hot air balloon on ground rainbow colours

Preparing to Launch

I will publish the ebook version of my next novel, until now referred to as “the work in progress,” in November. I’m not sure when in November, but definitely in that month.

The book, now titled She Who Comes Forth, will be available for pre-order early in October.

September and October will be busy months for me, but right now, while the garden bakes in midsummer heat, I’m doing the following:

  • Finalizing the cover image. I’ve narrowed it down to seven possibilities. Yes, that’s not very narrow, but I have a couple more months to brood over them.
  • Finalizing the book description (called by some a “blurb,” but I think that word sounds dumb; and besides, it actually refers to a brief endorsement of a book by someone noteworthy. You see blurbs on those annoying pages that precede the title page in mass-market paperbacks). I have both a short description (really short, i.e. 60 words) and a longer one (350 words). I’ll be adding one or the other to the back matter of my existing ebooks.
  • Reading all the “how to launch your book” blog posts I’ve bookmarked.
  • Listening to Mark Coker’s Smart Author podcasts. Even though I’ve published several books, I’m sure I can learn something valuable from these programs. There are 16 episodes, all available at Smashwords and at a multitude of podcast sites. You can find them here.
  • Writing something new. Yes! A couple of years ago I published four short supplements to the Herbert West Series. I’ve decided to write three more and make all seven available as a collection, replacing the four separate stories.
  • Trying to figure out how to summon some rain to this parched part of the world.

Hot air balloon image courtesy of Pixabay

21 comments

    1. I recommend the podcasts. The introductory ones reminded me of all the good things about self-publishing and revved up my enthusiasm. He doesn’t have any magic bullets, but it’s good to get a review of all the options. Mark is in favour of authors doing as much as they can themselves and spending their money wisely — very pragmatic. One thing about Smashwords, they’re much friendlier and more approachable than Amazon. Of course, Amazon is still the 1,000 lb gorilla, so we can’t ignore them, but it’s good to learn about other options.

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  3. Sounds excellent – all best wishes for every success with sales! The cover choice is always tricky. I must admit, the trad system has a (slight) advantage in that the publisher basically has the contractual right to state what it will be, however annoyed the author may be by the final choice. Whereas self-publishing (or working with a publisher who consults closely with authors) suddenly creates a great deal of angst and indecision. I just went through an exercise involving ‘branding’ a series of books I wrote through the trad system, years ago, which have been re-released for Kindle and which will soon(ish) get back into print. I like the final cover theme, spanned across the series, but it took three attempts and far more time than such things, probably, are worth. Probably…

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  4. I had to laugh. You “narrowed it down” to seven choices.:-) Best of luck on your upcoming launch!

    And here in central Virginia we are drenched. It’s supposed to rain every day through the rest of the week.

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    1. Well, I sort of know which one I’ll pick. I just have to finalize the choice, and I’d rather do it closer to the release date, so I don’t have time for useless second thoughts. Thanks for the good wishes!
      Argh! I have rain envy. Too bad it’s not more evenly distributed, both geographically and chronologically.

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  9. Sorry for the delay Audrey (I’m all over the place this summer!).
    All the best for the launch and subsequent progress
    Also gets reblogged

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