Publishing is so Weird

Author’s Notes:

Let us add some honesty to this publishing a book business here. Our target was February for the re-release of Atahualpa’s Mummy, Book 1 of the Harrogate Chronicles, with the new book cover and some minor alterations to fit the series that we had to shorten up a bit. Whew. Issues with the formatting, issues with the book cover, issues with life, and hey, how soon can book 2 and 3 get out there then? My eyes bulge with overwhelming frustration.

Publishing your own books, self-publishing, seems designed to just make you tear out what hair you have left and question your own sanity. No matter how easy readers think it is, I can assure you that books take a huge amount of effort and energy. Self-Publishing doubly so. I have checklists, to-do lists, change lists, that I never thought I would have before. I am not an idiot. I knew this would be hard. But some processes seem designed to really get my eyes madly blinking and searching for answers hidden in each and every shadow. A process designed to get in the way of self-publishing like there’s a wall to climb over and if you don’t get over it you fall into the bushes of obscurity.

But I am determined, and my co-author, Nan, has some experience with it all, though I did find new things she never stumbled on before. I have a talent.

So authors are just nuts. For good reasons.

I bought our ISBN numbers. Nan bought a formatting program we might use, if she figures out how it all works, so we can have a go at streamlining the process. I continue working with the cover artists on some more fixes. I glance at the to-do list where it mentions marketing materials to write up. Nan and I continue to Push and Pull through this book thing, and it is so close I can almost wrap my arms around it.

If we can line up all the building blocks, this book will be out in two weeks or so as an e-book, and then we get that print version lined up fast, and then get through the rest of Book 2 and 3. I should have the cover reveal ready for Book 1 next week. So stay tuned! I just want folks to know that we are working hard on this and it WILL happen very very soon. Or I might need a rubber room or some designer straight jacket.