Yes, I’m still going through corrections. One thing I noticed as I go through the books as one entire file in MS Word…. My chapters are waaaaaaay too long. I have to give the reader a break, IMHO. Nobody has mentioned that. I put the question to my Managing Editor as to when I should try go break things up into smaller chunks and here advice was to handle that now! So now I’m breaking things up and trying to make sure that my breaks are logical.

When all was said and done, I went from 14 chapters to 24 chapters. Actually 16 Chapters to 26 chapters is we include the Prologue and Epilogue. The Prologue is actually quite lengthy and probably could have been better handled as three separate chapters, but the front story needs to be there, so it makes logical sense to leave it the way it is.

Now the I have that done, I actually need to start from the beginning and read to the end again. Gotta love the process. But I want to make sure what my readers get makes sense, so it is all necessary. Slow and Steady.

And now the meat of the process begins. My book has gone through professional proofreading. I now have to reconcile over 3,600 suggested changes and corrections. I glanced through real fast and the proofreader caught a couple of inconsistencies in my story that I missed. I also confused her in a couple of places because I was not clear on where things occurred and why (being vague on purpose–no spoilers). I reconciled the text and that took care of about 30 proofreader comments. But that still left over 3,600 to deal with. As I work full time during the day , this means there are going to be some busy evenings. One thing is certain, knowing the types of things that they are looking for, my next book will come back with far fewer issues.

I guess this is the moment that we’ve all been waiting for, so I best get to it. I am sure I will wind up adding some to the plot to make things understandable, but at this point, the manuscript has been completely proofread so any additions have to be done very carefully, unless I want to pay for another complete proofreading.

The gauntlet has been thrown and the challenge has been accepted! Tag! I’m “it.”

The final content review is DONE! Yaaaaaaay!

C.A.R.L. : CIA Agent In Real Life is ready to go to the proofreader and get shredded to pieces (just kidding, this is a necessary part of the process. Grateful to have a second set of eyes). It will be interesting to see what the proof reader finds and to see what insights that they have and send back to me. It may be a while before you see another post on that topic as it will take some time to get through everything with a fine tooth comb. Then we do do that “Tag” thing and I’m “it” again. I’ll probably be dreaming my plot soon.

The manuscript with updated content updates is now in review. I also sent the new epilogue content to my brother for a once over. I am happy with the way things are going so far. Won’t be long now before a thorough proofreading is done. I can only imagine how many corrections and tweaks there will be for me to review when we get to that stage. Its all part of the process of getting out a quality product.

Stay tuned!

We are rocking and rolling now!

I just got off of my first scheduled call with my content editor. I was happy to know that he really liked my writing. As far as gaps were concerned, he advised I go through the manuscript and add more description. Completely understandable. You know how authors get. Its in your head and you forget to put it down on the page so that everyone else can experience the same thing. After all it must make perfect and logical sense to the reader by now, right? Wrong!

For the most part the content editor said I had “really good writing chops.” 😀 Outstanding as far as comments go. He also had some suggestions for font choices for the computer that I have talking at certain points throughout the book. Nice creative touches. He also suggested that I add an epilogue and tie this book into a sequel! I originally thought of this book as a standalone, but I always have another story in me. The ball is back in my court now. Time for me to go through the manuscript again. I feel that I will be doing a lot of this going through the manuscript again. Its going to make it really easy for me to miss stuff because I know what it is supposed to say. But it is also an opportunity to make real corrections. I also have my brother (a recent author himself–I’ll have to do a separate blog post for his book) doing read throughs for me. Once I am done and have a final consultation with the content editor its off to proof reading.

Wow! Here I am in Hawaii for the very first time. The landscape is not the beautiful image that you often think of from the things that that we are exposed to. There is s a lot of volcanic residue and we were greeted by wild goats and wild turkeys. This is an island! How did they get here? Well that’s neither here nor there and has absolutely nothing to do with my publishing journey.

I got a message from the Art Director at Atmosphere Press today. He requested information to help with my book cover design. This included submitting covers of books that I likes and books that I thought I would want my cover to resemble in some aspect. NOTE: All work is original. They don’t do any copycat work. They also asked me for a synopsis of the book and a description of the main character. This will, I assume, help them to get into the feel of what my character should look like.

I did not expect to receive any of this while I was on vacation, but that’s why I bring that iPad with me everywhere I go. I immediately got to work to send them the things that they needed. If anything stops up the works, its not going to be me! Can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Full Steam Ahead! I got, virtually, introduced to my Managing Editor today. This ship is starting to make some headway. I’m just days away from going on vacation and I am very excited about the progress that is being made. I had to send another copy of the manuscript to day in MS Word format. I guess it will be easier for them to work with. I see that they have setup a folder structure for me in the cloud so that we can share files easily. I am patiently waiting for the results of my content review. This is NOT the proof reading stage, but it is the stage where I get constructive criticism of what needs work with the book to make it publish worthy–then we’ll get to the proofreading phase. I don’t know if you can tell from these brief posts, but this is getting very exciting.

Final edits on the first Release Candidate for C.A.R.L. are done!

I have been dealing with Atmosphere Press for a couple of weeks now. I really like this outfit I think it is going to work for me. I have signed a hybrid self-publishing contract with them. Their prices seem to be reasonable when I consider the most bang for my buck. With a typical publisher, they pay you and you are not out of pocket anything. Then they cover all costs and you don’t retain 100% right of your work–They do! If you get popular, you can still wind up making a pretty penny with them, but the process is longer and you have to accepted.

With Atmosphere, you select your package and then the pacing is really up to you. Most of all you retain 100% ownership of your work and they only take 10% off the top while the author retain 90% of profits. That ratio fluctuate based on the medium, but the author still gets the majority of the profit.

The virtual ink is drying and the contract has been signed. My first payment is in so that they can begin work immediately. I am excited about cover design! But first I need to get through a content review. I am getting ready to go on vacation and don’t expect to hear anything before I get back. Rest assured–This is happening!

Regardless of who I eventually choose to go with, I need to have a title ready to go. I have been writing since I was a teenager. Now here I am at the tender age of… well let’s just say I’m not a teenager anymore and I am ready to actually see my stuff in print. I have run into a lot of obstacles trying to get the print, the main one being financial. It was much more important to support my growing family than it was to realize my dream. I knew some it would come and now it is here.

While I had the added benefit (with 7 children) of growing my own fan base, I did not have the support I needed in all areas. Time have changed. Now, one of the books that was supposed to be part of a series, I have modified to be a self sufficient project. The first book that I am putting up for publication is C.A.R.L. : CIA Agent In Real Life. I am excited about beginning this journey. I’ll let you know when I sign a contract.

I’ve done a lot of research; I mean A LOT of research. Being that I am finally publishing for the very first time, I just want to make sure that I get it right. I narrowed the field from hundreds to my top 3 companies that I would like to handle my publishing journey. Of course I have considered such things as how much they offer in their total package and then the price of that package. It looks like I am going to try this venture with Atmosphere Press. I have an appointment today with one of the Acquisition Editors to see if my book will be a good fit for them. I’m praying that all goes well. Come back here for a status update.