Okay, well maybe it's not that big, but still. And I've actually already announced it on my Facebook page, so the secret is out.
I'm getting published!!!!
No wait, I'm kidding. Sort of. Let me rephrase that, I'm self-publishing through Amazon. I finally decided that enough was enough with the queries. I was losing my mind daily and the rejections were making me miserable. My intention all along was to e-publish anyway, so it's not like I'm missing out. There was only a really teeny percentage of my brain that actually believed I would get published the traditional way. It's just way too competitive out there, especially if you're not writing to what's popular right now. And I'm not.
So with that in mind I started to looking into different websites that off free e-publishing. Of course I ended up settling on Amazon. I really feel like that's my best chance to get my book "out there". My goal is not to make a bunch of money, but to hopefully build an audience. My first novel, "London Escape" will hopefully be released early June. I'm not counting on it doing fantastic, but I'm excited to finally let all my friends read it! The second novel, and sequel, will be released in October (or at least that's my goal).
I didn't realize how much work I would have to be doing to get ready to e-pub. But there is a lot of formatting that has to going into your Word doc to get it to transfer properly to an e-book. I spent about four hours last Friday doing just that, and another 1-2 over the weekend. Fortunately it looks perfect now. For the time being I'm proofreading it yet again (though it's already been edited), and making some last minute changes. I wouldn't hesitate to say it will probably take me most of May to slog through this, just because it's quite painstaking.
Also, I'm in the middle of designing the cover art with a friend who is a graphic designer. Can I just say I'm super excited to see a visual representation of my novel? If it comes off the way I envision it, it should be super cool.
So, exciting stuff. I'm more excited and less disappointed than I thought I would. Stay tuned and I will let you all know as soon as my book is officially available.
