WooHoo!

September 30, 2021

I’m excited to publish the third book in the fantasy Sakrosians Series trilogy  The Fledglings ‒ A Beacon

2021 has been a busy writing year—working on completing my third book, writing and editing the fourth book Leaves or Larks (Historical Fiction) and starting a fifth book.

After outlining the story, writing for a year or more, and several rounds of editing to complete a manuscript, there’s another three – four week process to self-publish.

For those unfamiliar with what’s involved with the mechanics of self-publishing, here’s an overview:  When the manuscript is edited and completed, the documents have to be formatted for the page size, front matter, and back information like character list.  I’ve kept track of purchased ISBN numbers; print and ebook formats are assigned unique identifiers.  The fonts have to be set properly for titles, headings and text.  It is a bit tricky to get the sections, page numbers, and author/title at the top of the pages arranged correctly.  This document gets exported to a PDF/A format.

I create a cover based on the page size with the number of pages determining spine width.  Finding a permission free image that conveys the story idea, with space for the title, author, and bar code has involved manipulating the image to fit the size and concept.  I write the blurb for the back cover that can also be used to promote the book.  Cover files have to be configured for both pdf and jpeg.

The manuscript has to be formatted for an ebook using software to create epub files with a table of contents for navigating on a digital reader.

Files are uploaded and proofed for self-publishing.  This includes setting the paper type & trim size, manuscript, covers, blurb, genre categories, key words, and determining prices.

Author website and blog are updated.  After this month-long process, I email family and friends to let them know I’ve reached a milestone.  WooHoo!

Then it’s back to writing the next story.