I dotted my final “i”. I crossed my last “t” and boldly wrote the words “THE END” at the bottom of Dolor and Shadow. With that, the final stage of the writing process ended, and I began the grueling first stages of becoming a business owner. I updated my support group, which had somehow grown substantially to unknown tertiary followers. Estranged family members were suddenly asking where they could buy my book.
“Not yet,” I kindly said. “I don’t even have an agent, yet.”
That didn’t deter them.
“An agent is reading the manuscript!” I announced a month later, thrilled to see so much feedback so soon.
“When can I buy it!?” they asked.
“Not yet,” I politely replied.
Dolor and Shadow hasn’t even been sold. Already, followers are asking to know. But explaining the business to each individual…there isn’t enough time for that. It’s not easy learning to understand how publication works, but how do I teach and update my friends? I’m still learning myself after all.
“Aha!” I realized, “A blog! A blog they can sign onto, read, and follow! A blog they can watch and witness. I’ll go one step further than that! I’ll show them the steps as I learn them myself! I’m sure there are others who want to know!”
“Book Lovers!” I cried. “Have I got something for you! I am opening my doors to all of you to witness and watch my career being born! I can’t promise I’ll succeed. I may fail and fall! But watch this, follow, and see how the books you love and read are born!
“Sign on to my site or my blog or the web and catch the news as I update you! I will show you my query letters, my rejections, my news! With me, you will know much more than just a release date! You will know when and which publisher says “Yes!” You will know when the illustrator colors my cover! You will know when I edit, or promote, or I tour! You will know when we send it off to the press ! You will know when the trucks pull up to deliver! When the bookstores have it on shelves!
“So when you see my book on the shelves, you will see my book and you will know all the people it took to create a binding, a cover, a story, a world. You will know how my book came to be.”
