Writing a book is easy… the hard work starts afterwards! This is such a profound statement. I remember how exciting it was when I was writing my book. With each and every chapter I produced, I was on a high. I was finally following my passion, my dream was materialising right before my eyes. And it did not help that my circle of friends who were reading the book chapter by chapter, were cheering me on. They read each chapter when I send it out and immediately emailed me to request the next one. It was truly an exhilarating experience.
After the final chapter was done came the hard work of trying to find someone to help edit the work. I went on the web, contacted different local editors. Others told me they don’t do fiction, others were fully booked for the year, and others gave me quotations that were equal to my entire publishing. Being an independent author, I am responsible for all the costs of producing the book, so each cent counts.
Eventually, I ended up with two editors, and that was the best thing I did. Because I felt that with the first editor, there were some of the stuff I felt could be improved, and the second editor did work on those. With the second editor (FirstEdit), overall the editing work was satisfactory after all the issues I had with them were cleared.
Then came the task of formatting the interior of the book. Fortunately a colleague of mine had already recommended someone for the job, and the lady is very reasonable. She is currently working on the layout, and hopefully will be done soon.
I must say I really struggled to get someone who I can talk to and ask for advice. I’m sure you would agree with me that most of us writers are private individuals. This can be a problem when you need to connect with people, as in this case, who can help you. But I’m learning very fast and I’m now actively following fellow authors on twitter, Face Book and blogs. It would be nice to get in touch with other South African indie authors!
Lesson Learned
Join some form of writers group or something, where you can get ideas and answers for your questions. This can be really a lonely journey sometimes.
Next week
The journey continues …
Wow Sega, it’s true, dynamites come in small packages. I’m so impressed with ur courage & breaking d iceberg of d fear of d unknown. That’s a leap of faith u took 2 write dis book, who wud have thought. Well done. U rock & all d best wit d journey until Sept. May der be many more 2 write.