Progress Report 10: Formatting

I've been formatting all week. Unfortunately, the ebooks gave me some trouble--they ate a fair bit of my formatting. I had to go through the entire book again and identify all of the italics and so forth. I'd used italics/bold for some thought-speech in the book originally, but I may opt to have the epub and mobi versions have brackets to indicate that, rather than go through reformatting them all. I haven't yet decided. If you have an opinion one way or the other, please feel free to let me know!

Aside from that, I've basically completed all of the relevant formatting. There are still two pictures left to include (possibly three, if I can decide on the best placement for it) and the review left to add on the back, but everything else is in order.

In fact, I submitted the file to the printer; if it's cleared, then I'll be able to order the first draft copy! Of course, I'll need to order a second one later, regardless, but I'd like to know now if the pictures aren't showing at the proper resolution, etc. Also, I'd like to see whether the colors of the cover show up nicely in print--that kind of thing.

I budgeted enough time for three draft copies, just in case. Hopefully I'll only need two. I sent the ebook drafts to some friends with e-readers; with luck, they'll look just fine. If they do, I may even release the ebooks ahead of the paperbacks. To backers, at least. Wouldn't that be exciting? I'd just have to wait on the last two pictures.


What remains (in approximate chronological order):

• Sending the review backer the advance copy.
• Contacting the audiobook company with the final draft to begin negotiations.
• Including the review backer's review on the back cover.
• The last two pictures for the novel. (After I receive them, I'll format them and finish the final pdf.)
• Ordering a draft print of the paperback.
• Formatting the mobi and epub versions of the ebooks.
• Sending the ebooks to backers. (For this, I'll probably need to arrange a proper downloading method.)
• Sending out surveys to inquire about short stories and other rewards.
• Releasing the books to the general public.
• Filling other rewards.

I have everything set up to easily incorporate the remaining pictures, so that shouldn't hinder the final formatting. From the emails I've received, I'm probably going to get the final pictures within the next week or two.

I've also been working on the paperback packages, but I haven't received payment from 80% of the people who requested them, so I'm currently holding off on making most of the remaining bonuses. (Some of the bonuses are actually quite complicated, so I don't want to make them if no one will be able to enjoy them.)

Basically, the proverbial ball is out of my court for the moment. I've made a lot of progress this week, though! I honestly can't wait to get these ebooks out to backers--I keep having to convince myself that I can't send them out with unfinished artwork, haha. I'm going to look into direct downloading options; I'd like to use something a bit nicer than MediaFire when the time comes.

Anyway, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I'm always happy to listen.

Progress Report 9: Final Draft

I'm sorry that I've been away for more than a week. I've been up to my ears in editing and formatting. However, as the progress bar indicates, I've gotten a lot done since I last posted!

All but two images have been formatted and inserted into the document; the final two will be complete very soon. All of the edits are complete. Now that I've contacted people several times, I'm going to consider the "Acknowledgments" reward completely filled, since I assume those who haven't yet responded would rather not be listed. (Hence the jump in rewards.)

What remains (in approximate chronological order):

• Sending the review backer the advance copy.
• Contacting the audiobook company with the final draft to begin negotiations. (Update: Just did so, and am awaiting their response.)
• Including the review backer's review on the back cover.
• The last two pictures for the novel. (After I receive them, I'll format them and finish the final pdf.)
• Ordering a draft print of the paperback.
• Formatting the mobi and epub versions of the ebooks.
• Sending the ebooks to backers. (For this, I'll probably need to arrange a proper downloading method.)
• Sending out surveys to inquire about short stories and other rewards.
• Releasing the books to the general public.
• Filling other rewards.

This is somewhat simplified, of course. But I've been hard at work, and I suspect that the books may actually be finished ahead of schedule. I don't want to make any promises along those lines, though, because the draft print could go horribly awry (or backers might not respond to surveys, making it impossible to fulfill their rewards).

In any case, I am most of the way done with fulfilling rewards, and I am pretty well ahead of my original schedule. I can't wait to see this book in print!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. (For example, if you still want your name in the Acknowledgments, you'll have to let me know soon.)

