Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Next Step? (Middle)

The next step
I just finished writing as well as going through my first edit of my first novel.  And I have to say that I have been a little hesitant on fixing the corrections because I am not sure what the next step after that should be.  I mean, obviously, I will have to do a couple more edits to try and perfect it but then after all of that is done...what’s the next step?

Do I send it out to get published?

Do I just publish it myself?

Or do I keep it in the closet and start to work on other story ideas?

I am just not sure where to go after that which is why the editing process has taken so long.  What if other people don’t like it?  There will, for sure, be people out there that don’t like it but do I want it to be in the public or do I want to keep it to myself? 

I have wanted to publish this book for a while and I have been telling myself for the past two years that if no one else wants to publish it then I was going to publish it myself but then a friend of mine told me that I shouldn’t publish it myself because I will regret it. 

The reason why he said not to do it myself was because he published his own novel ten years ago and he regrets doing it.  He says that he wished that he would have continued writing his other story ideas and then he would have come back to the first one. 

I do have a few other story ideas that I would love to get started on but at the same time I cannot leave a project in the middle and start another one.  I am a firm believer in you finish what you start and you try and achieve your goals.  I think that they bring you one step closer to your dreams and what you want to accomplish on your life. 

So now talking to him (and I consider him a good friend) I am rethinking what I want to do. 

5 comments:

Andrew Leon said...

Have you had anyone else read it yet? Someone objective that won't tell you it's good just because they know you? That should be your next step.

Liz A. said...

Don't worry about the next step yet. Do the edits. Once the edits are done, then the next step will become visible. What is the saying? It's something about headlights only illuminating a few feet in front of you, but you can make the whole trip using them. Something like that.

And what Andrew said. Get some beta readers.

PT Dilloway said...

Sure, get someone else to read it after you've made your corrections. And then research the querying process to get a literary agent. There are a lot of blogs and websites on that subject. Most publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, so you need to get an agent.

Self-publishing should be the last resort.

Middle said...

No one has read the whole story yet...I was waiting till all was done and corrected...I've thought about getting an agent but not sure where to start on that either...All of this is new to me...thank you for all of the advice
:)

Briane said...

This'll sound dumb coming from me, but EDIT IT A LOT.

Then, if you really want a publisher of your own, get writing letters. You were around when I did that: query publishers and agents and see if you can't find one.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether publishing it yourself is a mistake. If your book is good it'll find an audience. But most people want to try big publishing first.

ALSO: Other commenters: I've read the first part of the book and it's really good.