'The End' is just the beginning
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It's done. Novel Number Three is written, right up to the words 'The End.' But now the work really begins for an independent author like myself.
Too many indie authors overlook the importance of copy editing and proofreading. Spelling and grammar checks in Word are not enough. Seriously. I hear writers complain about the cost of outside editors and the time it takes, but it's important. I've toiled over the words in the new book for months and months. I want it to be the best it can be, especially if I expect people to pay for it (which I do!).
Then it goes to the typesetters and the printers and work with a cover designer and check it all three times... and eventually I will have some fresh bits of paper, all bound up in other bits of paper, and then my work is set free into the world. And that's another beginning after The End.
I don't know about other authors, but once I've got to The End and there's no more writing to do, I have no idea what I've just done. Is it any good? It's too early to tell. Does it make any sense to other people? Who knows. Will anybody like it? It's all subjective. Some hopefully will, some certainly won't, but set free it will be. And then it will be up to you, dear reader. Meanwhile, I must wait for the praise or the criticism, take both on the chin, and get on with writing novel number four.
It never ends.