This week starts a regular series I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I had to get myself organized and the logistics of it together first before I started because I want this to be a regular thing. This is my weekly writing journal where I tell you what has been going on behind the scenes in my writing during the past week. This helps both me and you as you get regular updates and I have something that allows me to keep track of my progress and hold me accountable. Thus begins the Wednesday Writing Journal.
So, let’s see what’s happened this past week and a few months before as well.
First thing—I’ve been sick for two weeks. I’m just at the tail end of this thing, thank the Lord. Gave me a touch of laryngitis for a couple of days too.
As I was in the midst of hacking up my lungs, I tried to sit at my computer and get some work done. One of those things was re-editing Blackson’s Repentance. Why would I have to re-edit Blackson’s Repentance? I’m glad you asked.
When I had released Blackson’s Repentance back in November 2019, I hired an editor to proofread my material. This was the first time I had done this. It’s not because I don’t think you shouldn’t hire an editor. You most definitely should. Out of all the things that you are going to save up money for, save up money for an editor. A good, solid proofreader and line editor. I believe that one hundred percent.
The problem in my case was I didn’t have one that fit those qualifications. I didn’t find that out until after the fact, to my chagrin. I had ordered a proof of my paperback version and as I read through it, I noticed all the errors which had not been corrected in the editor proof I had gotten back. I was livid.
The first thing I did was fire that editor. I’m still trying to find a way to give a bad review. I did write them a letter which informed them that I’d never use them again. I paid a good chunk of change for that. In addition, I searched for a new editor. This time, I put them through a small test by looking at their chops in how they edited some of the work I had sent them as a sample. I wanted to make sure my money would be well spent on someone who knew what they were doing. Editing is so important even if it’s just to proofread and line edit.
I pulled Blackson’s Repentance off of the shelves and re-edited the book. This is the reason for the lack of promotion. That meant I had to go through and redo the e-book and the paperback. The e-book by itself is a cumbersome process because I like to go to the major websites and upload a copy of the book myself. So I have separate accounts for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play. I use Draft2Digital for all the other ones. I don’t look at Smashwords anymore because it doesn’t matter. At least not to me. I don’t remember the last time I checked my account.
Because I have those separate accounts, that means that I have to make separate e-books for every distributor with links to my other works on their platform. Now in the best circumstances, that would mean that I only have to change the back matter page for each platform. Not a big deal. But it just becomes annoying when you have to do it all over again.
In addition, I had within the last month switched from Adobe InDesign to a new program called Affinity Publisher which is the new kid on the block people are raving about. I’m delving into it from a self-publisher’s perspective and will be giving a review soon. The reason I switched was that it’s a downloadable program and not a monthly subscription. It’s pricing is mad competitive, and I like the process of designing my own interiors for my paperbacks. Using the program is similar to InDesign so I didn’t need to do much to get myself up to speed as far as how to use it.
But I made a big boo-boo.
I wanted to have my books all be the same size and when I had received my proof copy, I noticed it was larger than the other book in the series. I wanted them all to be uniform so I set up everything in Affinity Publisher for the past size of the last book. The problem came when I found out that you cannot change the paperback dimensions once it has been published. I assumed this has something to do with it being attached to a specific ISBN. I found out I was right once I called Amazon. The good news about that is all I have to do is make another version of the book in the right dimensions. Nevertheless, that’s just more work that has to be done because of my silly mistake.
The good news in all of this is that I have about five hundred words or so before I’m finished with the first draft of Blackson’s Redemption. That, God willing, will be out in the next month or two.
All in all, it’s been a pretty rough week. Yet, it could be worse.
The plan for the next week is to put together a regular schedule for Facebook page posts. If you’re not a fan of my Facebook page, then I would recommend you go there and like the page. There are things I do there I don’t do anywhere else. It will be a more active place in terms of more personal things that tie to my writing.
I’ve also been getting a kick out of Pinterest. I enjoy that platform and though I’m not on it is much, when I get on there, I have fun.
I also am going to finish the last novel in the trilogy and will attempt to finish the audiobook for The Forest.
That’s the plan. We’ll see what happens.
Until next time, I’ll see you in the Tapestry!
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