sorry I didn’t even originally plan to read it. I promise I will now, for anything else you write.”

Thanks, I appreciate it. I really do.

 

Why are “friends” the last to believe?

So that conversation led me to think a lot about how isolating it can be as an author, particularly an independent/self-published or “indie” author.

I just did my first couple of “Author Takeovers” recently, where you “take over” a Facebook group and chat with its members for awhile in real-time. (To get an idea of what this entails, read this post.)

It was AWESOME to know that people tuned in just to say hi and that they appreciated your book.

And here’s the thing I realised, while doing it:

My biggest fans are people I’ve never met, and likely never will.

Ironically, “supportive” friends can sometimes be the last to appreciate your work.

In many cases, it goes a little something like this:

  • They’ll say “congrats” a million times and tell everyone you’re awesome… but never buy the book
  • They’ll share your post and/or tell others you wrote a book, and pretend they’ve read it
  • They’ll browse reviews and then tell you they’ve read the book, when you absolutely 100% know they haven’t
  • They’ll buy the book with no intention of ever reading it, and tell you “I’m supporting you with a sale”

…Yeah. And this is the supportive friend, which many authors are not even lucky enough to have!

 

Somewhat salty support…?

Nothing against these types of friends, by the way. ANY tiny nudge of support is appreciated! As an indie author, we take EVERYTHING we can get!

…And I’m not saying my book is the best thing ever, or that it will change your life.

Some people loved it, and they GOT it. Others… simply… won’t.

So, I reiterate: I’m not screaming “READ MY BOOK” to everyone. Obviously, it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea!

But I’d much rather you pass along the info to someone you know who DOES read and might actually buy it AND read it.

It’s a little insulting to tell a writer “I’m supporting you with a sale” (woo-hoo! I get a buck and some cents), with absolutely ZERO intention of ever reading it.

While a sale is always nice, I’m not in dire need of the pennies. I’m writing to share a story, not to make a mint off of my closest friends!

So I’m not baring my soul in my writing just for empty admiration.

If you DON’T plan to read it, be upfront about that, and find other ways to support!

If you DO plan to read it, then give your friend the benefit of the doubt, and go in blindly with the faith that there’s something of merit in their work.

And remember, there are several ways you can support your writer friend — even if you don’t read, or don’t read their genre.

We live in a shareable world driven by social media influencers, and amidst the cacophony of noise, any little nudge will help.

You can share my posts, my promotional images, my Author website, my purchase links (Kindle or paperback), my Facebook page @SFortuneAuthor, my Instagram feed @sfortuneauthor, or my Twitter feed @authorsfortune.

Or, if you’re not on social media, no prob… you can do the old-school version of this. Drop it into a convo: “Hey, so my friend published a novel…” Yeah, it’s that simple.

Like I said, there are LOADS of ways to support your writer friends, without giving an empty promise about reading/buying their books. If you want to help but don’t know how, just ask!

 

Related posts:

Comments Off
View Post
Hart & Cole Series

Romantic Cliffhangers: Will my story survive the “Big Chop”?

/

Yeah, yeah, I know. The blog post title is misleading since I always make a big deal about the fact that “I don’t write romance. I write relationships. I write people.”

But for all intents and purposes, my Hart & Cole series is about love. It’s a lot MORE than romance, and it covers all KINDS of love, but the relationship is a driving force here.

And there is a huge aspect of ‘romance’ though I classify it more as a ‘Women’s Fiction’ genre since it doesn’t follow the usual trends of a romance.

Anyway, I’m getting off-topic! Romance or not, my concern is the fact that

(1) there is a love story of some kind, and

(2) there is a cliffhanger at the end of the book…

Chopping into bite-sized chunks

The reason I’m even worrying about this, is that it took me a LONG while to make up my mind, but I finally decided to make “Book 2” into Book 2 and Book 3.

I’d blogged about this earlier when I got a hard ‘no’ from a book blogger for my 555-page Book 1, and I realised that nowadays the length of a typical e-book is certainly a lot shorter than a traditionally-published one would be.

In fact, everything is general is getting smaller and shorter and is now available in a “digestible” format, so it’s understandable that books would be, too.

Problem is, I simply can’t cut my book down to such bare bones.

My characters have a LOT to say, and my story is long because it simply has to be.

…But while I can’t cut down, I CAN however cut it into smaller pieces.

And… well, yeah. In this case, I think I have to. I’ve been as stringent as I can with editing… and Darren’s and Luisa’s story still comes up to over 300,000 words and 775+ pages!

Yeah. No one’s ever going to buy the print version of that, unless they want a giant brick to prop open a door!

And honestly, after living in their heads for 350+ pages, I myself need a breather!

So… I made the big decision to CHOP, baby, CHOP.

