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A few weeks ago during a particularly nasty bout of (dare I say it?) writer's block, I stepped back and spent some time analyzing my outline process. To be clear, I'm a natural "pantser," but if you want to publish novels on any sort of regular basis, at some point, you're just going to have to break down and work on your outlines. So, I did. And in so doing, I developed the skeleton for a W.I.P. Workbook.
It's week eight of the self-publishing process, and by now, you should be around -- or even slightly past -- the midpoint of your novel. If not, don't panic. You haven't finalized your release date yet, so it's okay if you end up moving things around a little. Still, you'll want to make sure that all of your social media outlets are up and running before you set your release date to help build hype and to give you a sense for the community you'll be joining.
When it comes to self and indie publishing -- especially if you're doing all the design work on your own -- it's important to find sources of unbiased feedback wherever you can. And it's never too early to started searching!
Now that Pieces of Pink is officially out, it's safe to say that I've learned a lot about independent publishing in a very short amount of time. From LLCs to Photoshop and InDesign, there are so many road blocks that spring up along the way -- especially for your first novel -- and it can be really helpful to have a clear-cut guideline to get you moving in the right direction.
Annelise Driscoll 