In my last blog post, I completed the line editing of my book manuscript and hired a professional proofreader to do the proofreading editing. After two marathon zoom calls, we finished the process, and I am extremely thankful for her input. I cannot stress strongly enough, how necessary it is to get another editor to proofread your manuscript. After many rounds of editing it myself, I became “word blind,” meaning I couldn’t see missing quotes in dialogue, extra spaces, missing words, duplicated words, etc. In my opinion, it is one of the best investments authors can make in preparing books for publishing, regardless of genre.
Speaking of publishing, I’ve chosen to self-publish since the traditional query letters, etc. can take years before the book is launched. God has blessed me with a team of writers working on helping people get published from the first word through the book launch. Of course, with my manuscript complete and edited, I don’t need the entire program. One of the ladies offered to do a final beta read over the holidays, which blessed me beyond measure.
So what have I been working on to prepare for publishing? Strangely enough, the first thing that needed my attention was the book cover designs. Yes, you read that correctly. I need a book cover design for the ebook and another one for the paperback. It’s not as easy as copying and resizing. I had to download the book cover template for a 6X9″ book from Amazon so I could also create the spine of the book.
It’s on hold for finalizing because I am waiting for reviews from my beta readers. I will place those on the back cover if there’s space, or I will make room in the inside for them. Reviews prior to launch are invaluable to an author. Many readers look for reviews prior to purchasing a book. I do it every time I need a new novel to read.
Formatting the manuscript so that it can be uploaded into the Amazon platform, is my next project. I have a feeling that this task will be more complicated than I anticipate, but I have done lots of research and have a guide downloaded. If I still run into questions, there are videos on YouTube. I intend to use every resource I can find or that God brings across my path.
I also have to work on a landing page for the book and attach the link to my website. Social Media posts on all my sites have to be created, plus I need to discover how to do the cover reveal and pre-order steps. This is an extremely detailed process and I cannot miss a step!
Designing the book covers made everything start to feel REAL. It’s only twenty-nine days til launch, so I need to end this blog and get back to work. The next blog post will contain all the information you, my readers, need to see the cover reveal and pre-order your copy of either the ebook or the paperback before launch day.
Onwards!
Heather Hancock - Author, Editor, Ghostwriter 
Sounds exciting. I have written fun reader art books. I have words but nothing like a novel. Editing is the hardest part. You have this vision and what you want your readers to experience but every detail down to the font has to be right. I would love to go over my book with an editor. Where did you find her? How? Anyway, what I do is go through a series of rounds, and then I will publish an ebook letting people know it is almost ready. This is usually the final stage. At this time I will set it aside for months and fully work on another project. Then I will come back to it and keep editing. I think that is the hard part because we will always grow and always find little details to fix. Thanks for reminding me of this. Congrats and may your book sell lots of copies!
LikeLike
Hi Mireya, the editor I used is a fellow writer and editor. I have networked quite a bit the last 4 years and have good contacts and friends who are willing to help. I did hire the proofreader to do the final edits. That is the only expense and I budgeted for it. You’re welcome, and thank you for your encouragement.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent progress Heather! Onwards!
LikeLike