 

Where & How to Chop?

Fortunately, there is a somewhat “natural” point of their story, where it made sense to chop, and it does happen near to the mid-mark — Chapter 30 out of 55, so it was nice to round those up and make it “Chapter 30” for Book 2 and “Chapter 25” for Book 3.

Also, for some reason I had always naturally provided somewhat of a mental recap in Chapter 31 (now Chapter 1 of Book 3). So it wasn’t *too* bad of a change, to split them.

It did call for some rewriting, though. I had to rewrite the last scene of “Book 2” so it seems like it’s somewhat of a conclusion-for-now, of sorts.

And as Book 3 was shorter than Book 2, for balance I made a few chapters in Book 3 a bit longer — which was fun, actually.

I threw in a MUCH longer scene for a convo with Luisa & new gal-pal Vicki (because OMG I just love Vicki, and she’s been begging me to fluff her up a bit since I’m making her wait SO long for her own story!)…

And I also did a MUCHHHH longer final scene with Darren and Nicole that made my toes curl! *eh-ehrm, a bit too much info there*…

So objectively speaking (or as objective as I can be, given that I’ve written the damn thing myself!) I don’t think the chop is HORRIBLE.

And I think it’ll benefit me in the long run, to have two books instead of one giant brick.

Yay, me.

…But what about the readers?

 

Angering the readers…?

I guess it’s fortunate that I’m not super-famous yet, and chances are that Book 3 (planned for 2 months after Book 2) might actually be released before most readers even get the chance to read Book 2.

So maybe I’m overthinking this, and it won’t matter. I haven’t sold enough books yet to have a throng of fans chasing me with pitchforks because they don’t know who ends up together!

But I did throw the question out to a few writer groups, and came back with responses at both ends of the spectrum.

My first response (which made me regret even posting it!) was…

“By ending with a cliff-hanger, you’d have pissed me off enough not to care, because I wouldn’t purchase the next one.”

Ouch.

Fortunately, he (and others like him) were in the minority and others quickly jumped in to point out:

  • Cliffhangers are the norm these days, not the exception.
  • Once you DO warn readers in the blurb, it’s generally acceptable.
  • You may not sell as much for the series until ALL the books are out, as readers have been burnt before.
  • It works fabulously if you have a short time period and a pre-order link for the next book, so you reassure them they just have to hang on a little longer.
  • You may get bad reviews if you have a cliffhanger (especially if you DIDN’T warn them), but you’ll sell better overall in the long run.
  • Once you DON’T wait TOO long, your readers will forgive you and will gladly hold on patiently and remain loyal when your next book comes out.

Phew. Okay.

Which brings me to the heart of what I was actually asking…

 

What’s “too long” for a romantic cliffhanger?

That question got responses everywhere from 6 months to a year (on the long side), 1-3 weeks (on the short side), 1-3 months (on the average side), and a few jokesters who said:

Two hours!

And…

3 days! Did anyone say 3 days yet? Is this like “The Price Is Right”?

Ha, ha. You can always trust writers to come up with the best responses! 🙂

My foray into reaching out to other writers did bring me to ‘Zon’ (the equivalent of “Google” but on Amazon Kindle) a few of them, and get an idea of their success with cliffhangers. Generally, there were negative reviews but they were more than balanced out with high ratings and gushing reviews.

So despite its iffy bad-boy rep, readers do tolerate — and some even love — that pesky cliffhanger.

 

Will my story survive the “Big Chop”?

So… I’m going with the cliffhanger. I’m going with two books, two separate entities, though I originally wrote it as one story.

I’m going with a story that feels half-baked when it winds to a close, and as a reader I’d be ripping my hair out and flinging the book at the wall.

Because, you see…

I personally hate cliffhangers, romantic or not, and prefer to have all the words available if I choose to read on.

I personally hate short books with cliffhangers, as it feels like I’ve been cheated into buying another one. (Bitch, I’m cheap!)

…But does it change things, if each book is long, like mine are? Hmmm…

…And does it change things, if I throw in a preview of what’s coming up? (I do)

…And does it change things, if I make it VERY clear in the blurb that this IS a cliffhanger?

…And does it change things, if I have the preorder link with a two-month gap in between?

Sigh.

I’m still doing, as a writer, what I would hate to have done to me, as a reader!

My proof of what’s now going to be “Book 2”

I personally still see Darren’s and Luisa’s story (and oh lordie, it’s a doozy!) as one holistic entity.

But no sane person needs that giant brick 775+ page opus; that might scare everyone away from the jump!

There are far too many good reasons to split it, than there are NOT to!

