Final Proof Sign-off | JP McLean | What's next for the author?

I signed off on my final proof with Friesenpress today. The significance of the moment had my stomach in a knot. I felt excited and nervous at the same time.

Final proof. Check.

It’s an accomplishment months in the making and worthy of a perfectly prepared martini (which was delicious, BTW, with fresh figs soaked in gin).

For better or worse, Awakening is now out of my hands and on its way to publication.

So what’s next?

Writing Awakening was exciting, deciding to self-publish was exhilarating, but the marketing and promotion is testing my sanity. And now my head is spinning—not from the gin’s effects—but with all the new and intimidating things that have crawled onto my TTD list.

My Exploding Things-To-Do List

I’ve got to figure out what an author platform is, and what bits and pieces I want on it (Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest?). What’s my author brand, and how do I develop it? I’ve only got my tippy toes in the social media waters right now. Facebook confounds me; Twitter is a mystery; and how does anyone manage the number of passwords and logins required online? (Please. I’m begging you. Figure it out and let me in on the secret.)

And to complicate matters, I’m off to visit family for two weeks—family with worse Internet service than I have here, which is to say, one small step away from dial-up. Trying to connect my laptop to the Internet in untested and remote locales could cause my spinning head to explode.

I’m feeling completely overwhelmed and out of my depth. Testing my sadly lacking techie skills on the cusp of my first book release should prove interesting (read excruciating).

Wish me luck!