I’ve decided it makes the most sense to take my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel The Ferry, and attempt to self-publish it this year. I’ve chosen it because it’s actually a complete novel, so it only needs another draft or two to be ready, vs. actually finishing one of my other novels. It’s not my best work, but it’s words on a (virtual) page and has action, romance and horrible monsters from some other dimension. And that’s not a sly reference to some political angle.
Steps in my plan:
- Choose a novel to complete – DONE
- Prepare the novel in the writing tool of my choice – DONE (I am using Scrivener, the story was originally written in Word)
- Read up on self-publishing – IN PROGRESS (I’ve read a few books and will go back to review as the story gets closer to being ready)
- Find an artist and pay them to create a decent book cover – TO DO
- Find an editor to read over and revise my manuscript – TO DO (when I’m closer to ready)
- Spiffy up my “serious” website (stanwjames.com) – In PROGRESS
- Decide on pricing strategy, any marketing, etc. – TO DO
We’ll see how it goes, but if I don’t do something this year, I’ve decided I’m going to give up and spend all of my free time playing Diablo 3. ALL MY FREE TIME.
