Day 74 - Publishing My First Novel

The Spartan Sisters

That is the name of my first novel.  I started it more than two decades ago.  I was thinking about where I was living when I wrote it and that makes me think I started in as far back as 1993.  Today I published it on Amazon Kindle.

Last night, almost by accident, I discovered how to create the table of contents.  That might seem like a little process, type and you’re done, but not quite.  Amazon navigates through books using the table of contents.  So if you want to go back in the book, you open the table of contents and click where you want to go.  In Word that means you go to the reference section, and click on “insert table of contents.”  My problem was that it didn’t automatically make the table of contents as I was instructed.  But now I have conquered that beast and know how to do it for future novels.

Since May I have been editing the book.  My biggest challenge was when I decided to change it from 3^rd person point of view to 1^st person.  I want my characters to tell you the story, not me.  I think I have read my book six times this summer.

I was also learning from Amazon some of the editing tips to make the book look good in Kindle.  I hope I have accomplished that.  It’s not how it looks on the screen in front of you; it’s how that screens interprets itself on Kindle.  So there were a lot of minor things that took a long time, like including a page break at the end of each chapter, even if it looked like it didn’t need one, and ending the paragraph the same throughout the novel.

Today, I clicked on Amazon and looked for the self-publishing page.  First I had to read a contract and then fill out tax information.  If it sells, I will get paid and will need to pay taxes on that.

There are so many little things that have to be done, but some are major.  I had to write a blurb for the back cover.  Basically that is telling the world why my book is the best one on the book shelf.  I had to complete my cover.  Luckily I found an artist to draw a cover for me, one of my former students, Josh.  It feels great to have a nice cover from someone I have watched grow into a fine young man.  I had to add the title and author to his drawing.

Once everything was ready, I just went through the steps, answering questions as I went, adding my cover, inserting the burb, and finally, inserting my novel.  I finally got to click beside my name my new title, author.

Wow!  It’s done.

Below is a link to the novel.  I need your input.  I need your advice.  If it is good, I need to know.  If it is slow, I need to know.  If it bores you to tears, I need to know.  So if you buy it, and I wish you would, please give me an honest review.  You may write me a note on FaceBook.  If you like it, put a review on Amazon.  Good reviews help to sell books.

https://www.amazon.com/Spartan-Sisters-Novel-Trojan-War-ebook/dp/B01LW0UUM0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473629890&sr=1-1&keywords=spartan+mark#nav-subnav