Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing

Closing the Book: Moving from Creation to Promotion

September 25, 2008 at 1:15 pm 1000chimps 1 comment

‘Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie…’- William Shakespeare-All’s Well That Ends Well

It is hard for you to ever feel that a piece of written work is complete. The plots and characters tend to continue to develop in your mind after the final draft. You start to wonder if there’s a sequel in there somewhere, or perhaps should you go back into the finished piece and re-write it around the new ideas and developments?

If you want to avoid Book Munchausen’s Syndrome the best thing to do is to get someone else involved. That second set of eyes can help you catch minor spelling and grammar issues and plotholes (areas which have been left confusing or unresolved).You will never be able to market and promote, and ultimately publish and sell your book if you aren’t 100 percent sure about your work. If you are unconfident when you present your writing to the reading public, then they will be even less confident that it is worth their time and money.

Draw the line when you feel that you have a well-structured, completed book. Let it go. Get it out there, and see what people think. If you want feedback, try publishing a version under a pseudonym for free using Wordclay. Pass a copy along to someone, and don’t tell them you wrote the book. Trying things that might be a little unconventional might help to balance the scales.

Large, traditional publishing companies do A/B testing and pay large amounts of money to get real feedback before they really push a product to the mainstream. If you do similar things and receive nothing but negative feedback, then be happy, as you are likely to get unbiased and actionable information. And if your critics just flat out don’t think it is a good book, maybe you can recover the ideas that are worth saving and incorporate them into a new novel.

Remember, people will be forgiving of minor errors if they like the story. If your book is a total page-turner, then readers probably won’t even have time to notice minor errors. Focus on the story. Catch what you can before you send your manuscript out. Respond to feedback, and keep moving forward.

‘Be not afraid of greatness…’ William Shakespeare-Twelfth Night

Entry filed under: Marketing, Publishing, Reading & Writing, Writing. Tags: critique, editing, manuscript, market testing, promotion, Shakespeare, Wordclay.