Road to publishing: Seeking guidance

Well, here we go, Sword of the Nation’s third draft is still fresh after getting out of the metaphorical oven a week ago, and other than the name of one particular character that I’m still very indecisive about, everything’s good to go to proceed with the next phase.

Now, here’s the thing. I have zero experience when it comes to publishing a book and all that stuff, this is my first time writing a novel, and while I’m sure it ain’t perfect, I’m confident that it’ll be amazing.

I am writing this post with one purpose: to seek guidance. I have no idea how to proceed from here because I’m a complete newbie in this world. My priority was to finish Sword and solidify the foundations of the sequels and its entire universe, which I’ll be working on the immediate future. First things first, I need to focus on getting Sword out there, it’s been too long now.

Most certainly, the next order of business is reaching out to an editor that can get this 660 draft the polish it deserves—don’t forget that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed out there, and English isn’t my native language, although I  shouldn’t be too hard on me because I’m pretty sure that even the most seasoned writer has required the aid of an editor.

The second order of business would certainly be a proper cover art, that’s something I’ll start exploring once the editing is underway. There’s a few styles and artists that have caught my attention. 

I’ve been doing some extra work over the past weeks to save the money for both editing and cover art, I hope I’m still not too far.

There are other nuances that I need to figure out and untangle that come with the reality of being stranded in Venezuela as of the time of writing this, such as Amazon Kindle Publishing, and the ability to print hard covers of the book and all that stuff, I’ve always wanted to have it in both physical and digital formats. And most importantly, what documentation and paperwork would I have to fill in order to be able to publish it, considering that: a) I’m a Venezuelan citizen, b) we’re basically disconnected from the outside world in many ways, and c) getting stuff like passports and whatnot here is a nightmare.

I’m still actively trying to legally migrate in a manner that lets me take my brother with me, and something is on the way with that regard—slowed down due to coronavirus for sure, but underway nonetheless, that’s something of the upmost priority that I have to juggle around with Sword’s publishing in tandem.

Whether or not I need to migrate first and publish later, or I can manage to get Sword out there while still being here is something that remains to be seen. Who knows, maybe it’ll all work out in the end all nice and smooth and I’m just overthinking things.

Lore updates are coming, I have two the pipeline to complete the second row on Sword’s hub page. In addition to that, I will be bringing the ones that I’ve posted over the past months up to date. By no means those will be the last lore previews I’ll post, many more will be coming over the next weeks.

Back on the topic of this entry, if you’re interested in editing Sword, or have any valuable insight over the entire publishing process for a rookie such as me then please, do not hesitate to contact me, I’m all ears and a blank canvas.

You can contact me through the following: