Sneak Peek #2 and Betas

I did this today:

Those are printouts of my book, bundled up with goodies for my first readers, aka betas. On Friday I finished getting it ready, and actually handed it out to a few people over the weekend–electronically and in person. I’ve been getting more copies ready today and have handed some out. I’m excited and nervous–a huge bundle of nerves, actually–and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to sleep this month.

Luckily I do have other things to keep me busy (yes, always my four kids, but I actually meant other book-related things). Which is good. I’m going to create a couple of different cover designs and post a poll to get your input on which one is best and I’m going to figure out how to format the book properly for all the different platforms. I’m looking forward to doing all that because it just brings me closer to releasing this book. After I hear back from my beta readers, I’ll figure out what tweaking needs to happen, do it, then put it in the hands of my copy-editor/proofreader. Then, holy cow, it’ll be ready for upload and launch.

And after all that? I’ll start writing the next book. (Nothing but excitement, around here, I tell you!)

Of course, this makes it sound quicker than it will actually happen. I’m hoping to hear back from all my betas by the end of August, then I’ll have revisions to do. When that’s done Steve will do a line edit. And then my copy-editor will get it. After I get it back, I’ll do the formatting and then go through it to make sure everything looks good. So realistically we’re looking at around 3 months, probably, before it’s ready to be put up for sale. I know, I know. I wish it were sooner too.

But, hey, in the spirit of letting others get a read, how about another sneak peek? This is the opening of the book, the first page.

Nothing like a little teaser to start out the week, right? Have a great one, everybody!