Ready to Publish-- Which Steps to Take?

It's the most exciting time for a writer when she/he gets ready to publish a book. Given that most of us  belong to the self-pub'd variety, the fun and glory besides the work is loaded on our own shoulders.
How many years do we spend on writing it on average? How many years do we go through numerous if not countless revisions? Whether you are a fast writer and keep writing to get the story out of your mind onto paper (computer) or whether you belong to the meticulous type, like me, who corrects every sentence as soon as you see it written down: n'importe quoi! It always seems to take forever until we can launch our baby into the big old world.Ask a big, traditional author how long it took him! Also years, sometimes. Unless you are so well established that their publisher makes them write a book a year.
And a launch is not merely a publication date anymore. While having the book revised and formatted so that it is ready for print, some of us play around with title covers, asking fellow writers and beta readers which cover image they prefer, which font, which sub-title etc. After all, we want to get it just right. At least for our own critical eye if not ideally for all the potential readers. So hours are spent scouting through the allegedly free websites that advertise free pictures ...and always get their hands in your purse and charge. Find a talented cover designer who puts your ideas into print. And I must say, I'm very happy with mine, Tayyaba Bano. Not just creative but also reliable and affordable!
With a little tweaking here and there you soon make it to the launch pad and announce the title cover reveal with much aplomb, send press releases out and maybe organize a launch party; a virtual fest on Facebook. Lucky you if you have a publisher of your choice. For first timers calculate in some days of comparing self-publishing houses to each other. I have my experience with 2 of the big names and could now decide quickly which one to go for. The publisher of my choice at least gives you the illusion that he can get you into bookstore by nature of being on the Ingram distribution list. But buyer beware-- it doesn't often happen, definitely not automatically. So another difficult choice has to be made: Do I spend the extra $60 for my high hopes of making it this time for my paperback version?
First title around I learned how to buy a cheap ISBN and how to register it. Formatting an e-Book is child's play.Well, Amazon converts your manuscript almost automatically. Uploading is simple and it will go live within 24 hours. The learning curve for me this time round is figuring out how to offer the option of pre-publication orders. I wish...!
Still waiting for endorsements and reviews here which should go on the back cover or inside. I guess that could be added later.
Since there is practically no holiday between now that St. Patrick's Day is over and Bloomsday (16 June), I could really go public any day. (Bank holidays don't count!) Who knows about Mr. Blooms Day anyway? Nobody I know ever really read Ulysses. And what has that got to do with an organic Irish farm and its farming life anyway?
So without further ado I now give you my latest baby.

I ONCE HAD A FARM IN IRELAND: LIVING THE ORGANIC LIFESTYLE

If you'd like to review it, contact me and I'll send you a free copy!
Siggy Buckley, the Ex Farmer's Wife
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I just noticed I forgot to mention the media kit.I'd be grateful if some other authors could enlighten us on that!

Start the Ball Rolling

by Anu Lal                            

Image Courtesy: Google

Today, I have a special article for you. This article is special because it touches one of my favorite subjects—writing. I am trying here to suggest three strategies that can help writers find their rhythm in their craft, after a severe writers’ block. The mantra of course, is starting the ball rolling. And keep it rolling too. I hope you would enjoy this “post-writers’ block strategies.”  

To hope for success, one must first start the journey. Starting trouble is fear in its vigorous imposition. Often writers succumb themselves to the fear to start a new story. This often happens immediately after writing a story or a book, as a post-publishing syndrome, mostly. The next work would always be decisive. It would chalk out the identity of the writer. These thoughts crowd the writer’s mind and more often than not, every writer feels insecure to begin something new, after one successful work.

This is not exactly the fear of losing or the lack of competence. On the other hand, starting woes are essentially associated with the insecurity in looking failure in the eye. This is in effect, a ‘what if?’. It would tear off their shields of confidence. What if I could not produce the quality, they suppose me to be a master of? This question breeds insecurity, but it should not be misunderstood with the occasional bout of inner stress known by the notorious name, writer’s block.

Efficient planning and effective strategies can help writers start the ball rolling again. Three key points are given below;

Editing any previously written manuscript

Go to you file folders or notebooks and find any manuscript you worked with some time before. The next is the process of preparation. Pick up a publisher’s address or a magazine’s website and prepare your manuscript according to their guidelines for publishing. Re-read, edit and proofread your manuscript. By the end of this process, you will be able to clear your thoughts on unnecessary concerns. This method works through a process called ‘channeling’. As a writer, you are channeling all your attention and energies on the craft, while editing and proofing your unpublished manuscript. Through channeling, individual would be able to fix one’s attention and eliminate other concerns.   

Compulsive writing on random ideas

This is a traditional method and like all traditional methods, based on ritualistic practices. Through compulsive writing on random ideas, a writer is partaking in an initiation process. The ritual and the practitioner are equally important in this method. The writer, starting on a random word should keep on writing whatever comes to his mind, with or without a prior planning. This method works better when the writer attempts to follow the stream of randomly generated words.   

Extensive reading

Although, no ‘writing’ is present in the sub-heading, this is a very useful method with an undeniable impact. This always worked for me and for many of my friends too. Extensive reading, here, suggests not just a long period of research, or even reading for research. It suggests a focused attempt to spend as much time as possible with the book you read, currently. The principle that is under work in this method can be called invocation. The writer invokes the elements of craft that lay in dormant stage in one, through a voluntary attempt to peruse without stop for a long time. In my case, it goes on to four or five hours.   
   
The one idea I would like you focus, the one idea that can help you beyond anything else, is hope. However, hope is inevitably related to action. Without starting a project, we have no right to hope for its success. 
 

Bio: Anu Lal is the first Indian author to write a trilogy of short story collections in English. 'Hope, Vengeance and History' trilogy is an interconnected neuron of short stories. The first book in this trilogy is Wall of Colours and Other Stories. He is also a columnist in an American journal and a translator.

blog: http://anu-lal.blogspot.in/; 
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