Publishing Progress – The Highs and the Lows…

Writers, almost all of them, want to be published. Not so many years ago, the only way to be published that let the multitudes receive your work was to find an agent and have them present your work to editors who then might decide to work with you toward publishing.

There are many stories of writers’ works being published in forms that they really didn’t like; yet, they really wanted to be published so they caved…

To be fair, most respectable publishers worked hard to bring the manuscript to a form that was marketable as well as true to the writer’s vision.

Still, this path to publishing depended on people other than the writer making decisions about the most important factor in the whole process. Is the work something people will want to buy?

As I was contemplating writing the book I’ll be publishing, I knew that the traditional processes to decide if it would sell would keep it from being published. It’s just that kind of book 🙂

But I also knew there were many people who would want to read it.

Luckily, the way to publish is rapidly changing and the ways to reach people who want a specific book are easily available.

For the best resource I’ve found to reveal this new publishing reality, visit Publetariat.

Founded by April L. Hamilton, and its editorial staff includes experts in writing, journalism, editing, publishing in both hard copy and electronic formats, book marketing and promotion, web design, podcasting, video trailer creation, author services and social media….we trawl the internet daily to bring you the most valuable content in books, publishing, book promotion, authorship and more from all over the web.

Now, my personal Highs and Lows:

A huge high was the realization that I’d finally tripped over a story idea that could successfully present the themes I wanted to share.

Another high was re-discovering the virtual world, Second Life, where I interacted with folks while I was shaping and testing the story idea.

The first low was realizing how much damned work it was going to take to turn the idea into a book. [ It should be noted that I’m a man on a small military pension that just barely lets me eat, pay rent and utilities, and have Internet connection. I was looking at potential amounts of money that I didn’t have and hours of interaction with people on the Internet, most of whom I knew wouldn’t “get” what I was doing. ]

The process of radically changing my thinking while I was researching intensely and making tons of notes that somehow turned into a rough draft of an outline was a mixed bag of highs and lows…

Actually beginning the writing was the High of Highs. Revision of each chapter as it was finished was a high.

Using FastPencil (my Print and Ebook distributor) as an interactive lab for reviewers and beta-readers as the chapters accumulated was a unique high. Also, discovering that saving $50 a month for four months would let me buy their package that distributes to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iPad, and Ingram was a delirious high 🙂

Printing the manuscript out and reading it as I used a pen to mark changes was a blast from the past.

Finding an editor who I could pay with only a tribute in the book was a high (hint: explore your nearest universities for Grad students in the English department).

Kicking my Social Media Pre-Publication Networking into high gear was mostly a high with many low troughs that had to do with sifting the wheat from the chaff–an ongoing slog through oceans of mundane trivialities to find and connect with sources of creative and progressive relationship.

Waiting… for the editor to finish her work was, as embarrassing as it is to say, a low 🙁

Seeing that she had only found a multitude of small, necessary edits was a Gargantuan High!

My experience with my past publications and the way that the highs of this recent journey have quickly obliterated the toxic effect of the lows makes the ultimate publication of Notes from An Alien the most important event of my life.
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