The Waiting Game
3 years ago I completed my first novel, Harlow Whittaker & The Soothsayers. I have been writing since I was nine, but I was never able to actually complete a project, not until after graduate school and a 200 page Masters Thesis, did I have the skills needed to complete a large project, so then at 198 Open Office Pages, I had my first novel, but what did that mean? I had no idea what to do with it.
Flash forward 3 years and I am self-publishing it via Createspace and the hardest part is over (formatting). I've formatted not only the print edition of HW1 but also the ebook version and my book still isn't out there, accessible to the masses.
Why?
Well the cover isn't done, that's why. Cover art is by far one of thee most important aspects of your book, because duh everyone judges a book by its cover.
In an earlier post I bragged about having my cover completed, well that wasn't a lie necessarily, because at the time I believed that to be true, but then I changed the design of the cover, and then I found an artist that said they could draw it but then they got sick and then I found another artist, a Godsend really, because she saw my vision and raised it to something even better. And then that meant to wait for her to complete her work. And even though she is diligently working away and texting me pics of her progress, AND its only been ONE week, I can hardly take it! I so badly want my book, my first novel, my first completed project published. And that is why waiting is the absolute WORST. I now know why my 3 year old loses is mind when I ask him to "just wait." There is no "just" about waiting!
Also it's not like after she finishes drawing I'm off the hook, I will still have to scan and format the cover before I can publish, but at least that will be up to me, I will control the pace of that project, and maybe that's all it is; me wanting to be in control. I'm a control freak, surprise, surprise, if I wasn't would I have gone the self-publishing route?
Aren't we all as Indie Authors just in love the power we get over our own work? That we don't have to yield to the demands of Big Publishing?
So with that I say, have a good weekend, and God grant me patience and the ability to work with others :)
Flash forward 3 years and I am self-publishing it via Createspace and the hardest part is over (formatting). I've formatted not only the print edition of HW1 but also the ebook version and my book still isn't out there, accessible to the masses.
Why?
Well the cover isn't done, that's why. Cover art is by far one of thee most important aspects of your book, because duh everyone judges a book by its cover.
In an earlier post I bragged about having my cover completed, well that wasn't a lie necessarily, because at the time I believed that to be true, but then I changed the design of the cover, and then I found an artist that said they could draw it but then they got sick and then I found another artist, a Godsend really, because she saw my vision and raised it to something even better. And then that meant to wait for her to complete her work. And even though she is diligently working away and texting me pics of her progress, AND its only been ONE week, I can hardly take it! I so badly want my book, my first novel, my first completed project published. And that is why waiting is the absolute WORST. I now know why my 3 year old loses is mind when I ask him to "just wait." There is no "just" about waiting!
Also it's not like after she finishes drawing I'm off the hook, I will still have to scan and format the cover before I can publish, but at least that will be up to me, I will control the pace of that project, and maybe that's all it is; me wanting to be in control. I'm a control freak, surprise, surprise, if I wasn't would I have gone the self-publishing route?
Aren't we all as Indie Authors just in love the power we get over our own work? That we don't have to yield to the demands of Big Publishing?
So with that I say, have a good weekend, and God grant me patience and the ability to work with others :)
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