Reedsy.com is a great place for writers, especially for a new author, because there are articles and short courses covering the whole process from ideas and writing to publishing and marketing. I came to really appreciate its marketplace where authors could safely connect with professional services without worry about scammers. The one stop writing resource detailing the entire process was a great help. (I did use other resources and will talk about them later.)
However, seeing the whole huge process is where I became overwhelmed. There was so much to consider, so many possibilities, so much more work than just writing, I wasn’t sure what to do. I realized I couldn’t do everything because that would be a fulltime job!
The relatively easy part was professionalizing the book. As mentioned in my previous post, that’s where I found a really great proofreader who was experienced in my writing genre. I also connected with a cover design artist on Reedsy and after sharing ideas, she produced a nice cover. True professionals are not cheap. Both the ones I used had done work for some big names in the Christian book industry and they made Seeking the Lord look like a professionally done book.
But what about the overwhelming process? I found hope after coming across a book launch checklist. I’m a list guy, so seeing things laid out and having a process on paper helps me know that it can be done. The checklist was big and intimidating but I realized not everything had to be at once. That was the key, taking it one step at a time (and occasionally doing two things in parallel).
I’ve shown 9 major parts of the author journey process in the picture above. There are other parts one could add, but each of these has multiple steps and pieces within. For example, you saw in my previous post that part of my writing process was drafting, typing, reading, and reading, before starting the editing/proofing process by getting a friend to read my text.
The most challenging parts for me were marketing and advertising. The marketing block represents a huge plan and process that we’ll look at in a future post. In the meantime, let me know if you have thoughts or questions about what you’ve seen from my experience so far.