Last week, I pubbed my “to do” list for my book. At the time, it was doable. However, upon careful study of my calendar, I find tasks not so easily done.
For instance, cover art is still not HERE. Nephew Kevin has it done but needs to remember to send it to me. Yoo hoo, Kevie!
The formatting should be done by the end of the month. Given the upcoming rainy weather and my hubby being gone for the weekend, I hope to finish that up.
I’m narrowing down the new name to BY FORCE OR FEAR or CREDIBLE THREAT (-in that order of preference).
If the above were accomplished on time, I’d still have a problem. I need blurbs-you know, blurbs about the book, what readers think of the book, something to entice potential readers to order it. That means I have to contact those beta readers and ask them to send me a two or three sentence blurb (just like on the back of a paperback) about what they liked most. I have a friend who has published a book several months ago who asked me for a blurb about his book. It is now on the inside cover of OFF THE STREET by Det. Christopher Baughman.
Then, there is marketing. My nemesis-publicity. I’m normally a “fly below the radar” kinda girl. Doing all this social media, blogging and website stuff is what an “author platform” is made of. Publishers and agents are looking for an author who has a built-in audience, ie blog readers. So last year, I started using my Facebook entries to keep friends and family posted on my writerly escapades. I can Twitter when needed. You can see the progress of my blog-when I signed up two years ago to do this, I wrote sporadic entries at best. I’ve come to my senses, have a goal and am now blogging weekly…every Sunday or Monday.
Additionally for publicity, I will be ordering postcards and book marks with Kevin’s cover art — as soon as I get it — to send to clubs, organizations, churches and POA’s that I have been associated with. I will also schedule an appearance at the Redwood Writers Author Launch day on July 8th.
The upshot of all this is that May 1st won’t work for all this to happen as the entire week before, I’ll be on a family vacation in the Eastern Sierras (scheduled last year). While much of this could be done remotely, I should still be at home to facilitate this.
So the new epub date will be first week of June. Stay tuned for a more precise date!