I am so, so pumped and I have to tell y\’all why! This week, I finished the final read through of my first novel, Sink or Swim. I sent it off to two beta readers, who have promised to return feedback to me within the next two weeks, and as long as they don\’t point out any glaring issues, I am SUPER close to the publishing stage! I think it finally hit me this morning, that I could be a published author very soon.
It\’s been a long time coming. I\’ve been writing it for well over two years now, and I\’ve been in the serious editing stage for the last three months. I even gave myself an early Christmas present and hired someone to design my cover for me. If any of you ever need some graphic design work done, I highly recommend Michael Rehder. He was very patient with me, and gave me several different design covers and tweaked them as necessary to get what I wanted. I think it turned out even better than I hoped it would, and I\’m so excited to publish and get this bad boy out there for the world to see!
![\"\"](\"https://meganreiffenberger.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sink-or-Swim-book-cover-1024x751.jpg\")
I\’m also super excited to say that I started writing book #2 this week as well, and I\’ve already got over ten pages written. Doesn\’t seem like much, but the scariest part of writing to me is starting. That blank page stresses me out, but once I get past that, it\’s pretty smooth sailing from there. So, I\’ve already got the hardest part down! I learned A LOT through the process of writing the first book, which will absolutely help me when it comes to writing the next one, and any other book I write after that. I\’m super excited to keep going, and see what journey book #2 brings me on!
Other than that, I\’ll be spending some time figuring out how to best approach the stage after publishing – marketing. I\’ve been following some Facebook groups filled with new authors like myself, and a lot of them say that marketing their book is the hardest part of self-publishing. I don\’t doubt it\’s going to take a lot of work, but I have a degree in marketing, so I feel like I\’ve already got a foot in the door. I\’m 100% positive I will still be spending some time researching and learning new things on how to market my book, but at least I\’m not starting from scratch. I\’ve got a good idea on how to start and what it will involve.
I\’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to make this dream a reality, but I\’m also closer than I have ever been. It\’s a little scary, but I\’m so excited to see what happens! I hope everyone who reads my blog will be willing to buy a copy of my book once it\’s out, and spread the word! I would appreciate it so much!!!
Until next time! 🙂
Megan Reiffenberger