Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Down to the Wire

Autumn is just around the corner, and the production schedule for The Muse is accelerating. That's a good thing. I'd probably fiddle interminably with the story if allowed to do so, but we've agreed on the final draft and the front cover design, and can now proceed to sending an electronic pre-production copy to reviewers. If all goes well, we'll gather positive comments for the back-cover blurb and/or flyleaf and generate some good buzz.

The entire editing and review process has been cordial. Grace has been very patient with me when I've dithered on some small detail or other (cover fonts, for example), and her inputs on the writing have been insightful. She catches problems that I miss, which is, of course, a very good trait in an editor.

At the moment, Grace is finishing up a nifty video trailer for the book, accompanied by Michael Rogers' haunting music. I'm experimenting with some e-book translations of the manuscript--looks like an Adobe pdf version will be a snap, and I'd like to have a Kindle version available as well, but that will take a little more work. I'm also planning blog tours and online interviews for November. Once we have hard copies available, I can start making the rounds of the local independent bookstores to see if they'll be willing to stock the book or maybe even host a signing. There are also the regional SF&F conventions to consider, but I'm thinking it might be better to work in concert with some other Lost Genre Guild writers to provide some larger-scale representation there.

Marketing..brrr. This will be a big stretch for me.

I also need to provide Grace a slightly less-scruffy picture of my ugly mug. That may require a minor miracle.

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