A fantasy trilogy. I started the first one in high school (grade 10) as part of an English project. We had to write the opening paragraph and climax paragraph (because the entire climax of a story takes place in one paragraph right?) so I figured I might as well just keep writing. At that time I was reading heavily (I was a real nerd/dork in high school, reading, playing PC games, music instruments...I had no idea if a girl ever flirted with me because I had no clue how to read it. I just smiled back and agreed. Maybe I was secretly a big playa without even knowing it. One of my school friends told me I was.)
Over the past 10 years I completed the first book, rewrote it, wrote a second, rewrote both, then wrote a third, and finally made substantial changes to all three. And now we are here. Three books of blood, guts, spit and ass, with some romance and comedy thrown in.
Over the years I have given various versions of these books to trusted friends to read and assess. My only demand was that they assess it VERY honestly...as in brutal honestly. If it was total donkey twoddle I wanted to know. But the feedback was generally very good, and I was highly encouraged to get them published, which involves getting them edited, proof-read, ect.
I'll skip past the part of the story that involves me approaching mainstream publishers. Suffice it to say it was a waste. All of them have very, very strict requirements before they will even think about farting in the direction of a manuscript, and most of them are completely uninterested in the fantasy genre. Particularly in South Africa, where most publishers want non fiction or 'historically-based' fiction around a 'South African' story - in other words, a story from Apartheid, a man in a township, something like that.
So I had the option to approach overseas publishers (same strict requirements) or self-publish. I went for the latter. I figured, if I self-publish I have control, I have the say, I have all the power of decision-making.
And people always say self-publishing is easy. And it is, to an extent. The tools are all available online these days, and you can get a book ready for E-readers or physical printing at no cost other than your internet cap. The problem is, to really make it shine, you still need some green. And depending on how far you go, that can add up pretty fast.
 |
| After some online tampering: my beauties |
For example, getting it set up for free excludes any editing. And unless you have a friend who does editing for a living and has no problem sorting it out for you, you pretty much have your own untrained eyes to do the work. And here's the truth: they are untrustworthy as hell. Trust me; you can stare at your work on a PC screen for hours, and still miss plenty. If you are gonna do it yourself, at least print it and do it on paper, with a highlighter in your hand or something. I also had some great friends who took the time to sift through my books and identify errors with post-it's, emails and word documents. Awesome. But after all that there's still some that snuck through. And editing ain't cheap. Once off, for sure, but still a fair amount.
What about cover design? I took the easier option; I bought online images, thus acquiring the rights to use the image (don't be illegal about it - just now your book takes off and you have a lawsuit on your hands. Can happen...), and they became my covers. But if you want a tailor-made cover, you're talking lots of bucks. Any quote I looked at was over R1000 per book, per design.
And marketing? The only way your book will sell is through excellent marketing. And that's the biggest expense of all, depending on how you do it. Word-of-mouth won't do anything for people on another continent.
Most self-publishing websites offer all these services and more, so if you are interested go and check one out and see what they can cost. You'd be surprised how quickly it can add up. At the end of the day, a professional product is still a professional product, and they don't come cheap. Ever.
So where am I?
Well, the first book is active online - I.E. for sale at the link below and on the iBookstore. It isn't perfect yet, but dammit, by now surely most of the errors are eliminated. The rest give it character, I keep telling myself.
I haven't really marketed the book, because I am still investigating editing options. I probably should just do it, but with a wedding around the corner (in wedding terms 7 months is around the damn corner) I have other things to save for. I am actually happy with the covers, but it might still be a better option to get ones designed. And for physical printing, the shipping costs from America are killing. I am still sourcing a local printing press to print my manuscripts.
What I did in the meantime, with the advice of a friend, is upload a portion of my book to a website called Wattpad, where you can share literature for free. I am hoping to gauge some sort of response based on that portion of the book, and hopefully encourage some folk to make their way to the digital store on Lulu or the iBookstore to purchase the entire story. And the feedback will be awesome. By that I mean getting feedback will be awesome. Not the feedback content will be awesome. Although it might be, but that's conceited...anyway...
At some point, when I decide I have done all I can for that first manuscript, I will officially launch it, backed with some proper marketing and all that jazz. Big announcements, party, opening specials, that sort of thing. And then parts 2 and 3 will need to follow soon after. In the meantime I just keep writing other stuff. I never got into writing to make money; it was always a fun thing to do. And it always will be. If the stories hit a note with other people and they want to support, awesome. If not, I doubt I'll just stop. Art, in any form, should be done for oneself, not for others.
And on that philosophical note, I bid you farewell.
Want to read some of my book for free? Go here: http://www.wattpad.com/23490485-baldornad%27s-chamber#.UhEsx5JmiSo
My online store on Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/eman101
No comments:
Post a Comment