On June 21, 2009, I entered a process that would later turn into what we understand as self-publishing. From June 2009 to January 2010, the draft copies flew from my printer, ink cartridges are expensive was the first lesson learned. Perhaps the next work will be “How to kill trees while recycling ink cartridges.”
The next lesson I learned, your friends will all say “that is great” in order to avoid hurting your feelings. And when they say “I’ll be happy to help” they are just being friendly. These are true friends but not helpful if you want a serious review of your work. As frightening as it may sound, your work needs “unbiased” reviews and you will need to learn to grow very thick skin in that entire process, or hire the best therapist you can afford, since your feelings are going to be smashed, in the creative process. Writing is a lonely process that takes guts and hard work to accomplish. This is important but mentioned out of sequence. It (reviews) will be one of the last steps, not the first. You can have your work reviewed as you produce it but that can change the course of your work, if you are uncertain of it. This may not be a bad thing, especially if you are writing on controversial subject matter. Unless you do not care about making your work better, then you can release it in any state and hope it is golden when you hit the last period of the last page. (Tip: have an editor, or two review your work more than once, which is saying add this to your plan that means you need a plan, which is another tip)
The next step, I started calling the White House to inform the government, yes the President, I was writing a book that would change the future in the area of my expertise Mental Health and substance problems. I contacted the Oprah Book Club, so I could prepare for my début and started my mental list of television shows I would consider and which ones I would reject. Then on June 22nd 2009 (see start date), I started fighting with my wife. (tip: Illusions of grandeur are fun, but a work worthy of printing it will not produce, resist looking in expensive neighborhoods for your next new home, at least until you are published, consider that an act of humility and pat yourself on the back for resisting the urge to do so.)
My wife is an English major, with a master’s degree in English, and an English teacher, what could she possibly offer my text and surely she cannot grasp the full meaning behind each word. Every single change she suggested became a contest, my ego against her knowledge. Grammar has rules, how I learned to hate grammar rules. That was probably the third lesson learned in the process of writing a book. Authors hate to have their work reviewed. Since the person reviewing it, is not attached to it, any feedback other than “oh it’s marvelous” sounds much like calling your child ugly. So, this created the ink cartridge lesson and the “I hate changes to my work,” lesson, try to avoid the “I hate you” mentality, for even suggesting changes to my work, if your spouse is the one reviewing your work. This will produce the “what was the reason I started this project” feeling, which will come often. (Tip: trust grammar experts, unless small children are your audience that do not care, or cannot not read, even a book full of images requires editing)
What is the lesson? Writing a book is emotional. My books are “self-help” in the aftercare market of substance misuse or substance dependence. This also introduces another problem, the content, if the concept is new, poses the problem of finding someone to understand the subject matter. Where do you find subject matter experts to review your work? In the self-help arena, if it calls for medical research or empirical data, my facts had to be presented in a way that the medical or professional fields of science would accept the information, or it would be the kiss of death to my life’s work. The gamble of self-help, is will it help or harm? Lesson repeated, grow thicker skin.
Now, after months of fighting with my wife’s short sighted grammar rules, I go outside the family and hire an editor. This will accomplish two things, I get my work done and rub my wife’s nose in the “what she cannot possibly understand.” By this time we are not speaking, so who cares!
I pay a few thousand dollars to an editor I HAVE NEVER MET! Then, I take that edited work to my peers, a “group review” with my newly edited work and chest pumped out. Since I have a few people interested in the upcoming work I am going to release to the world, they will be a part of the book created for them. And they are ripping the grammar, “who wrote this?” or “What idiot wrote this sentence? My next book will be titled “How to pick better friends.” But the better title would be “How to find a better editor” (obviously I can’t find a better writer, but did consider a pen name to avoid being the complete idiot). Next lesson read this really fast and move on quickly please, “my English major wife was right.” (Tip: take the time to find an editor that is actually an editor and a grammar guru, or delay your book, go back to school, earn your degree in English or your mother tongue and start back writing in about eight years.)
Now I can go on for the next months retelling the horror story of all the mistakes I made.
One day, in the early days of January 2010, I was introduced to Claudia Jackson of NovelHelp.com and Telemachus Press. I had met a therapist that had his work published using Claudia’s company Telemachus Press. I called her, and immediately I was hooked, she saved me from more errors.
So, my next mistake, my books are not ready. In Claudia’s Check List, “is your book ready to submit?” Yes, in my mind it was done before I hit the first key, I was setting up meetings with the President and Oprah, or did you miss that part? Besides I have a few thousand dollars of spent ink cartridges to prove my hard work and a few thousand spent on an editor that enjoyed every dollar I sent, those chapters have all been deleted from my works.
Has it been reviewed? Again, what a silly question, did you not see I was getting ready to meet the President and Oprah? They will review it, and I spent a few thousand dollars on an editor I had never met. Meeting the editor is not really important, finding one that actually knows how to edit a text is. (Tip: have a resource that provides resources double hint, like Claudia at NovelHelp.com or Telemachus Press.)
Bottom line? I had no plan, other than to write a book that would save lives, an important work, but if it was not for the help I received from Claudia and her husband Steve, a published author himself, I was lost.
I continue to make mistakes, the one mistake I did not make, I have a self-publisher that I trust, and I have a resource that is honest and best of all, a pleasure to work with. Oh, and I have a plan, hindsight is truly 20/20 but you do not have to repeat any of my mistakes, you can join NovelHelp or you can contact Telemachus Press.
I will be published in November 2010, three books. Without the guidance and dedication from the team at NovelHelp, it would be as most books are, unpublished and simply a “good idea.” Next up, Marketing, since it appears the President is avoiding me, and Oprah has deserted me, I think I am going to the republicans. (Just kidding)
