the journey toward taking self-publishing seriously
I self-published a book in March, I never shut up about it, yadda yadda yadda, we know this--
I'm planning on continuing, two a year, yadda yadda yadda, we know this--
So yesterday I started playing around with formatting on my book I'm putting out next April. I'm strictly using Microsoft Word here, so like, it's not gonna be fancy, don't get me wrong. It's never going to be fancy. But I'm playing around with things like chapter headings, things like page numbers, things like that. And it was kind of fun, not going to lie--when I put out Iscariot it was very spur-of-the-moment. And that's how I operate, most of the time. I am not a think-things-through kind of person. The most I did for Iscariot was making sure that each chapter started on its own page, and I slapped a cover together in about ten minutes in Amazon's cover creator. This was something that I decided I wanted to do one night when I had a night off of work--and it turned out all right.
Because I'm a sucker for consistency, the Pentalogy of Hell is going to remain looking like shit. Maybe we won't double-space the next books, that one was seriously my bad, even if my older uncle who was the first to finish it really liked that because it was easier to read. You're welcome.
But now that I'm playing with formatting, now that I'm going to be taking these other books that are not part of the Pentalogy more seriously (design-wise, at least), I've been thinking about doing things like, maybe even going on Fiverr and seeing if I can find someone who'll do like, a real cover. At least, a cover that isn't me, the girl with the Eye Of A Twenty-Year-Old Man (seriously, my boyfriend, who is an actual 22yo man, has better design sense than I do), putting something together because what the fuck am I even doing. And by thinking, I mean, I'm going to.
It might seem like I'm starting like, a lot of new series. I have a vague plan sketched out in my head, and a short-term plan sketched out on a notecard taped to my computer monitor. But each of these series are pretty different: the Pentalogy is a fucking weird fantasy/horror/what? kind of romp, huge cast, many many many POV, Not As Religious As You Would Think, Abnormal Murders (starting with Serial Killers with Cookies, out this October) is a pretty straightforward thriller series, and Tinon (starting with Circus Wings, out next April) is a pretty straightforward high fantasy series. So there's something for everyone--and you know, could be some standalone or companion-y contemporaries coming out sometime soon. So just--keep an eye out, I am taking this one seriously.
I might be impulsive, but if I say I'm gonna do something, whether that's 'write 16k in a day because I said I would during NaNoWriMo' or 'self-publish two books a year', I'm gonna do it. Keep an eye out. I'll be posting more about SKWC in the next couple months.
I'm planning on continuing, two a year, yadda yadda yadda, we know this--
So yesterday I started playing around with formatting on my book I'm putting out next April. I'm strictly using Microsoft Word here, so like, it's not gonna be fancy, don't get me wrong. It's never going to be fancy. But I'm playing around with things like chapter headings, things like page numbers, things like that. And it was kind of fun, not going to lie--when I put out Iscariot it was very spur-of-the-moment. And that's how I operate, most of the time. I am not a think-things-through kind of person. The most I did for Iscariot was making sure that each chapter started on its own page, and I slapped a cover together in about ten minutes in Amazon's cover creator. This was something that I decided I wanted to do one night when I had a night off of work--and it turned out all right.
Because I'm a sucker for consistency, the Pentalogy of Hell is going to remain looking like shit. Maybe we won't double-space the next books, that one was seriously my bad, even if my older uncle who was the first to finish it really liked that because it was easier to read. You're welcome.
But now that I'm playing with formatting, now that I'm going to be taking these other books that are not part of the Pentalogy more seriously (design-wise, at least), I've been thinking about doing things like, maybe even going on Fiverr and seeing if I can find someone who'll do like, a real cover. At least, a cover that isn't me, the girl with the Eye Of A Twenty-Year-Old Man (seriously, my boyfriend, who is an actual 22yo man, has better design sense than I do), putting something together because what the fuck am I even doing. And by thinking, I mean, I'm going to.
It might seem like I'm starting like, a lot of new series. I have a vague plan sketched out in my head, and a short-term plan sketched out on a notecard taped to my computer monitor. But each of these series are pretty different: the Pentalogy is a fucking weird fantasy/horror/what? kind of romp, huge cast, many many many POV, Not As Religious As You Would Think, Abnormal Murders (starting with Serial Killers with Cookies, out this October) is a pretty straightforward thriller series, and Tinon (starting with Circus Wings, out next April) is a pretty straightforward high fantasy series. So there's something for everyone--and you know, could be some standalone or companion-y contemporaries coming out sometime soon. So just--keep an eye out, I am taking this one seriously.
I might be impulsive, but if I say I'm gonna do something, whether that's 'write 16k in a day because I said I would during NaNoWriMo' or 'self-publish two books a year', I'm gonna do it. Keep an eye out. I'll be posting more about SKWC in the next couple months.
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