Plus… my 385-page print of what’s now going to be Book 2 is such a cute size to hold 🙂 …

*Deep breath*…

Cliffhanger, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Related posts:

View Post
Hart & Cole Series

The Publishing Journey: Fear & Procrastination!

/

So… Hart & Cole Book 1.

It’s officially out. It’s published.

It’s available. ANYONE can get it, ANYWHERE in the world. On ebook or paperback. It’s OUT THERE.

I’m excited. I’m thrilled. But more than anything, I am, in a word… TERRIFIED.

I’m fortunate to be able to say I’ve accomplished a lot of great things in my life, but still — just being able to push that “Publish” button, and open the whole wide world to a piece of my mind… it’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do.

I’m not kidding when I say I’ve been sitting on this book for over a decade and a half. It’s the first book I wrote for adults — and I began writing it when I was just at the cusp of being one myself, in 2002! I finished it somewhere around 2003-2004 or so, and then… I sat on it.

Well, I shared it with a few friends and family via email or hard copy, and I shared excerpts at Writers’ Guild at my uni, Lancaster University. And, that was it.

It just sat there.

Half a dozen times, I looked into publishing — more specifically, self-publishing — but I didn’t follow through. Back then, self-publishing was practically unheard of.

By 2011-2012, e-readers became ubiquitous. I regained interest in self-publishing, and fine-tuned the blurb.

It took awhile to cut it down to something that could easily capture what the book is about, without giving too much away.

Then… I sat on it some more.

 

The Perfect Cover

Around 2015, I felt the urge again to get back on this project, so I looked into getting a cover done.

I asked two graphic designer friends who, separately, took forever to produce nothing.

I love them still, though… and as one of them (who hadn’t read the book) scolded me:

“This is YOURS. You can’t leave it up to me to create your cover. YOU know what it needs to look like.”

Damn right.

I found this to be even truer and more relevant, when I found a professional (read: “a stranger, with a deadline, who was actually getting paid“) to do the cover, via the freelancer site Fiverr. Her first draft was awful.

I can’t blame her for that though — she didn’t know me, or my characters. But once I gave her some guidance, she delivered.

The first draft (left)… awful. She soon redeemed herself though (right)!

I had to find the photos myself — which took eons to stumble upon the main “perfect” one, and the others from which to sample.

Then, I told her how I wanted it edited — mainly, my character needed more hair. Lots of it: curly, wild, crazy hair.

I know graphics… so I know you need to be talented to be able to work with human hair! I love the final product, and I’ve used the same designer again for my Book 2 cover.

But I knew, while I was fretting and taking — quite literally — years to do a book cover!… I knew that my first book cover, my first foray into the Hart & Cole series, my Book 1 covergirl, my “Nicole” (and you get this sense of entitlement, of protective ownership about “your” characters) is mixed-race, sexy, and vulnerable.

The cover has to say all of that.

Hopefully, it did.

Getting the cover done was a huge step that propelled me the rest of the way.

I made it the screensaver/background on my phone, so that I looked at it every day — constantly, until it pissed me off that I kept seeing it and hadn’t published it yet!

 

Where & How to Self-Publish

Then, I did my research.

Amazon is a great publishing platform. There are LOADS of others. I chose Amazon because of its popularity. There are drawbacks, but nothing that was a dealbreaker for me.

The one thing I did find in my research worth mentioning (which many, many, many people stand by, if you are serious about being a writer) is that you should get your own ISBN.

It took me quite a bit of running around to figure this one out, and after contacting international and then regional agencies, I found out Trinidad & Tobago has our own ISBN agency in the National Public Library.

So, ISBN purchased, I had no excuse now.

All that was holding me back was myself.

I proofed my book again several times on-screen — adding comments to its PDF version with Adobe Acrobat Reader, then making the edits in Microsoft Word, and then again while I was creating the e-book version through Kindle Create.

Then, I printed hard-copy proof copies through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and when they arrived in the mail, I proofed those several times yet again.

Proof copies – glossy/white & matte/cream… my final choice was a combination!

I chose between a range of template sizes for the book; here are some awesome tools to get what you need: KDP Manuscript Templates and KDP Cover Templates.  I played around with glossy and matte covers, and white and cream paper.

Tip: White paper is a little thinner, so the cover template will be off-balance if you sized it for cream paper! (I learned this the hard way!)

I eventually settled on a glossy cover, with cream interior paper.

And, each time I printed it, I proofed it for errors yet again.

I’m sure if I proof it another time, I’ll still find things I want to change.

But…

At some point, you need to let go.

You need to let go of your characters, so that you can share them with others.

And, most importantly: you need to let go of that fear of failure.

Publishing — overcoming that fear to hit that “Publish” button — is still just only one tiny step to becoming a writer.

Next comes… Marketing. Eek. 

Related posts:

2 Comments
View Post