Yeah, I wrote a book. An actual book on paper, and when I got a box of them in the mail yesterday, took them out and examined them, noticed the thickness, the feel of the paper, the gleam of light on the cover and the type on the pages, I finally felt like an author. That may sound trivial to some people,. But not to anybody who has actually written a book.
Whether or not I actually sell more than one copy remains to be seen. I made it to this threshold. But its only the first step.
WHAT? THE FIRST STEP? ARE YOU INSANE?!?
Learning how to get anybody to actually buy a copy, and read it, and react to it with a review — this part of the process of being an “author” is what’s next. It’s proving to be much more of a challenge than the first hurdle of writing.
The reason is that I have no control over any of the people that I need to actually do something — buy, read, and comment. To write the book, I only had to motivate myself.
If anybody has a clue as to how this part is done, I’m open to suggestions.
In the meantime, I’m just sending out query letters to agents every day, and writing. Always writing.
My next project is the screenplay adaptation for the novel. Its turning out to be just as challenging as the book. And quite different! I’m liking it so much that I may go back to being a novelist after it is done, and write a sequel. Or do a rewrite. Of the rewrite.