I covered why I decided to write a novel and the early part of that journey in my first blog post, Why did I decide to write a novel, and why this novel?, so here I’ll focus on what I learned during my year-long trek. Perhaps my experiences will be helpful to you if you’re thinking about writing your first novel.
Preparation – Perhaps you’re the kind of person who can sit down one day and start writing great fiction. I’m not that kind of person. As I explained in my first blog post, I had to learn how to write fiction. Then I jotted down ideas for scenes and characters. I realized that some scenes depended on factual details or projections of what the future might be like 30 years (or more) from now, or both. So I did a lot of research, in an attempt to make my novel as realistic as peering into the future can be given the need for some dramatic license. Then I assembled the scenes into an outline. When that was done and I had what I thought was a good handle on the characters, I started the “real” writing. That began in earnest in late October 2023.
Editing – I had my first draft done by the end of 2023. I shared early versions of it with a small number of relatives and friends who provided valuable feedback. Then the editing cycles began in earnest… MANY cycles, again with input from a few friends and relatives. When I thought I had a solid draft manuscript, I hired professional editing help. Although the editors chose to not be attributed, their help was invaluable. I strongly recommend you hire a professional editor, especially if you’ve never done much fiction writing or worked with a professional editor before. Also engage a professional proofreader, unless you’re an expert in English grammar. Even if you are, a pro can spot things you may not. I was amazed at the small errors I continued to find in my manuscript after multiple editing passes by me and the professional editor. You can’t do too much editing. And after you’ve finished what you think is the final editing pass, set the manuscript aside for a while, then read it again, slowly and carefully, and ideally with a different device (e.g. a pad or phone, if you used a computer to write it). You may be amazed at what you’ll find in your “clean” manuscript.
A note about hiring help… I decided early this year to work with a hybrid publisher (What is hybrid publishing?), since I was new to book publishing. In hindsight, I’m sorry I did that. I paid a significant up-front fee to the hybrid publisher, which was to cover editing, proofreading, website design and hosting, cover design, marketing help, and other assistance. We would share in the proceeds of the book. But the publisher decided to exit the agreement about 2-1/2 months before the planned publication date, and I needed to perform final editing and proofreading, get the book published, and plan/execute the launch and other marketing efforts myself. I’ll need to sell quite a few books to cover the up-front fee and my other costs. My advice is, if you’re interested in working with a hybrid publisher, be sure to check several references and have a frank discussion with them about the prospects for selling enough books to cover their fee (plus maybe a little profit!). Also, be sure the hybrid publisher has extensive experience in the genre of your book. Instead of hiring a hybrid publisher, I recommend that you look into companies that offer help with editing and proofreading (you WANT professional help there), website design and hosting (unless you know how to do that), and cover design, and use the many free resources available on the web to guide you in the publication process.
Revisions – During the editing process, I made many small changes and several major changes to my novel. I rewrote the opening and revamped the last chapter. I heavily revised two main characters. I added the “teaser” (on Page 1) and the Prologue. I added a Timeline of Events to help readers keep track of things and cover some events that were only hinted at in the book. (SPOILER ALERT: please don’t look at the Timeline before you’ve read the book!) I added two chapters—one at the suggestion of one of my reviewers, and the other because I felt it was necessary for a character’s development. I changed how one of the climatic chapters ended—again to be true to a character, but also to end the chapter on a more hopeful note. I found myself making many changes because of what I’d learned about the characters while writing my novel. Some were small changes, such as a different choice of words. Others were quite large, such as the new chapter I mentioned. I also made changes because I’d learned a little about writing over the months I worked on my novel. As I became intimately familiar with the story, I made changes and added exposition to better tell the story. Even now, after publication, I’ve thought of a couple changes I’d make if I could… maybe in the 2nd Edition? My takeaway is… if you think you’re done with edits and revisions, you probably aren’t.
Publication – Since my novel was self-published and I’d never published anything before, I decided to use a company, IngramSpark, that specializes in publishing books and distributing them to retail channels. That allowed me to focus on writing and marketing. That worked well overall, but there were a few challenges. The biggest was that the company’s web-based “book builder” tool, quite slick in concept, was actually a “beta” version with multiple issues that held up preparing my book for publication. However, the company’s support team worked closely with me to ensure that both the paperback and e-book versions were completed on time. There’s many other options besides IngramSpark, for example, Amazon KDP Print, Apple Books, Blurb, BookBaby, Draft2Digital, Lulu, and PublishDrive . I recommend you research the options and choose one that best fits your objectives.
Marketing – I got some marketing tips from the hybrid publisher. They included creating a website (built by a pro, then maintained by me) with a blog; writing “flash fiction” stories for the blog (these provide insight and backstory into characters and some events in the book); creating a Launch team to read an advance copy of my book and, if they choose, post a review; doing a Launch event; getting the word out via LinkedIn, Facebook, and local press; reaching out to review sites and blogs to ask if they’d review my book; and looking into applicable awards. I believe all of these ideas are valuable, although I was disappointed by the results of the Launch event and reaching out to review sites. I thought my Launch event, which included a guest speaker on ho’oponopono (ho-oh-what? Read the book!), went pretty well, but attendance wasn’t what I’d hoped for, and I wonder if it was worth the effort and cost. As for reaching out to review sites, my advice there is prepare to be underwhelmed. The no-cost review sites are inundated by requests. I did get good results with Library Thing, which offers members a chance to select new books by genre off a monthly list, and if they “win” that month’s contest, they get a free advance copy of the book in exchange for reviewing it. And, who knows—perhaps eventually some of the review sites I reached out to will publish a review. I’ve requested that my local libraries and some local book stores add my book (no guarantees, there). I’m also going to participate in a local book festival in October—be sure to check your area for such events.
Overall, writing and self-publishing my first novel was a LOT of work—most of it very enjoyable work. At this time I have no idea if I’ll recoup my costs, let alone make a profit. But I’m very glad I did it. I wrote my novel with the goal of sharing my story with others, and I’ve already achieved that goal by sharing it with dozens of people—almost all of whom told me they enjoyed the story and got something from it. And I learned a lot about writing and publishing. So even if someone from Netflix doesn’t come calling next month about the movie rights :D, I think it was worth it.
