Book Two Update

Hello fellow Ravenites!

How is your week going so far? At the time of me writing this, Monday is fading into darkness to be replaced by a new day of opportunity. It’s been awhile since I posted an update, so I thought I would take some time this evening to catch everyone up about what’s going on with Book 2. My original plan was to find an editor to go through and polish my manuscript before looking for an agent; something I should have been doing about halfway into the first draft. The earliest I could get an editor that I wouldn’t have to take out a second mortgage for was in October. I agreed to it knowing I would continue to look for other options. A recent movie I saw at the theater summed it up best: Plan A didn’t work for me so I went to Plan B. Since Plan B isn’t working out, I’m going to plan C, which is basically Plan A, but Plan A has a stink to it, so now it’s Plan C. If you know the line, you know which movie I am referring to (Hint: It’s still in theaters).

So, Plan A was basically a vanity publishing company that costs thousands of dollars to publish a book. There’s nothing nefarious about what they do, as you’re told this up front before you sign anything. If you are a new author, trying desperately to get your novel published, this is not a bad way to go. You can make payments to pay off this amount. I did it, and I am now a published author. I read comments on posts via Facebook and Twitter where people are struggling to get anything published. Many people just can’t afford it. I’m lucky to have a supporting wife who agreed to let me chase this dream, and we did it. A true blessing all around.

Plan B was to go the editor/literary agent route (which is still a plan for Book 3). As I stated earlier, this is something I should have started about halfway through my first draft. Several editors were booked up a year and a half in advance. The earliest I found, as I previously mentioned, was October of this year. She is someone I will keep in mind for next time. Her rates are reasonable, and her reviews are excellent.

Onto Plan C! I found a publisher who is cheaper, but offers a solid marketing plan for extra that I will look into. Their reviews are excellent, and I haven’t found one poor review yet. I submitted my manuscript, so I should know something by tomorrow afternoon, so, fingers crossed!

I will pay closer attention to the editing side this time as I learned a valuable lesson from “Magic Reborn”: people are human and make human mistakes. An equal share of the blame is on me as I signed off on it, so in no way am I disparaging anyone, as I gave the OK to move forward. I’m also hoping to improve upon the cover art as well. A few ideas come to mind, so we’ll see!

As I am working through hopefully restarting the publishing process for Book 2, I am twenty pages into Book 3 already. I discovered something else about being a new author: a new, or recently published author should not be writing three-hundred page books. The bigger the book, the more it costs to publish it. Unless a publishing company can be guaranteed they will recoup the publishing costs, they tend to stay away from three-hundred page books. My manuscript after converting to a Word document is three-hundred and twenty-eight pages. I might split my next book into 2 books as I finish the current storyline of these characters. That’s not to say I’ll be finished with the series, only that I will move toward a different story line. An example would be the Star Wars Expanded Universe series of books from the nineties into the new century. They were still Star Wars, but were separated into trilogies as well as some one-off books as well. One series had over three books to tell their stories. I love these characters I’ve created, and I am working to give them moments to shine… or not (Is that a spoiler? Guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out!)

I guess (Or in my best southern accent: I reckon) that’s everything for now. I truly hope everyone has a great week! Just remember, read early and often! A book will teleport you out of this crazy world and into one where you are a king, queen, warrior, elf, or whatever you wish to be. All you have to do is open a book and get lost in it. Take care!