A Self-Publishing Timeline and Book Update!
What a busy week it has been! I had initially planned to post about my experience of signing my book up for ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) sites, but a snag with EPUB formatting led me to change course. So, I thought I’d share the timeline of my self-publishing journey so far instead!
My Self-Publishing Journey Timeline
In my early days of researching self-publishing, I scoured the internet in search of a roadmap from completing a book to its launch date. I never found one with actual dates, so I hope this timeline proves beneficial to someone else starting their journey.
The summary below is based on an extensive "Self-Publishing Project Plan" spreadsheet I've created to track my self-publishing tasks—currently boasting a whopping 143 rows of tasks! After THE END OF THE WORLD’s launch, I plan to share this invaluable tool with my subscribers. It has been my guiding star through this sometimes convoluted and stressful process.
What Am I Working On This Week?
Speaking of tasks, let's dive into what I've been tackling this week:
ARC Site Submissions: My primary focus was submitting my book to ARC sites, but I hit a bump in the road when I wasn't satisfied with the quality of my EPUB on Kobo devices. I had to pause and collaborate with Atticus (my trusty formatting software) support to resolve this issue. The good news is that their developers rolled out a fix yesterday, although I have yet to test it. Hint: Signing up for ARC sites was more work than I expected; stay tuned for details in next week's post.
Virtual Book Blog Tour: My second focus has been securing a spot on a Virtual Book Blog Tour through Rockstar Book Tours. This agency not only promotes my ARC to online bloggers and reviewers but also provides additional promotional services. I'm hopeful that this effort will generate some buzz.
Art: This week, I'm torn between creating character artwork for Sixty-Two (another Technocrat) or a generic war mod to round out my collection of mods (I've already tackled tech mods and overseer mods). Additionally, I'm working on art for advertising purposes that combines the cover art from GS Studio with some AI generated background own creations (see below for a WIP).
Book 2 Good Draft and Cover Ideas: Finally, I'm steadily working on the first draft of Book 2 while also brainstorming cover ideas.
Conclusion
As you can see, my self-publishing journey is a constant hustle and bustle, but I do it all for the love of my book and the joy of writing. I'd love to hear about your experiences and thoughts in the comments—let's navigate this self-publishing maze together!
This is amazing to read about and see through the lens of a spreadsheet formatted document. Congratulations on all the work invested, and for what will be delivered to the public!
Best of luck on your journey. I self-published two literary novels five years ago and had little luck. I do hope you fare much better!