Do I cry? Get drunk? Or go back to bed? Those are the kinds of questions I usually ask myself upon finishing a first draft. Or used to. Right now? I just want to go back and start fixing things so I look like a genius.
The current word count is 94,652, which will rise by about 10k words or so after I go back and add a couple of scenes I need. Don’t worry–no continuity problems. All the stuff you’ve heard thus far is in concrete (except maybe for an awkward phrase or two). Man, I’m glad I can say that.
While I’m rewriting, I’ll be recording as well. Between the two, I’ll hopefully have a decent ARC to throw at y’all sometime in January.
I still have absolutely no clue what to do with this book. It’s not hard sci-fi, it’s not exactly horror, it’s suspenseful, but has a lot of action, and slowly unravels a mystery. SO WHAT THE HELL IS IT?
I sort of know the elevator pitch, but refuse to use it here due to possible spoilers being loosed in the process. If you want to know that elevator pitch, hit me up on discord sometime.
I still have a lot of work to do before this puppy is ready to submit anywhere, much less for beta reading, but I have to start thinking about the publishing aspects because it will affect how I approach everything going forward.
I don’t have an agent so the inroads to certain places are blocked from the get-go. Major publishers and agencies have remarkably ridiculously high slush piles with response times of up to a year or more. In addition? Um, there are plenty of reasons not to go down that road.
Small presses? Always a strong possibility. No real agents required in this space and, to be honest, it’s the space I’m most comfortable with, provided I either retain my audio rights or am properly paid for them. That last will be a sticking point in many cases.
Kickstarter? Interesting concept. We’ve had several folks join us on DRS to talk about funding their books and projects through Kickstarter or similar services. The issue there is a lot of accounting, a lot of promises on bonus content, and a lot of opportunities to lose money rather than make it. I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to dive in to something like that without a team on board. But, it’s something I am investigating.
And, of course, the last option–do it all my damned self.
It’s a conundrum, to say the least.
While I’m putting the final touches on this book, I’ll start writing another. Probably test the waters for another book in the Sol and Beyond universe, and, most importantly, go write the first 20k words of Extinction so I can finish writing the ending. Confused? Me, too.
Enjoy your Monday!
