Giving Birth To A New Book (Indlie Publishing)

When I released my first novel as an indie author, it was extremely exciting!  It was also very stressful.  I had never formatted a novel for Kindle or NOOK before.  I wasn't even considering paperback...just getting the darn thing ready for e-readers seemed an impossible climb.

I was surprised when it went smoothly.  Sure, I had questions.  However, the community boards with KDP really helped me.  Before I knew it, I had Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream released to Amazon.com for Kindle and Barnes&Noble.com for NOOK.

Dare I think about a print on demand paperback?  Since I had several friends who did not have e-readers, I decided to give it a try.  Plus, I wanted to hold my own book in my hands.  I used Createspace.  I am not going to lie and say it was easy.  It wasn't.  I am not at all left brained.  Several times I almost gave up. But, again, the community board with Createspace was always there, helping me with answers to my problems and the resulting questions. 
Before I knew it, I was holding a proof paperback in my hand.  No, it was not easy.  But it was not as hard as you might fear.

Now it is time to release my second book, Gastien Part 2: From Dream to Destiny.  I am 5/6 of the way through the out loud reading.  I am half done with the final tweaks.  There will be one read through after that.  I am on schedule for a release by December 15th or so.  I really want to make sure it is out there getting exposure as a new release for travelers over the holidays and people unwrapping new e-readers over the holidays.

The cover has been decided on, Robin Ludwig Design has finished it, and I have the files on my computer.  The cover is beautiful! It is starting to go into labor.  I still have to write the synopsis, or the blurb.  Then, it will be time to fomat.

Stress is building.  But, this time, the excitement far outweighs the stress.  This time, I know I can do it.  I have done it before.  Plus, truth be told, I kept the answers from those questions I submitted on the different community boards.  If I run into those problems again, I have solutions at my fingertips.

The labor will last a couple of weeks yet (thank God humans are not in labor that long!) before the book is "birthed".  All that is left are the final preparations so that the book can come into the publishing world knowing it is loved by me and that all of it's needs have been taken care of so far.

Once it is born, there will be more work.  All of the marketing starts once again.  Social networking.  Asking bloggers and reviewers to read and review it.  Hoping friends and previous buyers purchase this one.  But, this too will be easier.  I know what to do now.  I have contacts for reviews from my first book. This baby will be well taken care of. 

Finally, what I have to hope for is that others will love it as much as I do.  I would really hate to see it sit on the sidelines, an outcast.  I love it too much for that to not hurt.  It will be nurtured and guided to the best of my ability.  The rest will be up to the public.