Dear Future Me…
Since I’m aiming for 2025 to be the year I finally publish my ‘The Secret of Moonflower Valley’, I thought it would be kind of fun to compare what I know right now about self publishing with what I will have to learn either before or as I’m publishing. So… let’s get started, yeah?
Okay, first things first, I’m going to list the things I think are going to be the most important.
Number 1: copyrighting. I don’t want to be cheated or scammed out of my work, so I’ll definitely make sure I’m legally tied to my book.
Number 2: copyediting and interior design. (Should those two go together? I think it’s alright.) One thing I find makes a book feel more professional is neat formatting and a lack of typos. I mean, we’re human, but typos don’t need to exist in excessive amounts. You know?
Number 3: cover design. Me personally, I know that an ugly cover can turn me away from a book (even if someone I trust recommended it!) because I’m a very visual person. And besides wanting to hook readers with a pretty cover, there’s no reason to have literary gold packaged in… I don’t really know where I was going with that, sorry.
Number 4: marketing! Getting people to actually know my book exists is probably the biggest way to boost sales :p I’ve done basically zero research on this part, but I know that Amazon has a marketing resource for their Kindle authors. I’ll also go to local bookstores to see if I can get anyone to carry my book, and I could potentially do book signings once I actually have people that will, you know… attend.
after a short intermission to assist the dinner production
Speaking of dinner… I wanted to tell you guys about the book “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. I’m reading the “kid version” at school for Language Arts, and my friend loaned me the original. (Which I haven’t gotten around to reading yet… Ever since I started sitting in the cafeteria during lunch I stopped reading four books a week. The price to pay for being social, I suppose.) Basically, the author is informing us about where our food comes from, and what exactly we’re eating when we buy from fast food chains. I’m learning about things like agribusinesses, the corn industry (this grain is in nearly everything we eat?!?!?!?), and the journey our food goes on before winding up in supermarkets. And the more processed the food is, the longer that journey gets. I find it really interesting to read about. I know that I don’t often think about where my food comes from, or where it was before winding up on my plate—but I think this book could change that.
Anyways, I just thought I’d mention that. I hope you’ll check out this book!
Finally, some questions for you guys. First and foremost, what type of posts do you want to see in the future? They can be as specific or as vague as you want, if that helps at all. And also, let me know what you guys are working on right now! Anything new? Maybe you’re still working on something from a few years ago like me, or you’ve just finished a project and you’re celebrating. I’ll see you guys next week! Bye!
—Leah Larkspur
