Wonderful things aren’t they; the end of the month. If you’ve set yourself a goal of squirting out a blog post once a month they can motivate you into writing, and if you’re reading this it means I actually finished the writing. People often get paid at the month’s end, which is nice.
Before Christmas I studied on Mark Dawson’s ‘Self-Publishing 101’, part of his ‘Self-Publishing Formula’ suite of courses’. (https://selfpublishingformula.com/) Quick review: this was well worth the cost. It’s given me significant understanding of how self-publishing can work on Amazon and other platforms, and has helped me build a list of tasks I need to work on before I can effectively self publish. I now know there are some traps I need to avoid such as spending vast amounts of time on social media. (Spoiler alert, there’s more to self-publishing than pressing Amazon’s ‘Upload’ button). I’ve also secured membership to a Facebook group with other students; as writers we’re all in unique situations so having access to wise people to answer your strange questions is a great asset. I hope to study the Ads for Authors course sometime this year to reach a wider audience, but do feel free to tell your friends about my website.
One task I’ve set myself is to create an email list of wonderful people who are interested in my work. This is underway and I hope to reveal this in February 2019. I’ll have some giveaways for people who sign up, and you’ll be first in the queue to hear news of my upcoming novel ‘Lightmaker’. A newsletter might well emerge.
Another task was to arrange for the cover art for the novel. While I believe I’m a decent writer I know I’m hopeless at art, so I engaged the wonderful Vince Haig (https://barquing.com/) to develop a suitable cover. After a quick brief he sent me a file. I took a deep breath before opening it, but needn’t have worried: the cover is fabulous. After a few years of writing about my heroine it was peculiarly wonderful to see her. If you can see the cover below it means my WordPress skills aren’t entirely non-existent.
Being a writer is a solitary task; while I’ve enjoyed the gentle social engagement afforded by my fabulous local writing group (https://www.meetup.com/Oxford-Writing-Circle/) it’s also been a time to consider my own personality. I’ve always had a keen sense of showing significant differences from other people. I’m acutely introverted and find parties witheringly fatiguing, I can focus deeply on particular topics, I can’t follow body language at all and making eye contact is a major challenge. Having chatted with people at work I believe I’m showing signs of being on the autism spectrum, and after consulting my local GP she agreed to refer me to a diagnostic service. I have an online interview tomorrow.
Whatever the result I know I have the ability to focus on particular tasks. I’ve spent most evenings over the last four years working on ‘Lightmaker’, slowly piecing together the plot, the characters, the ideas, and most importantly the style. It’s been a long and solitary process but I hope to self-publish this year, and I’m looking forward to hearing your opinions of my written work.
The online interview meant I needed a webcam. This has now been bought and fitted; it works as well, which is helpful. It also means I’m equipped to produce video of me talking about my writing. So behave, all of you, or I’ll broadcast pictures of myself into your homes.
Very best wishes,
Kevin
January 2019
Engaging Vince Haig was a wise move, if the cover of your forthcoming book is anything to go by Kevin. Although you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it is almost inevitable that a well-designed cover will draw the would-be reader’s attention to it amongst many others on a bookshop table. I’d certainly look at the back and read the blurb there (the pitch) and probably then look inside. If your blog writing is anything to go by I’d probably read the opening paragraphs and maybe dip into the book, and who knows, maybe buy a copy!. Good luck with it, and I look forward to reading more