Well, the deed is done. I went and pressed the "Publish" button on Amazon Createspace and there it is, my book, available on Kindle and in paperback across the globe. Wow. For a writer, I'm remarkably lost for words.
Not that it was an easy thing, publishing my own book, and I have yet to experience the full force of public feedback - of which I hope to get loads and all positive, of course. I had to write it for a start, and then proof-read it over and over and over to make sure it was as perfect as can be. Then there was the whole wrestling with the layout thing, which actually was not anywhere near as hard as I expected and there is a good deal of guidance online on how to do it. And Createspace does make it all pretty easy.
 |
| Photo, "Books Key" by renjith krishnan, courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
The cover gave me a little more trouble, and while it is perfectly possible to pay for a professional cover design which is probably worth while the expense, I wanted to use one of my daughter's photographs which I felt fit the theme perfectly. With a bit of tinkering on the computer and a good deal of trial and error, the cover was prepared and loaded.
 |
| Photo of Carmen Anderson taken by Jessica Richardson of Little Lenses Photography |
Then came proofing the product. That was a test of endurance if ever there was one. It took me weeks and weeks to get the look and layout right, and iron out as many mistakes as I could find, such as the page numbering which went awry at one stage, and the page breaks. I ordered proof copies, waited to receive them, took an editing pencil to them and then had to make changes. Right up to the moment I pressed the button to publish, I had doubts.
Now to market the book. I still have doubts. Will readers like it? Will anyone be tempted to buy it? Will people laugh at my audacity to publish a selection of short stories? Will they mock because they are not of the literary standards of Somerset Maugham or Ernest Hemingway? They are stories mainly written for youngsters, and tested out on my teenage daughter's friends. Their feedback was good, so I kept going. That voice of doubt always nagging at me keeps whispering that of course they said they liked the stories because they didn't want to offend me. Perhaps I'll rope them into the social media marketing of it and make them stand by their words!
 |
| Photo by KROMKRATHOG courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Self doubt, I suppose, is an occupational hazard for the writer, and when there are few opportunities to network with other writers and gain feedback for your work, you can never be quite sure that you are good enough. That's why I strongly advocate joining a writer's group. A good, well-run writer's group can provide so much support and reassurance to writers, and can help local writers go from scribbling on an old notebook to seeing their work in print - or performed if they are playwrights.
I have blogged on this subject before, and probably will again. I still have an ambition to be part of a writer's group in Gibraltar, a group where the local talent - and there is a good deal of it - pools it resources and encourages the craft to grow. I was once a member of the Medway Mermaids writers' group and they helped my confidence as a writer grow. I've added a link to their website in the panel to the right of this page and below:
Medway Mermaids
Attending their sessions was invaluable to my development as a writer. Without that confidence I would never have entered my poems into competitions, and I would never have pressed that "publish" button. Now I have, so it's publish and be damned, or publish and enjoy. Time will tell.
 |
| Photo by Stuart Miles courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
No comments:
Post a Comment