Timelines Are Fun!

​I wrote a novel a while back. It's a thing. I'm writing an additional two more, though I've been feeling a sense of a cork in the bottleneck...

But having written the living bejeebers out of that first novel, and hooking up with a dang high-powered literary agent (in Manhattan! Squee!), and the agent not working out for me (in super slo-mo! actual years passed!), and fully exploring the advice of so many writers before me (Keep trying! Never surrender!), 2023 seems like the time to take a different route.  ​

Independent publishing.  AKA self-publishing, these days, this path means I need to relearn the business of publishing and more or less from my own publishing house. And my own public relations strategy. Et cetera.

So after waiting waiting waiting, I am angling my toes into the the starting blocks and getting ready to get ready to go. But first, a timeline.

Chicken, meet a dozen eggs. 

Here are some of the administrative bits and bobs I have to put in order and execute:

• Obtain ISBN number –– no wait, obtain several ISBN numbers, as each edition (print, e-book, etc.,) requires its own
• Find appropriate editorial help
• Research cover art
• Hire cover artist
• Research book design
• Find book designer
• Research electronic publishing platforms: Kindle, Nook, Apple, Kobo.
• Research on-demand publishing: Ingram Spark, Direct2Digital, Bookvault
• Pick platforms (A math word problem! 45% of what is more than 75% of which?)
• Research PR campaign. (Booktalk? Book talks? Personal platform? Signings?)
• Plan PR campaign (Beta readers! Street team! Bookstagram!)
• Schedule the whole shebang.​

And heeeer we go, she said, with an uneasy giggle.

Those of you sweet readers who are still with me, thanks! I can't tell you how cheering it is to know you're out there interested in my stacks of words.  

Hope to brag some good news soon. I'm thinking late summer/autumn 2023 to bring this novel to market.  If you have advice, don't hesitate to drop me a line. There's so much to learn about all this...