I take my time with serious decisions. I need to mull things over for a while, to make them real. And now, here I am, having chosen the path of most resistance: I’m going to put all my effort into self-publishing this first novel.

The manuscript has since been handed off to a professional line/copy editor, and I started inquiring for an interior formatter. I’ve also ordered chapter art for all thirty-three chapters, and most importantly, I’ve selected my cover artist.

Choosing the cover art took me a long time, too. The advice you’ll find on the internet is to check out comparative titles from other authors that do very well (just below top tier), and go for a cover that resembles them in style. I just didn’t like most of them much. Woe the stubborn side of me? To tell you the truth, it has always served me rather well. Once I know what I want, I make sure to acquire it, and it will usually turn out to be the right choice.

I dabbled in making my own cover first, not necessarily going for quality, but for the composition. Alas, nothing stood out, and that nagging feeling of not quite liking anything remained. The click only came a short while ago, and suddenly every element of what I came up with made perfect sense. If everything goes smoothly from here, I could have a finished and ready-to-launch book sooner than I anticipated.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to publish right there and then. Writing the three books was hard, but this behind-the-scenes work is somehow harder still, and I had to cut it up into manageable pieces. (1) create the book, (2) establish an online presence, (3) form a marketing plan, (4) publish the book, and (5) promote it.

Needless to say, the second is my least favourite by far. If you’ve read my first blog post, you’ll probably understand why.