A new beginning

I have waited a bit before writing again, and that was for a good reason. Just yesterday I received my author copy of my novel.

I have to be honest, it made me a bit proud of myself, but what mostly thrilled me, was today a great feedback I received from one of my first readers. As a first time writer, I do not have an audience waiting for my next novel, so I have to build my reputation; well let me tell you something, it is not easy.

I knew someone bought one kindle copy of my novel, and I wasn’t really expecting anything positive. You know, it was like I didn't want to believe too much on my work, so that I wouldn't be too disappointed if someone found it "not good enough."

I kept telling myself that this is how it goes and that I should not get discouraged by the fact that my book is not selling immediately. I knew from the beginning that with so many great writers in the business, I was not going to have an easy start.

However, today my very first reader sent me an extremely flattering feedback.

Nothing compares to the feeling of hearing someone say “Bravo!” I think this is one of the most powerful words. It means that the story you were writing with your heart, was able to touch other people's hearts with the same intensity. I really hope that my book can entertain other people like it entertained this first one.

Getting published

I do believe that all the people who decided to publish something for the first time found themselves in the same situation.

I finished to write my novel, and I was happy about it, then when I decided to publish it I realized that since there were many companies and private professionals offering services like proofreading, copy-edit, manuscript critique and so on, I should as well invest on polishing my manuscript. I gave the job to one proofreader who assured me that the turnaround time would have been 12 weeks.
Now, I do not know if there is a different way to count the time in different parts of the world, all I know is that I got the final version after 16 months. I cannot really express my frustration, but since my career didn't depend on that, I just kept waiting patiently.
In the end, I finally got my novel ready for the public, and since I was satisfied with the result, I felt like I couldn't complain.
What now? I had the novel, it was proofread, so what was left was to publish it; but how?
Should I have to ask for a literary agent? That is something I tried, but it was like a never ending list of rejections... again it was frustrating.
One suggestion for all the people who want to get published: Do not let anything stop you if you really believe in your manuscript.
I tried then to look for all the self-publishing possibilities, and they are many. However, only one seemed to give a real chance of visibility, offering at the same time the best royalties: CreateSpace of Amazon.
The decision was made!
So what now? I have my perfect novel, I have a place where to publish it, what is missing?
Oh God, yes! The blurb and the bio, not to mention the cover...
The cover???
Whether CreateSpace offers a very nice selection of customizable covers, I thought that I wanted something that was totally "me."
Hiring someone to make my cover would have been easy, but terribly expensive; I had to come out with another solution.
HEUREKA!
Did I or did I not graduated at the Art Institute? Yes, I did!
Therefore, I could easily do it by myself. At my side, my husband who worked for some years at an advertising company, and together we could reach the final solution for the cover.
I left the writing of the blurb to a professional, after all, that is the most important part; the text the potential readers are going to read before deciding to buy the book.
I could not fail that.

In the end, I had everything ready, and it was finally on sale (what a satisfaction!)

"What next?" I thought.
Promote, promote and promote.
Don't forget to promote :-)