Remember This

I think I started writing lists and making sure I jotted every appointment down around the time I had my third child. Our family schedules looked like a spreadsheet by then. And how over twenty years later, I need those list and notes to myself. Today I'm going to share some of these with you.

*Dianna Gunn, promotions specialist with the now closed Musa Publishing, is our guest on the IWSG blog. She's talking about how working with a publisher has helped her own writing career. I know she's given me some good suggestions and insights into marketing.

*My post on Monday about blog housekeeping before the A to Z starts received lots of comments and some really great suggestions that I have to share in case you missed them. First off, my fellow A to Z co-host, John Holton, liked my suggestion about making sure any links in your post open in a new tab and don't carry people off of your blog. John is a clever guy and has constructed his posts so they appear on his Wordpress and Blogger sites at the same time. So John put together a 'how-to' post to make sure your links do as I suggested. And he gives concise instructions for both types of blogs. Visit his post if you don't know how to do this already.

*Maria Zannini, one of my blog time blogger friends, commented how she sometimes find interesting bloggers by what they say in the comments. That is so spot on. When you see someone leaving thoughtful and insightful remarks about a post, you just might want to check out that person's blog. Thanks, Maria, for that helpful idea.

Maria's post on Monday was about having friends. It really spoke to me. Since I've become a full time writer, I go days and days where I only leave the house to exercise (or shovel snow). I speak to no one except my husband and whichever of my children are around. And I don't even notice that I've been so isolated and I never feel lonely. Good or bad? I'm going to try and get out more, meet friends for lunch now and then if for no other reason than to wear some of those clothes hanging in my closet.

Don't forget if you're about tomorrow, there's a Twitter chat going on for the A to Z Challenge. Use the hash tags, #azchat or #atozchallenge. We'll meet on Twitter at 1 to 2 pm and again 8-9 pm EDST.

Do you keep lists or scribble notes to yourself? Have you found interesting bloggers through comments? Ever feel lonely when you haven't left the house for a while? What's the longest you ever spent without leaving your home? Did John's post help you?

Timeline: From Idea to Publication

With great pleasure I introduce guest, Maria Zannini, as she blogs about how long it takes to bring a book to market.  You can join her on her roadshow as she celebrates her new release, The Devil to Pay.
Timeline: From Idea to Publication

How long does it take to get from idea to publication when we’re talking Indie? You might as
well ask how long is a piece of string.

I won’t swear on a stack of bibles because honestly, I didn’t time myself. But I have a fair idea of
how many months, weeks, days, hours it took me to get from idea to publication for a novella.
The idea

I’ll have to take a gimme on this one. The Devil To Pay was already a done deal. I had even
written a draft, and then rewrote it so I could submit it to an anthology. First draft: 3 weeks
Note: At the time I wrote this, I had no intention of self-publishing.

The writing/editing

Once I decided it was going to be self-published I had to give it a hard look and determine if it
was any good. Usually, the editor or agent tells you this. But since I didn’t turn it in anywhere,
the ultimate decision was mine. Was it crap or could it do a little devil dance for me?
I polished it again after my critique partners returned it to me. Then I sent it to an editor. All in
all it took about 10 days before I got back all my feedback.

After that it was time to polish. Again. Add another ten days.

Total: 20 days to write and rewrite a novella that had grown from 23K to 29.5K.

While I was waiting for feedback, I started searching for cover art. I was an artist in my last life
and I pulled out all the stops. This was no longer about my story, but my cover as well. I didn’t
want my fellow artists to point and laugh at me.

The cover art

Since I started searching for art simultaneously while waiting for feedback, I’ll deduct the
overlap. For those of you keeping score at home though, I spent approximately twelve days to
find and finesse the final art you see.
Six days to pull all the art cuts I liked. Two days to try out various layouts and models. One day to find fonts.

Three days to ‘fix’ the model I eventually chose. The poor girl needed hair, cropping, scars
removed, hair accessories removed, skin smoothed, the background removed, and shadows
created. She had a real makeover. :sigh: If only I could do that for myself.
Note: Except for searching for art, most of those days were 2-4 hours per day. Only the initial
art search took 6-8 hours per day. I looked through three databases, finally choosing one and
began the arduous task of seeing what they had to offer.

Total time not counting the days I used while waiting for feedback: Two days

Total time overlapped with editing: 12 days

Formatting

Let me state right now. I hate formatting. It’s tedious, mind numbing work. It felt like it took
months. In truth, it only took a couple of hours from start to finish.

Total Time for each format, Smashwords and Kindle: Four hours

Total (perceived) Time it sucked the life out of Maria: at least three years.

Add everything up all together and from idea to published novella it comes to 43 Days and 4
Hours.
I am hoping now that I have a better grasp of what kind of stock art is available, the cover will
go faster next time. But there’s nothing I can do about the life-sucking hours of formatting. If
you’re going to do it yourself, you’re going to have to donate your brain cells to the underverse.
So what do you think? Did my timeline give you any surprises? How long do you think it would
take you?
***

I hope you’ll follow along with the rest of the Indie Roadshow as I share the things I learned on
my road to self-publishing.

The Devil To Pay is available at Amazon and Smashwords for only $2.99. It is the first book of
the series, Second Chances.

Synopsis: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and bad tequila. Shannon McKee finds
herself at the end of her rope, and she bargains her soul in a fit of despair.

Shannon’s plea is answered immediately by two men who couldn’t be more different from one
another. Yet they share a bond and an affection for the stubborn Miss McKee that even they
don’t understand.

When Heaven and Hell demand their payment, Shannon has no choice but to submit. No
matter who gets her soul, she’s not getting out of this alive.

Bio: Maria Zannini used to save the world from bad advertising, but now she spends her
time wrangling chickens, and fighting for a piece of the bed against dogs of epic proportions.
Occasionally, she writes novels.

Follow me on Facebook or my blog.

Thank you for visiting Maria.  Good luck with your release.

How Do I Get There?

More and more authors are investigating the self-publishing route.  I only know a few bare bones about it, but tomorrow I'll have a guest who really knows what she's doing.  Maria Zannini will be my guest expert tomorrow.  I hope you'll visit while she shares a timeline from idea to publication.  How long does it take to do all the preparation and then get that book up on Amazon?  Maria will tell us. You'll also get a look on the book she worked so hard to produce, The Devil to Pay.

Have you self-published? How long did it take you?