So I now have a Facebook page…
I often thought as I read blogs or watched vlogs that were put together by various authors, that calling all of the crap that led to them getting out a published product a journey was kind of pretentious. (Insert highbrow accent) “My journey to becoming a published author, blah blah blah…” Now, I get why they call it that. I don’t really feel that I’ve gone through a journey though, more of a long slog through peanut butter, with my younger brother (Hey Jim!) hanging onto one ankle, and my middle brother (John, raise your hand!) hanging onto the other. It is definitely a process, and not one for the weak of mind, soul, or body. My typical week consists of writing, rewrites, reading craft books, listening to other books in my genre via audio while cooking and cleaning, crying when I look at the calendar and see how far past the date I thought I would be turning my masterpiece into my editor I am (Tiffany, I swear I will turn it in to you, you absolute saint!), realizing my writing sucks, self-talk to myself that my writing doesn’t suck, getting sick of my main characters, loving my main characters, doing everything I can to keep from abandoning all hope and moving on to a different project, AAAAAAND working a forty hour week at my ‘real’ job.
Sleep? Sleep is for the weak my friend, and not for a writer who is behind on her manuscript.
What readers (including me by the way—at least until recently) don’t realize is just how much work goes into getting that child of our hearts out into their hot little hands.
The sheer amount of time spent on other minutiae is crazy-pants, man! All the social pages need sites (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook—which explains the title, and all of the other places that readers migrate to…) which means spending time setting those up, and banging your head on whatever flat surface is available when the site isn’t working exactly how you were hoping—never mind the worry that you will wind up with zero followers or engagement because 1. You don’t have a product yet and 2. Nobody knows who the hell you are.
Then you chastise yourself because you haven’t posted on your blog in months because all of the words in your head are being used up by the very item that you are needing to write a blog in order to market for. It’s mind-boggling.
Oh, and you need to make sure that you are keeping track of your spending for tax reasons—and did you remember to look into the purchase of ISBNs? Then the cover art is ready, and you shed tears because it is so stinkin’ pretty and so much better than the stick-figure version you sent to the cover artist for inspiration (Lance Buckley you are a hero—mad respect to you for figuring out how to make a cover from my rambling descriptions of what the book was about).
During all of this hoopla, what else did I decide to throw on my plate? A detailed outline for a novella involving Aunt Lucy (read my book when it comes out to find out who she is) and Uncle Harris and how they met. A freebie that will be written as soon as I get Out of Order off to my editor. It will be a free download for signing up to my newsletter—eventually—when it’s written…
For writers out there looking to do what I am doing now, I’ll throw out some words of advice, give yourself lots of time. Research into all of the things an Indie author needs to do leading up to getting a book to print. There is a LOT on the back end of the process that you never dreamed existed.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still excited about having a book that I can hold in my hands (you’d be shocked at how much looking at the cover of your book will do by way of motivation), but at some point my husband is going to require attention, or I may find myself with a “sister wife” if you catch my meaning *obnoxious knowing wink*.
Anyhoo, my page is now on Facebook if you search for Carol Raymond, you should be able to find it. Engage with me there! I want to talk to the people who will eventually read what I’m writing. Keep an eye peeled, because I am going to be setting up the other social pages too—even, ugh, the Twitter (Don’t get me started on that dumpster fire of a site. I’m doing this all for you, dear friends, not because I like the constant arguing that goes on there.).