I'm not playing favorites

I feel horribly guilty. Over the summer my goal was to get my first two Abraxas books self-published. I failed. Miserably. Here it is mid-October and while the first one has been edited (about a dozen times) the second one is still on my clipboard. But it's been languishing there for weeks because I've been playing favorites. There's another manuscript that I've been working on - the nonfiction one that I've been writing with my aunt - and all my time is being spent on that. Of course, that one has an interested publisher so it makes sense to spend time on it. Still, I feel guilty about not devoting the time to Abraxas that it deserves.

The limited progress I've made lately on Abraxas consists mainly of deciding to form my own publishing company to publish the books myself rather than going through another company like Createspace or Smashwords. It will take a little more work, but the cool thing is that I'll be my own publisher and own my own ISBNs. So I've got to get on that by filling out the paperwork and paying the fees to create the company and get the ISBNs. Which I intend to do - just as soon as I finish my nonfiction manuscript.

So when those nagging feelings of guilt strike me every time I look at my Abraxas manuscripts, I tell myself, "It'll be just a little longer. Definitely by the end of the year. Or maybe spring. Summer's nice, too."

ISBNs and Cover Size

I've learned that size is important when it comes to book covers. Also ISBNs are vital and I need one for each version of each of my books (print, ebook, etc.). And they cost over $100 each. But I can get free ISBNs from some publishers, but they're only good for books I sell through those publishers. Yes, I'm learning a lot about the self-publishing world, but my head is also spinning. Fool that I am, I had mistakenly thought that this whole adventure would take a week or two. Now I'm staring down the barrel of a full summer project. But it's pretty cool that at the end of it my Abraxas books will be back out in the world.

So right now I'm going through both manuscripts with a fine-tooth comb for the last time to make sure they're in perfect shape. Stones of Abraxas has already been published once, but as with practically any book, there were some typos and things that I wanted to edit, and Heroes of Abraxas has never been published or edited by a professional editor. Then it's onto the formatting phase where I've got to format both manuscripts for print and ebook versions. Depending on who you listen to, this process can be quick or it can be a hellish nightmare.

So progress is being made. If anyone has any suggestions to make this process easier, please let me know. As you can tell, I can use all the help I can get.

Next time: Which is easier? Formatting a manuscript or removing your own appendix?