Publishing is a whole different world from writing, a world I find fascinating. And sometimes frustrating, if we start talking about marketing. Authors, what surprised you the most about publishing?
What surprised met the most was how much I enjoyed working on the cover design for my mystery, A Shadow on the Snow. First, it’s a privilege for an author to have input on the cover. At big publishing houses, authors have no say in what cover goes on their book. Mt.Zion Ridge Press is a small publishing house and wants authors to give their opinions.
I loved working with Tamera Lynn Kraft on the cover. I filled out a detailed questionnaire on what I thought the cover should look like. Then Tamera sent me pictures, and we seesawed with emails, exchanging ideas until we created the cover below. The challenge of designing a cover that accurately reflected my novel was so interesting. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
So I’d love to hear from authors what you surprised you the most about publishing.
I was surprised at how nice fellow authors are! I thought they might be too busy, too famous, too rich, etc. to respond to me if I contacted them, so I was happily surprised to learn how kind and helpful most authors are! In the less pleasant surprises, I had no idea how much time promoting a published book would take away from writing the next book.
Yes! Writers are a generous group. I think all those cut-throat writers only exist in murder mysteries 😉