Thoughts on Publishing

 Hello fabulous readers. Rejections keep coming in (yay!), and I'm not sure if I'm more sad about this or eager to get them all done. I would love to be represented by the Big 5, but I think I might end up self-publishing, depending on what all these guys say. I am not too keen on selling the rights to my book, and frankly, I'm not writing for the money, so advances mean little to me. I just want the books on a shelf in bookstores. More than that, I want them to be READ. I haven't been to a bookstore myself in years. I buy online. Either way, I want them in print and I want them read, and I want them published.

So. There's that. I've got a few months before I hear back from all agents, and depending on what they say, I'll figure it out from there. The cost of my book, because it's so stinking long, is going to easily be $5000 if I publish it, probably $6000, because I'll need to pay both for copy edit and proofread and then cover design and formatting, and not just for paperback, but ebook and hardback, as well, and apparently they're all different formats.

So. I'm a little overwhelmed to say the least, but I've accepted the fact that marketing is mostly going to come from me, regardless of how I'm published (though, I DO really want to see TOR on the side of my book!), so I figured I'd get started on that.

I'll be creating a FB page to engaged future readers and add developmental teasers and excerpts. Not entirely sure what I'm going to share. I might just share tidbits and scenes that aren't actually in the book but get you knowing about the characters. We'll see. It's not ready yet, but let me know in the comments if you want to follow it. Naturally, I'll link it here when I've got it up.

So. One of the things making me hesitate is the cover of my book. Let's say I get traditionally published, even then, we're going to have to figure out a cover for my book, and it was hard enough for me to title it, let alone figure out how it should look.

I DON'T want something super cartoony or cheesy. If you guys have SEEN James Islington's books, I love that type of design. I also am drawn to Robert Jordan's and Brandon Sanderson's, because I'm used to see those type of covers on epic fantasy books. I LOVE Outlander as well, but her covers are very plain. And as much as the world says, "Don't judge a book by its cover," we all know that we do. I do. I'll admit it. So I will want my cover done well.

The book is, at current, called A Conduit of Fire. There is a magical item in it. Trying to figure out how an artist can wrap up that idea with maybe a sketch of the trinket. Mneh. Who knows.

If anyone reads this has an idea of a sketch artist I can chat with, let me know. I THINK I know who I'm going with for copy editing and proofreading, but unsure. It's going to cost me $5k just for that mess. Goodness! BUT! I WILL have a high quality book. And again, as much as I would like to be traditionally published and I'm not writing for the money, this money part of the publishing will... slow things down. To say the least.

Anyway.

I'll try to manipulate these posts more in line with the story I'm writing itself to get you learning about that, versus always dragging you into my brain as the author itself. But. If you ever wanted to know what your favorite authors go through... well, now you know.

Until next time.

Jess