So You Want to Publish A Book – Island of Lost Forevers Blog Tour

The day has finally arrived! Island of Lost Forevers is now a physical book; you can hold it in your hand or put it on your favorite bookshelf. I’m thrilled beyond words to share it with you. There were a few times I thought it would never happen! (Be sure to enter the giveaway located at the bottom of this post ;)

Writers talk a lot about the journey. Our destination is often so far away that if you focus on the end, you’ll get lost among the trees. And the journey to this day has been four years long (more if you count a couple of discarded early drafts). Before I hit the road to share the news with all my fabulous hosts, I’d like to share a piece of this book’s journey, and what I learned along the way.

We all think writing the book is the hardest part.
People in the book industry talk endlessly about the small percentage of people with the staying power to actually finish a novel. And it’s true; reaching the end takes a level of dedication that lots of people never manage to summon. Unfortunately, finishing the book doesn’t mean that the hard work ends. We don’t get to breathe a sigh of relief and let our work float out into the world for all to behold (unless maybe you’re Neil Gaiman).

Publishing is a full-time job, especially if you decide to self-publish. That means learning a craft that’s opposite of writing in almost every way. For one, it involves a lot of interacting with others (as opposed to locking yourself in your favorite writing retreat). It involves talking about yourself (outside the comfort zone for most writers). And math. It involves a lot of math.

In fact, staring down the face of marketing can feel as terribly daunting as starting with chapter one of the first draft of your first novel. But it’s okay! Because if you can figure out how to write a novel (and especially if you can do it more than once), you can probably figure out how to sell that novel too.

You meet people who are willing to help you.
One of the most astonishing things about life is that we tend to meet the people who can help us at exactly the right moment. Often we stumble through the dark, feeling lost and alone for awhile before we meet those people; but if we met them too soon we might not be ready for the lessons they can teach us. Deep philosophical discussions aside, the Indie community is one of the most open and helpful communities I’ve ever been a part of. Lots of indies devote time, energy and effort to helping others learn their craft and get their foot in the door by running competitions, offering to critique writing and query letters, and sharing the knowledge they have gained through trial and error.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the best way to get lucky is usually to look for opportunities. If you’re keeping your eyes and ears out for things you can do to learn and grow, chances are the universe is going to toss the information at you sooner or later. So it was when I finally decided to put Island of Lost Forevers in print. Readers and friends had been gently nudging me, asking me when they might be able to buy a physical copy of the book. Then suddenly I met someone who could help me make the book a reality. And not only did they offer to share their knowledge – they offered to help!

When you meet someone with the wisdom you need to move forward, don’t get scared. Every step of the process feels daunting, but you should definitely take the opportunity to move forward. It’s way easier if you have someone to guide you around the twists and turns.

Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong
It’s one of the universe’s laws. You decide to take the leap, do something that terrifies you, and the hurdles pop out of the snow like daisies. The publication of Island of Lost Forevers was plagued with things I thought would be impossible to overcome. For example, Create Space still doesn’t allow Canadians to use their direct deposit function (because apparently we live in a fictional land with mythical banks). But after some frantic phone calls, I eventually learned that my bank has branches in the US – who knew – and that I can easily get myself a US bank account that Create Space will accept.

Of course it helped that I had support throughout the process, friends and fellow indies to remind me that the world probably wasn’t going to end in fire if I just kept focusing on the end goal. And it turned out they were right! In the end, despite all the obstacles and more than a few sleepless nights, everything came together. The book got finished, the back-end bugs were worked out and I walked forward with a lot more confidence than when I started.

If there’s one key take-away from all this it’s that you should give your dreams a try no matter how terrifying they may seem. Because even if the worst happens, you can probably figure out how to fix it.

Special thanks to everyone who helped make this book a reality. Without the kick in the pants, I might never have taken the final plunge!

But wait, there’s more!
I’m going on tour for the next two weeks to spread the word about the Island of Lost Forevers release. Check out the schedule below and please visit all my fantastic hosts:

Tuesday July 18th I’ll be hosted by Pippa Jay, author of the Redemption series
Wednesday July 19th I’ll be hosted by Beth Alvarez, author of the After Undeath series
Thursday July 20th I’ll be hosted by TJ Green, author of Tom’s Inheritance
Friday July 21st I’ll be hosted by Laura Kehoe (the Book Unicorn), author of Royal Thief

Monday, July 24th I’ll be hosted by Zachary Chopchinski, author of The Curious Tale of Gabrielle
Tuesday July 25th I’ll be hosted by Eben Mishkin, author of The Hidden and the Maiden
Wednesday July 26th, I’ll be hosted by Jo Van Leerdam, poet and author of Nova
Thursday July 27th I’ll be hosted by Rachael de Vienne, author of Pixie Warrior
Friday July 28th I’ll be hosted by Jessica Lucci, poet and author of Justice for the Lemon Trees (coming later this year!)

Last but not least, enter below for your chance to win a signed copy of the paperback!
(Unfortunately, James and I live too far apart for us both to sign the book, so it will only be signed by me, but it will still be awesome, I promise!)

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