Progress Report 8: Rewriting

In short, by the end of the week after next, all but the very last of my pre-publication work will be complete. Details are under the cut!

Editing Progress and Process

I've heard back from my editors and have already gone through to make all of the minor edits. Right now, I'm making the big decisions about which scenes to rewrite entirely, whether to add scenes, cut scenes, flesh out scenes--lots of big decisions. I've already rewritten two scenes, and plan to rewrite at least five more. I fleshed out one scene, but I may flesh it out further, if it won't strain the flow and pacing of the story. I cut one scene and may cut another, depending on whether I believe it's really important to the plot of the story.

Fortunately, I had four skilled people edit my book, and I have a fair amount of feedback as I go through this process. Unfortunately, as always happens, my editors had some points on which they completely disagreed.

The reason that I seek as many opinions as possible when editing is that individual opinions can vary wildly. I don't want to hear only from people who love my book, or only from people who wouldn't read my book on their own. Although this mix of opinions definitely benefits my book, it also makes the editing process more complicated.

After all, if Editor A loves a critical aspect of the story and Editor D loathes it, while Editors B and C think of it in a generally positive light, I have to weigh a number of factors. It might be that my style isn't a good fit for Editor D, and that the people who would want to read my book would enjoy it. But I don't want to discount the strong reaction it provoked. If it were a minor aspect of the story, I might still err on the side of the strong, negative reaction and try to find a middle ground that all editors would love. In this case, the change in question would require rewriting 60%+ of the book and spoiling some important scenes from later books. I think that it might also diminish some of the reread value of the books.

However, I'm trying to think of other possibilities. Responses in general to my books have been quite positive thus far, and I'd like to work to ensure that this particular hurdle doesn't distract from that. The most difficult part of editing--for me, at least--is making decisions. I can write fifty thousand words in two weeks if need be; the writing is not my main concern. I feel like I'm on the verge of finalizing my decisions, however, so this should move forward steadily.

For those interested, my editing process, from beginning to end, is beneath the cut.

Brief update

Okay, so I did manage to get in touch with the audiobook production company that I'd given up as a lost cause. We're still negotiating, so I can't confirm yet whether we will be able to produce an audiobook, although I'm pretty hopeful at this point. Until I have a final draft to send them, it's not likely to develop beyond the negotiation stage.

On that note, I think I'll have a final draft ready by the end of this month if things go according to plan. Of course, they may not go according to plan. Even if the rest of the editing process takes longer than I'm anticipating, I built in a number of buffer weeks to make sure that it won't delay the book itself.

I'll try to keep you all updated as the editing progresses, but it's more difficult with editing; it just doesn't make for good blog posts, no matter how productive I am! If you want to hear about any topics in particular, just comment or send me a message, and maybe I can work something out.

I'd better get back to work for now, though!

Changes and Updates

For the first time since beginning this blog, it's been just over a week since my last post. I built in some buffer time into my plans for the book, fortunately; two of the people editing for me are about a week behind, and they've promised to send me their revisions by the end of the week at the latest.

I've been doing a fair amount of work, anyway; I made a few big changes, renamed some places and characters, and even set about renaming the books themselves. These aren't changes that I can describe in detail just yet, since it would give away parts of the book, but they aren't changes that I can take lightly, either. The book, setting, and characters have had their names for more than half of my life at this point, which made this rather more arduous a process than I would have liked.

So, those who read the sample, you may have some momentary confusion with the different names, but I hope that it'll make the books overall much more readable and enjoyable.

On another note, most of the book art is complete! The action scene, the four interaction scenes, the six character concept art sketches (each with two poses), and three of the six setting concept art sketches are in their final forms. I'm still waiting on two maps and three more setting sketches, but those will be finished in due time.

Between the edits, the art, and the other progress I've made, I'm now more than 50% of the way finished! Once I get you all your ebooks, I'll be able to send out surveys asking for your other rewards.

Oh! Just as I was about to submit this post, I actually got an email from the audiobook people--I may be able to actually move forward with the audiobook production! I'll try to figure it out and let you all know what's up as soon as I can! From what they've just said, though, things are looking rather promising indeed.