One Step at a Time
My eldest brother sent me a text message earlier this year referencing the full load of activities he had on his plate:
"How do you eat an elephant? One humongous bite at a time."
There may have been an implied rimshot with that statement, but he made a solid point. Looking back at the message, it seems he was referring to a home renovation project in particular, but the same applies to writing and publishing a book. Unless you want to give yourself a mental breakdown, you have to break the project down into smaller parts. Identify what your finished product will look like, definitely, but don't try to tackle it all at once.
Here's what my process looks like:
Write the book (waste a lot of time not writing the book, abuse yourself terribly for slacking, then write some more).
Reread/tinker/edit the book.
Repeat.
Enlist the aid of alpha readers. Reread/tinker/edit the book.
Get a response from half of the alphas.
Reread/tinker/edit the book. Develop a cover design concept. Have cover design, editing services, interior design, and marketing writers ripped away from you just as you're getting ready to publish.
Have a meltdown.
Convince yourself that if other people can do everything themselves, so can you.
Luck into finding a cover designer/editor.
Wait for cover and editing. Review editing. Attempt to follow interior design guides from self-publishing platform. Break everything.
Fix everything.
Break more things. Fix everything. Cross fingers. Order Proof copy. Cancel order. Fix the things you missed but found wrong on the digital proof.
Complete proof order (again). Get the physical proof a few days later. Learn the hard way that RGB art does not print correctly on a CMYK printer no matter how cool it looks on screen. Break the news to the cover designer that we need a full conversion to CMYK. Wait for the conversion.
(*I am Here*) Upload the converted cover art. Order a physical proof. Pray (if that's your thing) Approve the proof (hopefully) Confirm the request to put the book live for print and sale. Disappear into a hermit cave somewhere in an undisclosed location, swear off of technology (and apparently pants for some reason), and change your name to Bumbledore with some sort of ironic, yet appropriate title like "the Great" or "the Wise."
Tell yourself you're never doing this again.
Remember that you have four more books in the series with options for shorts and spinoffs.
Remember that regular jobs make you miserable and potentially insane.
Say "F*** it all to heck" and prepare to work on the next project.
So, you see? Had I tried to do all of that all at once, I'd have had a nervous breakdown and burned myself out (again). But by taking each step of the process one at a time, I have successfully managed to get through... most... of this process.
Wolfkin: a Fairy's Tail will be releasing... soon... eventually... when it's ready... whenever that will be... *starts researching abandoned caves and wilderness survival tips*
