Last year I published my first book, a children’s book series called Adelyn’s Amazing Adventures. I learned a lot while writing and afterward trying to market and push my book to the public. I also learned one of my biggest flaws is not one helpful to someone trying to self-publish a book. One of my biggest flaws is I try to do things on my own. Including a project as a big as publishing my first book. I did enlist editing help from one of my professor and my mom who is experienced in copyediting. I sent my book to Beta reader (friends I knew from social media). I tried marketing the book before I published it, but I didn’t do the best.
Needless to since publishing I haven’t sold many copies. I only sold it through Amazon, I didn’t take it to local book stores, etc. Selling a certain number of copies was never my goal. Hearing those who’ve read it and loved it has been my favorite part. That’s all I want for my first novel, but I also want to know I produced the best version possible and marketed it as best I could.
Sadly history repeated itself….
I began writing my novel and forgot the lesson I learned from the first time. I hadn’t finished the first draft before sending it off to publishers in the hope that one would see the potential in the story. As I continued to write and mold the story I realized the overall plot needed A LOT of work. I started out with a VERY VERY long prologue- which is not a good idea- and I ended up scrapping it entirely. As I look at the current version of the story (draft #3) I have to laugh. The beginning has changed entirely, the characters took on a different path than I originally imagined, and one character has become the basis for the second book in the series.
Yes- this is a series, because when I choose a project I go big. For better or worse. This time though I think it’s going to work well.
I’m learning to be patient with this novel. I’d loved to have published it already but every time I’ve tried I’ve known it’s not right. I’ve outsourced the editing and formatting after making initial edits and revisions. I outsourced a Beta reader to help me get an idea if the plot and characters were strong. The only part I’m not going to pay for is the cover design and I’m happy with that choice (for now).
All of this to say, I hope you stick around because I’m going be bringing updated information and progress on my upcoming debut novel A Royal Mind- The Legend of Ignis Book 1.
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Abigail Elizabeth Black 