I just hit the submit button less than 15 minutes ago! Whew. What a journey this has been. The past week has been full of formatting and layout for the final submission up to Amazon. If there's one single most important thing that I learned this week that is worth sharing - it's "Be sure to set up your Styles in MS Word before doing anything." There's a great thread on the Amazon KDP Support forum for this. It was a little hard to read through (and I'm tempted to re-write it to make it easier to follow) but it was well worth the effort.
If I consider the end of the Edmonds Writers' Conference as the beginning of my goal of getting this story published, I'm looking at 4 months of activity. It has been a great education and it has given me a lot of confidence in the process. But it doesn't end here. I can't just sit back and wait for the royalties to pour in. It just doesn't work that way. Now comes the promotion (without nagging and spamming), completion of the next Zegin story, and the ongoing writing of the full length novel. The work is just beginning!
Zegin's Infection Audience?
Someone asked me recently who my target audience was. That question really made me take a long pause. Basically, science fiction is the easy answer. Some would call it hard sci-fi since I try to deal with technologies that are feasible. More toward the Star Trekish side of science fiction. I love Star Wars too. But, I'm not one for delving into fantasy type forces as a writer. While my stories deal with a lot of technology, I'm very sensitive to not detracting from the characters. I feel that if the technology gets in the way of the reader trying to relate to the characters then I've failed. There are two books that I recommend for describing how to do this:
- The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells, by Ben Bova
- Characters & Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
Thus, the audience? Technology sci-fi with strong characters and story lines.
Waiting
So, now I wait for the conversion and publishing process to be completed. One of two things is going to happen. One - I'll like the result and will start promotions. Two - The layout will stink and I'll go back and re-do it. I guess I won't know for another 12 hours. Humm, that would put me at around 4am. You might see me tweet around that time. ;)
Socializing Progress
Here are the latest figures for this milestone event:
Klout Score: 50 (+1)
TT.com Page Loads for the past month: 1276 (+35)
Twitter Followers: 1217 (+148)
G+ Peeps Following: 360 (+46)
These are good numbers for this week. That extra Klout point was a tough one. But I feel that it was a good hurdle to jump. Twitter is making a nice climb. Page loads are pretty steady. And Google Plus is taking a nice jump.
Most likely I'll be blogging again in the next couple days to discuss what is happening with the story release. Thanks to everyone who has provided me with feedback about my very open discussion of my progress. If anything, I hope it'll help others who are wanting to make the jump.
Keep writing. Check back soon!
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