How Books Are Made, Part II
Inmy previous post, I talked about the creativity that goes into themaking of a book. But I didn’t talk about the practical side of bringing thatcreative spark into fruition (if you’ll allow the mixed metaphor there).
It’sone thing to have an idea for a book. It’s an entirely different matter tospend hours at a keyboard (or with pen or pencil and paper), day after day,week after week, month after month until that original idea has been fleshedout into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, hopefully containingsome tension and conflict throughout, and a resolution that satisfies thereader—plus maybe, just maybe, giving readers something to “take away,” alesson to ruminate upon or a miniscule bit of wisdom that might, in the tiniestway, influence their choices for the better. One hopes.
WhenI began the Dragon Singer Series, I was still teaching, so my writingtime—after being away from home all day, then returning to walk an anxious,troubled dog, and feed the cats, and eat dinner, and watch the news, and maybetoss in a load of laundry—was limited. In addition to that, I began Fey Girl,the first book, in pencil, writing in a composition book that my granddaughter,Ellie, had given me. I wanted to channel my inner ten-year-old, and Iremembered writing some stories in a composition book when I was that age—some ofmy first! And so I began.
Theprocess was interrupted often. Given my schedule (rising at 4:00a.m. to get tothe gym before work or to ride my bike to work and arrive at 6:45), I was tiredby early evening. Things happened. I had house guests. I came down withpneumonia a few times. I struggled through winter depression.
Finally,in June of 2016, I retired from teaching. In that summer, I sold a house,bought a house, moved 40 miles east—and slept as often as I felt like it. Then,at long last, I joyfully returned to my writing life in earnest.
Assoon as Fey Girl was finished, I began writing the second book, makingsteady progress and finishing it within a year. The third book took less than ayear. The fourth, even less than that. While I was working on Book Two, my dearfriends John and Lisa Durham introduced me to John’s niece, Annie Katz, awriter and novelist and earth mother who became my best and truest critiquepartner. We began exchanging projects, giving each other feedback, and engagingin long phone conversations about the best way to publish. She is all about independentpublishing. Another friend believes one is not a “professional” writer untilone has been published by a traditional publisher. (Well, I’ve done that, so….)
Ina nutshell, here’s the difference:
Atraditional publisher takes the author’s manuscript and has a team of printingexperts design an interior (choosing the type of font, the type of paper—weightand color, the margin size, the spacing between lines, as so forth). Anotherteam of experts designs the cover. (Will the title be larger than the author’sname? Yes, if it’s a first-time author, no, if the author is Stephen King. Whatwill the balance of text-to-graphics be? What colors will work best?) While thisprocess is happening, the publisher may decide—based on “marketability”—to changethe book’s title. Or add a subtitle. Or edit—or delete—some of the content. Buthey, when the book is finally ready (one to two years after acceptance), itwill be released across the country simultaneously, available online but alsoon bookstore shelves, all at once, all on the same day.
Anindie author can’t do this, since the big bookstore chains (well, I guess there’sonly one left, isn’t there?) will not carry (unless asked by customers)independent authors on their shelves. Nor do indie authors have the opportunityto list their books in the lovely, slick catalogs that publishers send out tobookstores.
However—independentauthors have full control over every aspect of how their books are published,from interior design to cover design, and we even determine the list price.
Thisis why I made the choice to publish the Dragon Singer Seriesindependently. The more I spoke to Annie Katz and others (including my buddy,writer/actor/director/funny guy Tim Chizmar), the more reluctant I became togive up creative control. I had a vision for these books, and I couldn’t bearthe thought of being told, “We’ve decided to add/subtract/edit…” or whatever amarketing department might choose for MY books. (For the purpose of brevity, Iwill not include all the struggles I had to this end with the publishers of myfirst and second books. If you’re curious, just ask in the comments below. But…boy howdy….)
Ofcourse, in making that crucial decision to self-publish, this also means thatthe entire process rests in the hands of the writer (unless one chooses tooutsource the work, which is possible, but also expensive).
Theonly thing I didn’t do was create the illustration and design for the covers.(Thank you, artist-designer Allie Myers!) Everything else—fonts, font size,paper, margins, interior design—that’s all me. And believe me, it’s not amatter of “select all” on MSWord and typing in a few choices. There is a lot tovery carefully complete. Plus don’t even get me started on how the format of an“ebook” differs from the format of a paperback. Good grief!
So,yeah, even though the fourth and final book in the Dragon Singer Serieswas completed months ago, it has taken me quite a number of weeks to find anillustrator and work on the interior design.
Finally,though, the first book is finished, and I am so, so proud of it! Allie’s coveris beautiful, and I am satisfied that my young (and older) readers will feelcomfortable with my choices for the interior design—if they’re even payingattention. Maybe they’ll just immerse themselves in the story and keep turningthose pretty white pages….
FeyGirl,Book One in the Dragon Singer Series, is set to be released at 12:01a.m.on Tuesday, October 17. Please celebrate with me on that day! If you get crazy(or extraordinarily kind) and decide to read the first book, just know thatAllie and I are already working hard to get the second book ready forpublication. This one should be easier than the first; I kinda know what I’mdoing now. Kinda….
Back cover of Fey Girl
