Just another brick

Writing a book is sometimes like a major construction project. Even when you think that the end is in sight, there is something else in the way; another freaking hurdle. With my first book, I was kind of just happy to say I completed it, I pretty much gave it away and really only my friends and family knew about the book.

Like many writers I felt that the book was just so damn good that people would find it; sure, I posted about it on twitter, but without retweets, that is about as useful as pissing into the ocean and expecting the global tides to change. I edited, but rather swiftly. I did some basic copy work and used my own picture along with the "bundled" cover creator on CreateSpace. I published it and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I asked a couple of people for reviews and got just two.

So I waited some more. Then I read somewhere that with just a single book on the market, no one really takes you seriously. So I began to write my second book. It was raw but I thought a good story lay within. Wanting something; anything; to post, I put each of the first two parts up as individual components of the larger story.

And waited.

With football season in full swing, my second job as sports writer (not so) extraordinaire and tailgate host to our members, much of the writing stopped. Not because I was in a block or anything, but there are only twenty-four hours in a freaking day. I was working about twenty and had no time left for the book. So I waited. The season ended and the rest of the process began in earnest. This time, though, i was not going to simply stand by and hope, I put in a little more legwork.

Now, two full edits, two copy edits two outside readers, an outside cover design, a book trailer, media requests and I am still working on trying to perfect this thing. It is not perfect. But there has been a lot more effort put into this and I think that is something that will make this one at lease feel better; I know that this was not just rushed through the process because I was excited to get the work out there. Tonight I did another edit. Tomorrow I hope to finish the last section of the book.

The cover design is in. Everything from the title page to acknowledgements page is done. I have an advance review. It is almost time. I even created an event, an open event, on Facebook and invited as many people as possible.

Will it make any difference? One thing I have learned is that I will not give this one away on the first day; maybe ever. There is a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money invested in this book. When is the last time you went to an art gallery and the painter said "you know what, I haven't sold anything yet, so I am just gonna give this to you?" Maybe if the artist is a kindergarten student and the gallery is his classroom, but I have worked too hard and too long to make this happen.

Just another brick in the wall today. The building is close to complete, but there are no tenants. Time to sell the bricks!