By Jason Pedersen
I woke up to a few messages asking me about the Cover Reveal on Wednesday and when the book will even come out. Many of these messages weren’t even from volunteers. The truth is that I still don’t have the final cover, so I can’t give an answer. I can get it today or I can get it later in the week. It depends on the progress. Up above is a piece of it, but there are parts of the picture that it came from that are still rough. So I can’t use it for the Cover Reveal like I did with Family of the Tri-Rune in March. I have asked Jason if he has one that is ready for a reveal. Once I get something, I will send out the Cover Reveal email. That’s really where the situation stands at this time.
So Hype Week is still in limbo until I hear back. With that in mind, I leave you a few tips that I’ve learned here:
- DO NOT mention an exact release date until you have everything locked in. Delays happen even if you’re a one-person show. Heck, I got the stomach flu at one point during this adventure. That pushed my own edits back a few days and was a big part of the first delay.
- DO NOT get volunteers for a Cover Reveal until you have the cover. This one was me jumping the gun and I’ve learned my lesson.
- Try not to let impatient readers push your buttons until you do something stupid. I feel like I’ve become an annoying bastard over this one because I’ve been getting questions about a release date. Sometimes the same person asks me multiple times even when I say ‘hoping for August’.
- DO NOT start Hype Week until you have everything you need. I made this mistake back with Prodigy of Rainbow Tower. I kicked off Hype Week without talking to Jason and then found that an event had delayed him. I felt like an idiot, especially since the cover was well worth the wait.
A final thing here is that authors and readers have to be patient. Yes, Indie Authors can crank out books quicker than a traditional publisher. Yet we also have to pay attention to quality and take on more roles than a traditional author. So it doesn’t pay to badger an author about a release date or an event. It also doesn’t pay to let the badgering push you to make a mistake. The book will come out, the cover reveal will happen, the marketing will be done, and things will continue. Just so happens that a series of delays and WTF moments occur with some releases.
Oh yeah. I probably won’t be doing a TWUBS chat until September. Now that I’m going to be on my own with the toddler more often, I have to wait until he starts school again before I try something like that. Unless I do interview with him sitting next to me and I let him hit buttons from time to time. Probably not a good way to be taken seriously.
Legends of Windemere 
Good advice, but whenever you are ready your volunteers with be ready (speaking for myself)
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Thanks. Glad I can count on you. Hopefully I can get a few days of Hype in.
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I like that advice about not starting cover reveal plans until you have a cover. Very wise. Also, I thought you should know that you were in my dream last night. In the dream, I went to a local elementary school for some reason, and you were there — in the class, as like a nine-year-old. It turns out you’ve been a wee child the entire time I’ve known you, and that you simply sound more mature when blogging and/or writing, and that you’ve concocted an elaborate online disguise to hide the fact that you’re nine. You then proceeded to ask me to read aloud one of your recent pieces, except that the margins were so scribbled with notes and edits that I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I was reading. It was a strange dream.
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Very strange. Though the editing notes do sound like me. Still if anything, I’m really the 5-year-old hiding behind a blog. 😛
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We understand, Charles. Send the book info and cover info whenever you get it and I’ll join your cover reveal. 🙂
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Thanks. I believe I have you on the list. Honestly, I’m at the point where I just want this book out and for the headache to be over.
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Good advice! I look forward to seeing the finished product.
My illustrator is my mother…who teaches 2nd grade and is also an artist and seamstress. I’ve been waiting years for some cover art but, hopefully, I can reveal some for a Christmas present 😀
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I just sent out an updated Cover Reveal email. Even if the older version goes out on some blogs, it’s only the foreground zombie that is different. 😀 Looking forward to Wednesday and Friday now. Keep in mind I’m saying this before the headache of going down the list of marketing sites to submit to. Usually talks me the entire morning.
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I haven’t ever done any of that but it sounds very head ache inducing!
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It was easier at first. Mostly it’s sending in information and choosing publication dates for the ads. A few sites involve interviews, which will be interesting. I used to have old versions to remember my answers to the repeated question, but I lost them to the hard drive crash.
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Well that livens things up! A little change up might be good but its so annoying to lose things like that!
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Yeah. Thankfully, I’m used to it by now and won’t be overwhelmed. Gives me plenty of time to relax and enjoy the opening weekend. Maybe.
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Good luck with that! Maybe I need a step by step guide to getting things done…you wouldn’t happen to have of those hanging around that I could borrow, would you?
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Nope. I have pants that I fly by the seat of. 🙂
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What a coincidence, I have a pair of those too! Snazzy
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Oh! I like that arm and hand and the green light bursting. We’re a pretty patient bunch here, Charles. It’s exciting, too, right? What do you do? Push a ‘publish’ button?
Ellespeth
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It was a bunch of private messages and emails that got on my nerves. Seems some people are impatient behind the scenes. It got pretty crazy this time for some reason.
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