Sort of. Quick note about the Kindle version giveaway currently wrapping up. Over the past few months Amazon redid the giveaway program. The sweepstakes type of giveaway I’ve run in the past (where you spend one week gathering entries and then randomly draw winner names) was discontinued. Only two types remained and the recommended option was to award a winner every so many entries. They offered three options (every 100 entries, every 200 entries or every 300 entries). Amazon claimed this would generate three to four times more traffic for promotions.
I was dubious about that claim, but went for it. In July, I ran a one week giveaway that had a little over 2000 entries. I wanted this giveaway to last a week, so I opted for one winner every 200 entries. This would have worked well, except traffic and interest wasn’t the same as July. After one week the giveaway ended and only two kindle versions were given away. There are no refunds, so I’m left with 8 more copies to give away. This time I’m going to try their second option which is just “instant winner”. The first 8 people to enter will automatically win. While I normally try to advertise these giveaways in order to gather more interest in my site, I’m going to instead reward those who follow by only posting the giveaway link on my facebook page. I will not make this public on Amazon like they recommend. I’ve seen how that works (or doesn’t).
If this works, I intend to follow this model going forward. A week before the giveaway I will create and promote a post announcing the giveaway. I’m only going to do this for two days tell people to follow my page if they want to know when the link goes live. The day before the link goes live I will announce a time. On the day of the giveaway I will post the link and let’s see how long it takes. If I end up spending less on promotion, then I will likely increase the number of copies given away. Seriously, I want to reward the people who support me. Writing this story is a passion. It’s not about making money (and believe me, I’m not).
Now for the exciting stuff. The first draft of Whisper in the Universe is done! So, what does that mean? That means the entire story is written. My writing process usually works like this. I think of a major story arc that could encompass a trilogy of books. I subdivide it into three major arcs, each of which can encompass a book. I decide upon where I want the story to start and where I want each major arc to end. I decide upon the main protagonists and antagonists and what I want to tell about their story. I outline the first few chapters and the final chapter and then I start writing.
As the book progresses I’m constantly going back to make sure my transitions make sense and that I haven’t committed any glaring continuity errors. I periodically stop to outline a few more chapters and in this manner I slog my way through the book. When I say I’ve finished the first draft, it means that from a detailed perspective, every sentence, every paragraph, every page and every section has been read and reread at least three or four times. If I notice any obvious spelling or grammar errors, I will fix them as I find them.
What happens next? Now I’ll reread the entire book and make sure it flows from beginning to end as well as possible. I’m also looking for any larger or long term continuity errors. And, as always, I’m correcting spelling or grammar. This is the second draft. Since Word will not run auto spell or grammar check on a document this size, my third pass is to run that manually and go back through the book reviewing, and if necessary fixing, anything highlighted by Word. That's about as much of an independent edit as I get. That’s the third draft. I’ll do one final read through of the book and if nothing stands out as awkward or clunky, that will be the final version. I then reach out to Lulu to publish. After they put everything in book format, I will get one final review. That is only for the stupidest of errors that I missed as they only allow me 50 corrections for free and will charge me for any corrections above and beyond that. So, at this point, the story is what it is. I’m past that level of correction. And then finally, the book is published.
The only book that went through more revisions was The Fourth Age. The reason for that is that I originally started documenting this story in past tense. When I decided to make it a book for others to read, I wanted it to be more present tense and more active voice. That required a major rewrite and led to some very poorly worded paragraphs with mixed tense. But on the ninth pass through the book I realized my corrections were starting to sound worse than where I started. So I stopped. I still cringe once in a while reading my earlier books when I find things I should have corrected, but I really don’t find that many and hopefully they don’t detract from enjoying the story.
There you have it. That’s my process. I expect to finish my few passes through the book pretty quickly. My goal is to reach out to Lulu prior to year end and start the publishing process. I’ve worked with them now on nine books, so I know about how long it takes. But it also varies based on how much other work they have going on. Thus, Whisper in the Universe, could be published by end of January or as late as March. The good news is that it is done and will be published. As always, enjoy!