Yes, I know, I could upload a copy of Saimon’s Gift to Amazon tonight and become a self-published author almost immediately. But I want to do this with at least a little bit of class and style. That means copy-editing, finding a cover artist, and tweaking the manuscript to make the story as good as… well, maybe not as good as possible, but certainly as good as I can make it. That will take time, and more beta reading. There are also the small matters of writing a blurb for my author’s page, a dedication page for the story, buying ISBN numbers, and on and on. It can be a bit intimidating. But no piece by itself is particularly challenging, and I’m confident that once I establish a road map, the second, and third, and (so) forth will come relatively easy.

The first cover artist I found had a promising portfolio, but the combination of a seven time zone gap and a language barrier made it difficult to get anything accomplished. Probably I could have made it work, with enough effort, but I’d rather spend that effort elsewhere. I’ve identified one closer to home who is more expensive, but has other powers and abilities that I think will make it worthwhile.

ISBNs are another issue – I can’t quite bring myself to pay the absurd small quantity price, but I can’t quite bring myself to spring for the total cost of a large block of numbers either. Hopefully I can find others interested in sharing the burden,. so we can form an impromptu publishing company, and share a block.

Etc.

Yes, lots of trivia. In a way, it’s kind of like manufacturing a high-tech product. The design is one thing. But then there’s manufacturing, distribution, packaging, materials, inspection, and on and on. I’m slowly getting to understand what Mr. Howey meant when he said that those who treat self-publishing as a business are succeeding at it.

Silly me. I thought the hard part was going to be the actual writing.