At the title suggests, I got in contact and am now working with a copy editor and proofreader. I'm excited to cut down and fix up the last parts of this story that'll make it into a well-written one. I especially need to cut down on redundancies like saying a character is angry and then one paragraph later writing "He said angrily". Or I'll phrase the same exact thing in a different way. I'm sure there are some spelling mistakes too, despite my best efforts.
After that's settled, there are still a few more things that need to be done, believe it or not. I'm going to go over the "To-Do" list below.
Book Formatting
You know how sometimes a new book chapter starts with the first letter being much larger? Or how about when a book page doesn't end in the middle of a word? Or things like a table of contents, page numbers etc.? These are examples of the things done by a book formatter. You can't just throw your Microsoft Word doc into your book. You have things to consider like book size, whether it's digital or not, and whether a paragraph should be cut off mid-page or not.
I found someone on fiverr who specializes in formatting for the company that I'll be using to physically create my books, so I'm all set there!
Cover, Spine, and Back Design
I may take care of this as my editor is going through Gold Fever, actually. However, there's one thing holding me back from doing it now: The title which will need to be on the cover. I have a very good idea of what I want to cover to be, and a friend of mine even did a mockup for me, but the title has to be known so the artist can add that to the cover. I have always planned on calling it Gold Fever, and that's not going to change. I want there to be a subtitle that I can name a series of books. As I was writing, I decided that if it works out, I would want it to turn into a trilogy at least, if not more. If Gold Fever is a flop on the other hand, the ending is definitive enough that no sequel is 100% needed.
That said, I think it would be fun to make sequels. I've had several ideas in my head for months now and already know how the next story would begin.
But anyway, I'm going off-topic. The point is, I need to come up with a series name to go along with the main title so people will understand easily if/when I do a sequel. The problem? I'm terrible at coming up with names. I like the name Gold Fever, but it took several years of stewing in my mind to come up with that one. Plus (And this is a long story I'm keeping short) it was originally going to be a video game, so this title goes waaaaay back.
I had a few ideas for the series name like "Luxian Legacy", "Dark Savior Series", or even a theme of fevers like "Gold Fever", "Red Fever", "Green Fever" etc.
I'm not sure about any of those, though. I'm hoping inspiration strikes me in the next few days and I come up with a concrete series name. Then I'll be able to get an artist I've had my eye on to make the outside of the book look cool.
Copyright and ISBN Number
Contrary to popular belief, I own the copyright on something once I've created it myself without any sort of legal or government assistance needed. However, getting an official copyright makes it much, much easier for your lawyer to prove something is yours in a theoretical court case where someone has stolen your work. It may be worth the investment. It's not even that much money. More of a hinderance.
I've spoken of ISBN numbers before, and how silly the whole thing is. The main company that sells them will only do so in quantities at any sort of reasonable deal. And the price is high for what is effectively an outdated inventory system that they have a near monopoly on. You can go with cheaper options, but sometimes, from what I've read, these cheaper ISBNs can result in your book being falsely credited to other authors. I have to look into it a bit more, but if I want to get into any sort of physical bookstore, I unfortunately need an ISBN one way or another. So I guess the only question is whether I'll go the expensive route, or the riskier and cheaper route.
Self-Publishing
After all of the above is done, we get to shipping the final product. I would do this through a site called IngramSpark, which allows me to ship ebooks, soft cover, and hard cover to those buying. In addition, I would need to consider those reading via google play, the app store, nook, and more! So even when it's done, it's not really done. Really, this is how it goes for everything though. It's the same for video games anyway. You never truly feel like you're done.
Audio Book
Can't forget about this, can we? From what I have researched, audio books are a darkhorse of sorts. Maybe it's because I'm from Massachusetts and it takes forever to get anywhere, but I can picture people listening to audiobooks in their car while driving. Some people also just prefer it.
I've mentioned this before, but I'll be using that voice guy corsetti for the audio book. I wish I could get the audio book done at the same time of release, but the way things will shake out, that's extremely unlikely. I need to get him a formatted and mostly complete version of the book for him to read after all, and rather than delay the initial release, I'd rather just have the audiobook come out later. On the bright side, it's another excuse to promote the book down the line.
Reviews
The biggest key to success (Besides actually writing a good book) is the reviews. If I can get a decent amount of good reviews to start off, amazon may put the book on a best sellers list. I'm of course going to ask friends/family to help out and read my book, but also I am compiling a list of bloggers that can hopefully also give a helping hand.
That's all for now. Hopefully by the next log I'll have released Gold Fever!
- Jim
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