How did 2015 sneak up on me like that? Here I thought I’d publish my first book in 2014… I’m going to actually do it this year, though. In my last post, I reflected on what I did accomplish in 2014, such as outlining my next novel, attending scifi cons, and revising The Ageless.
Looking Back
It’s amusing to me to go back and look at my 2012 thrice-weekly writing goals, how in 2013 I was still trying to decide how to publish, and how optimistic I was about my timelines in 2014. I tried to use a Gantt chart in 2014 to help me better estimate my timing, but it was too cumbersome.
This year, I’ve started using a weekly planner called WeekPlan.net to keep on-task day after day and TeamWeek.com to visualize my longer editing, design, and publication schedules. I’m hoping these will help me defeat procrastination and keep more accurate timelines.
Of course, I said something similar this time last year. Round 2, Fight!
Table of Contents
- Contractors (Editors, Designers, Formatters, etc.)
- Beta Readers
- Next Novel
- First Release
- WorldCon
- Publishing Goals
Contractors (Editors, Designers, Formatters, etc.)
One thing that’s taken up a huge amount of my time is finding, narrowing down, and hiring reliable, professional contractors. The Ageless is currently with my developmental editor, slated to go to my new copy editor in February.
I had a huge collection of cover designers to narrow down, and I began contacting about 10 of them on January 1. I’ve got them narrowed down to about 6 as of this post, and hope to have a decision by next week. If not, hopefully by the end of this month. I may do a longer post on this topic at some point.
I’m currently debating on whether to hire a formatter or do my own formatting for the first book. It’s a cost-versus-time issue.
My hope is that all the time I put into finding these professionals means I won’t have to spend this much time on future projects hunting down good people. Avengers, assemble!
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Beta Readers
Most of February and March will be devoted to copy edits, proofreading, and managing my beta readers as I wrap up The Ageless. I had hoped to begin another project by now, but that looks unlikely. If you’d like to sign up to beta read the prequel short stories and the novel itself, step right up!
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Next Novel
By my current estimates, I’ll be able to really dig in to the next novel starting in June. At the same time, I’ll be publishing the prequel short stories to The Ageless to generate buzz.
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First Release
My hope is to have The Ageless renamed and published by the end of July, or at least before the school year begins. My aunt says she may have a book signing set up for me at my hometown high school, which would be fun.
Before and after release, I’ll be managing blog posts and other free promotional activities, while not going overboard since this is only my first book.
Speaking of which, you can sign up for me to bother you once a month and to get notified when I release The Ageless at long last.
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WorldCon
By the time we go to WorldCon, I’d like to have published The Ageless and to have finished the first draft on my latest novel. Then once we return, I’ll be able to start fresh with patching, scene audits, and revisions of the new novel, which I expect to take up the latter half of 2015.
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Publishing Goals
Once I finish hiring contractors, my goals as a publisher are mostly through. As a marketer, though, I intend to stop ignoring my mailing list subscribers and my blog followers, and start a dialogue!
So with that in mind, what are your big goals for 2015? Leave a comment below or find me as +Traci Loudin on Google+, the perfect place for fans of science fiction and fantasy to hang out.
You can also sign up to find out when I publish those prequel short stories here.
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