I thought writing a book was a challenge. I love storytelling. Then I thought self-editing was a challenge. My current project is on the second editor to make the best it can be.
I learned that publishing an e-book is a journey. Formatting the above book, Downward Spiral into an e-book took the prize for the hardest part of the process.
I spent twelve hours trying to take Downward Spiral from Scrivener to the e-book format that Kindle would accept. One evening in complete frustration, I tweeted Joanna Penn. Help! She calmly explained Scrivener is for writing, not publishing or reformatting. Friends. She’s correct. I love the format for Scrivener for creating. But in formatting, it needs to improve, and I have the latest addition. I had to. I thought it was me. I read every bit of the instruction. I listened to many video guides. I thought I would learn some new things as I renamed my previous book and upgraded the technology in the book. I had to. So much had changed in the world of teens and their technology since 2007 when it was first published. Like many authors, I was appalled at the mistakes in the book. I had hired an editor for that one also, but the company and the editor were substandard.
I also have learned so much about writing since then. I joined the Alliance of Independent Authors, and I read constantly about the business of independent authors.
Ms. Penn suggested I convert the manuscript to Word and then use another software to publish. I admit to being cautious now. So I decided to use KDP and Kindle Create to gain more experience but not spend any more hard earned money. My MacBook Pro did not cooperate. It would not download the new software for Microsoft Word. Two hours with a technician from Apple, we decided I needed to call Microsoft. Three hours on the phone with a patient tech named Jess, and I finally had it downloaded. Conversion done, I thought okay now to publish. Nope. I found errors in the manuscript. Three days later, I completed the fourth edit.
I am waiting now for KDP to finish the conversion. I did not include the time it took to research for a new cover with a professional cover artist. Nor the time to survey an audience to the effectiveness of the proposed covers.
Nick Stephenson, another one of my chosen mentors, teaches an author will need a team to put one book together successfully. I now have an editor and a cover artist. My team is small. Now I need the most critical piece in my author entrepreneur team, an audience. I earnestly hope if you read this, you will go to Amazon and purchase or borrow Downward Spiral. It is a labor of love for all the teens out there who are currently experimenting with all sorts of hurtful things such as vaping, pharmaceutical drugs, black tar heroin, and a multitude of things adults never dream of risking in their bodies.