An Unlikely Journey? Maybe it was…the first time ’round. Matt and I took an adventurous leap the first time we self-published the Raven’s Heart duology. Many lessons were learned, and one of the most important of these: It’s not worth doing if it’s not done right. We never really did anything wrong, but our virgin voyage into self-publishing was not a flawless one. This time, we jumped aboard AuthorHouse, and we hope this ship is smooth-sailing. Through friendships gained and through personal experiences, we embark with confidence!
Ok, maybe it’s not that simple. It’s difficult to explain to anyone why we feel the need to republish our first novels. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to understand why it must be done, but passion and instinct tell us this is the right direction. In some inexplicable desire to articulate this decision, we have compared the republishing process to seeking Nirvana—paradise.
Step 1: Humility
When we re-read our published books and realized how many errors there were (not entirely our fault!), our pride ended up beneath the squished piece of chewing gum on someone’s shoe. We were ashamed that we could let this substandard status happen to our novels AND that our readers should have to suffer it. It took some time for us to recover our confidence, but once we had….
Step 2: Faith
…We allowed the faith in our story to carry us forward. We wrote good books! We’re not being vain in saying our novels are good enough to be on the store shelf. You have to have faith in what you’ve written, or it’s not worth sharing. Heck, it’s not worth writing in the first place, let alone having it published or republished! Matt and I had to reach a mutual affirmation that our story was worthy of being told…a second time.
Ok, maybe it’s not that simple. It’s difficult to explain to anyone why we feel the need to republish our first novels. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to understand why it must be done, but passion and instinct tell us this is the right direction. In some inexplicable desire to articulate this decision, we have compared the republishing process to seeking Nirvana—paradise.
Step 1: Humility
When we re-read our published books and realized how many errors there were (not entirely our fault!), our pride ended up beneath the squished piece of chewing gum on someone’s shoe. We were ashamed that we could let this substandard status happen to our novels AND that our readers should have to suffer it. It took some time for us to recover our confidence, but once we had….
Step 2: Faith
…We allowed the faith in our story to carry us forward. We wrote good books! We’re not being vain in saying our novels are good enough to be on the store shelf. You have to have faith in what you’ve written, or it’s not worth sharing. Heck, it’s not worth writing in the first place, let alone having it published or republished! Matt and I had to reach a mutual affirmation that our story was worthy of being told…a second time.
Step 3: Funding
This is not a state of mind but a physical state of financial feasibility. We are not rich. We scrape together what we can through our multiple jobs. To sink $2,000 into republishing our books is a huge expense. We prefer to think of it as an investment. Still, we may not have given ourselves the green flag to republish had AuthorHouse not offered an end-of-the-year 50% off publishing deal. If it means eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner the rest of the year, we’ll just have to make that sacrifice.
Step 4: Motivation
When you’ve read your manuscript at least a dozen times, edited it until you’ve nearly had it memorized, and then realized after it was in print that you had to fix it again…well, motivation can be hard to muster. We try to look at the novels with fresh eyes. What can we change for the better? How will our improvements affect the rest of the series in the long-term? You can still rework a manuscript with a creative eye. It’s just a bit more challenging than the first time ‘round.
Step 5: Diligence
You go a little crazy when sitting in front of the computer for hours on end, clicking the “accept” or “reject” button to the changes suggested. Our “delete” key is nearly illegible. But you have to keep at it, or it will never be done. And, oh, do you want it to be done! You tell yourself it will be worth the effort in the end, and it will…you just have to get there: to the finish line. We set reasonable goals for our editing—reasonable meaning we allow time to enjoy ourselves. Who says you can’t reward yourself for meeting your goals? And that makes being diligent a bit more fun.
Step 6: Acceptance
We know now that our novels will never be perfect. That’s because we like to believe we improve our writing the more we do it. We’d have it no other way. So though our own standards will continue to rise to new levels, we have to reach a sane level of consensus. At some point you have to say that your book is acceptable to you and to your readers. No one will care if there’s a typo on page 5, and if they do, too bad. (And you really have to believe it, too!)
Step 7: Bliss
This is it! The Nirvana of republishing! Authors’ paradise! You are enjoying the benefits of novels successfully republished. Readers appreciate and enjoy them. People visit your website and comment on their favorite characters. Someone buys a t-shirt from the Secramore gift shop. What more can you ask for? This is the beauty of self-realization. You have a published (hehe—Republished) book, and that’s the goal of any aspiring novelist. We are going to reach this stage for real this time, and it will be bliss!
-Stefanie
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