Indie Life: Winding Down

Hosted by the Indelibles, Indie Life is a monthly feature on the second Wednesday of the month.  This is a chance for indie authors to post about indie life, find each other, offer support, encouragement, news, helpful hints, and anything else that makes life as an indie author a little easier.

 

Before I began I would like to make note that moving day is in two days.  At this time I’m packing, getting everything ready for release day in seven days and making sure I remember to eat, since that’s not very high on priorities at the moment.  With that being said…

 

I AM CRAZY. 

I really shouldn’t complain.  The book is done and ready to go.  I’ve got a giveaway up on Goodreads and got my bookmarks swag in the mail.  I want to get more swag, like pins or something.  What other kind of swag can/should I get? Where should I go for it?

Being a debut Indie author is hard.  Lol.  I’ve learned a lot from this process.  I’ve made a bunch of mistakes that I won’t make again as well.  But overall, it’s a learning process, and there’s a learning curve.  I’m happy to say I don’t think I’ve made the same mistake twice at least. 

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is expect rough water.  This is not a smooth sailing process.  There are going to be hitches.  It’s my reaction to them that is going to make it a huge deal or a small one. 

I’m thrilled I hired a cover artist.  While, I am exceptional skilled in Photoshop, I’m just too close to the story to create a cover objectively.  I found an awesome artist relayed my vision and poof  - beautiful cover.  All with minimum fuss.  It gave me the time to focus on what was really important: telling my story. 

Beta readers are super important.  I don’t think I would have all the detail I do without my betas.  I’m really pleased with how that turned out and look forward to using them again.  Though, I did find this service called “Fresh Eyes Critique” that I may add in after the Beta process just for an additional pair of unclouded eyes. (I read this one at least a dozen times trying to get it right.  I’m hoping with the next to only have to read it half of that.)

I’ve also learned that while I love writing I hate editing.  I’m currently conversing with several people for editing purposes.  I can tell a story, but don’t ask me if the grammar is right because I honestly couldn’t tell you. Even now, after all is said and done, I’m still not sure if some of the grammar is correct. >_<

Overall, though, it’s definitely something I’ve learned from and hope to apply in the future to the sequel.  It’s been really fun, even with the chaos, and the glitches and the setbacks.  But that’s to be expected I think with any Virgin run. I’m still not sure if all my “T”s are crossed or not but I’m okay with that.  I’ll deal with situations as they come up and hope for the best. ^_^

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