So many people have asked me what the process was for writing and publishing a book. I believe the journey is different for every author. Mine was unique in that I wasn’t writing my novel for the purpose of publishing – I was writing as a means of virtual escape from my everyday reality. And when it was finished, I was amazed.
After a few of my friends read the initial story and said it was good, I tried shopping the raw version to literary agents specializing in African American fiction. I received rejection letters from each and every one. Looking back, those rejection letters were exactly what I needed to publish my book – the right way.
1. Just do it. Writing I mean. You can have a wonderful, fantastic concept in your mind, but if it never makes it to paper, computer, voice taping (or whatever format you choose to get it out of your head), it can never be published. So step one is to simply and bravely let it out and get it out.
2. Discuss the concepts. Not with just anyone and everyone. For me, my brother and two of my girlfriends who were also stay-at-home moms were great sounding boards. My brother is a very creative guy who was also writing short romance stories while I was writing Losing Control. It was great to toss around characters and story lines with him. And one of my stay-at-home mom friends was the one who told me not to reveal an important fact from the storyline until the end. She was absolutely right! It added to the page-turning denouement.
3. Put it away. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s true. A writer becomes close – maybe too close – to his/her characters and storyline. It’s hard to see what’s missing or what needs to be edited out when you’re married to the story. Putting your book away for awhile and forgetting about it allows your brain to see it with fresh eyes when you move to step #4.
4. Get Professional Copyediting. After I picked up my book after a couple of years, typos and missing words jumped off the pages at me. I spent the money to hire a professional copyeditor who went through each page with a fine tooth comb, looking for errors in grammar, punctuality, sentence structure and more. She made several recommendations on chapter revisions and book layout. I was patient while this process took place over the course of several weeks.
5. Rewrite it! When I read my novel for the first time after the copyedit, I was able to read it like someone who hadn’t seen it before. It was easy to delete whole chapters, remove unnecessary characters, further develop the main characters, and expand on underlying themes.I edited down the repetitive descriptors and stuck to what was interesting and imperative in the storyline. In the end, I probably rewrote Losing Control about five times or more. But it was worth it – my novel looks, feels and reads like a book published by a publishing house. That should be the goal of every self-publishing author.
