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'With great power comes great responsibility...' so sayeth Peter Parker's Uncle Ben. Translated into the world of self-publishing, this reads: with great [publishing] power comes great [marketing] responsibility.

Cephrael's Hand launched into online retailers in October 2010. Now that the initial clamor has softened to a steady murmur, this intrepid author must embark upon the daunting task of marketing a book with limited marketing channels [read this to mean a lot of Facebook posts].

I've being researching how to market your self-published novel. There are boundless opportunities, especially with social media today, but lest the thrill of opportunity carry us away, never forget that 'boundless' also equates to spending every waking moment pursuing those opportunities.

I've been recently looking into how to get my novel into more bookstores, and I found an interesting article by Joel Eisenberg discussing this topic. I suppose getting a page on Facebook for the novel would also be a good start.

Best tea for contemplating your book on the shelf in Barnes and Noble: Teavana White Ayurvedic Chai/Samurai Chai Mate blend.

The Final Stretch

Galley edits have been my life. It's wonderful when you can read through your own manuscript and find yourself sitting on the edge of your chair in total anxiety over what's going to happen next. That's the good stuff (not to toot my own horn).

What I've had to come to grips with, however, is that there is probably a word (or two or three) that I've missed - as heinous as this sounds, I know. Yet the fact remains: I may (must we speak in whispers now) have missed a typo. Aiiieeek!

Okay, so when you're editing a 300,000+ word manuscript, and you know so many of the lines by heart, it's really easy to miss stupid typos like, "He told not him to go," instead of "He told him not to go." It just is. As much as I've looked down my own nose at typos missed in other books, I've since come to the realization that it is a lot of words to get 100% right.

So I've done my best, and now the good news is that the book is over to final production. I've signed my soul away here and sent it off with the final okay - and the cost to see it in print may be a typo or two.

Best tea for Galley editing: Rooibos Caramel Creme with Mate Vana (and lots of cream!)

What lies beneath...

Cover concepts: Phaedor in a half-spin, black Merdanti blade slashing, green eyes alight... Ean standing with Bjorn looming behind him as the Temple of the Vestals crumbles... Trell gazing out over the Sand Sea where the drachwyr fly...

Any of these would be excellent covers for Cephrael's Hand. Unfortunately, I'm not quite important enough to garner a place on Michael Whelan's schedule (his rendition of Anne McCaffrey's The Rowan was the inspiration for Alyneri). I do however have some talented friends who have helped immeasurably in putting a cover concept together. In lieu of hiring a professional graphic artist (and paying professional fees), I'm pretty happy with the cover we came up with.

There's something terribly cruel about book covers. People empirically do judge your book by its cover, even though most covers have more to do with marketing than with the content of the book. It's almost as cruel a truth as the fact that it's easy to get an agent once you have a publisher interested in your book, yet most publishers only accept manuscripts from agented authors. This is a logic that, while circular, is yet incontrovertible.

Artists are always weighing the small adulterations of their work against the price of selling it. Is it more important to have a book cover that truly reflects the material within if, in so doing, the book doesn't sell as many copies? At what point in the process does artistic integrity break? At the other end of the spectrum, you can tweak and nudge and color correct and adjust until you're blue in the face and never actually be happy with the product. That's as true for the cover art as it is for the manuscript contained within. Eventually you have to say, "Enough!" and be happy with the result. Or at least be willing to quit tinkering with it. The rest is out of your hands (and into that expensive marketing team waiting to promote your work onto the NY Times bestseller's list, right?).

Best tea for judging a book by its cover: Egyptian Chamomile

Drumroll please...

Manuscript final edit completed - check.
Manuscript formatted and uploaded - check.
Publishing and pricing options finalized - check.
eBook options finalized - check.
Map of the realm finished and uploaded - check.
Author photo uploaded - check.
Author bio written and uploaded - check.
Back cover blurb written and uploaded - check.
All legal documents signed and uploaded - check.
Formatting options finalized - check.

Book moving into production - CHECK!

I just have to say...

I like non-conformists. I like people "who refuse to limit themselves with labels" (I totally ripped this off from the Delphian School vision statement, but I'm a graduate of that school so I'm qualified to consider myself one of those people). So much about the Fantasy genre is subject to stereotype, but as is true for most stereotypes, too often people don't look past these oversimplified concepts to see what lies beneath.

Fantasy authors have been enthralling readers since long before Arabian Nights, and Science Fiction writers, with their genius in imagining the possible out of the impossible, have driven advances in civilization as much as Science itself.

And where SF drives us to imagine a different future, a different now, Fantasy investigates entirely new worlds where magic still reigns and honor, justice and good and evil are inextricably bound within the lives of each character.

Is it any wonder that some of the biggest blockbusters in Hollywood have been SF&F? These genres give hope for the goodness of man, hope that evil will not prevail, and keep our eyes on the stars.

I like not conforming to the "typical" fantasy reader stereotype as well as the "typical" fantasy writer one. Being part of this "weird" group of people who continue to postulate new realities is a label I wear proudly.

On another note, my map is now finished. We're coming down to the final stretch of pre-production.

Best tea for ranting: Harsha with a little bit of honey

He says, she says

"Failure is the province of the craven and the dead," so says Bjorn van Gelderan in a quote that precedes Chapter 1.

Somewhere along the way I got it in my head that it would be great to have similar quotes preceding every chapter. In theory, this is a great concept; it would allow me to provide viewpoint snippets for a variety of characters, a little extra hint here or there about who they really are and how they think. Each quote would be relevant to the chapter it precedes, but it wouldn't be a quote from the chapter. In some cases, the quote might provide deeper insight into the chapter's main message. Other times it may simply provide levity.

This is a modest goal when you have 25 chapters. When you're encroaching on 60...well, it's ambitious to say the least.

With the final edit complete and ready to be uploaded for layout, I decided to confront this project. It has not been quite as painful as I anticipated, but I'm only half-way through and feel that I have fully exhausted my supply of witticisms, proverbs and poignant truths. So if you have any to offer, by all means send them my way!

Best tea for devising quotes from people who don't exist: Rooibos Hazelnut Dolce with Mate Vana.

Uncharted worlds?

Maps. If you are a Fantasy writer, your map may be the bane of your existence. I've lost track of how many times I have recreated this map. While I enjoy the world-building aspect, I do not expressly enjoy drawing 3,000 mountains and trees. The pitfalls of creation - wherein you write something as happening a certain way and then expect the physical universe to be able to manifest it - have no doubt caused a rift between writers and artists since time immemorial.

Some things, like the time it takes to travel from Acacia to Chalons-en-Les Trois, are easily amended in the work itself by expediently remarking that it took two weeks instead of one to get there. But when the Haden Gorge must open upon the Faisal escarpment with the city of Sakkalaah and the Assifiyah range split by the River Cry, and pivotal plot points occur within this geography, you've got to make that work.

My husband generously offered to pen the map on my behalf. Being a fine artist, he no doubt would've made short work of the project. Instead, in my enthusiasm, I took it upon myself yesterday to render the masterpiece and subsequently spent the next eight hours laboring over a continent dominated by mountains (who thought up this place, anyway?) and trying to force my flowery script into characters the size of mouse poo.

Nonetheless, a rough draft was accomplished around midnight. To my readers, you'll be pleased to know that all of the major cities are represented, even if you'll need a magnifying glass to read them.

Best tea for drawing maps of uncharted worlds: Peet's Rare Golden Dragon Oolong (and a little salted chocolate helps, too).