My debut novel is published...but the work has only just begun.

 made it.  I wrote a novel, I edited the novel, I got folk to read it and tell me their thoughts.  I edited it some more.  My editor edited it.  I did a bit more editing.  Then it was proof read.  Then published.

Meanwhile I've been taking the amature's approach to marketing and graphic design.  Sure, I employed a good cover designer but the final cover has a few tiny flaws...these will get fixed by the way, so if you order a paperback any time soon, you will have a really rare first edition with tiny errors.  It will be worth millions, one day!  (I should note the flaws are my fault due to last minute page count changes.)

So for all the hundreds of hours I have spent building a Twitter following, making videos, building a website etc; at present, have a grand total of 15 sales three days after publishing.  Along with my Kindle Unlimited earnings, I have made a grand total of almost £30 so far.  Wehoo!  it was definitely worth quitting the day job for that.

OK, so it all sounds rather depressing, but I get that Rome wasn't built in a day and in fact, when you build anything you spend thousands on the foundations before you even start to see something tangible emerge from the ground.  That's how I'm looking at things.

I've published one book.  It took a lot of time and effort.  But I've written six of them, I have two more that are almost ready to release and from research/experience/a bit of a hunch, I think that when I have some more out, success may well breed success.

My thought process is that people prefer to read books in a series (especially in the fantasy genre).  They also like to read books with reviews.  At present, I have (almost) no reviews and no sequels published.  For a reader to invest in my book it would be something of a gamble for them.  Why would they do this when there are thousands of other books with reviews and sequels available?  Um, most wouldn't.

I've published, but I need to get reviews.  Hopefully over the coming weeks a few will trickle in.  I then need to get my sequels out.  After that I'll really try to push my novel, this time with a bit of cold, hard cash.

Right now I'm doing lots of things that cost me almost nothing.  I'm building the foundations.  I'm getting a Twitter following, I'm collecting newsletter subscribers, I'm creating content for YouTube and TikTok.  When books two and three are out, I'll consider my foundations built.  Then I need to start on the walls, the roof and the main structure.  I see advertisement as the building shell.  It's how I start properly telling the world my book exists.  people will begin to see my creation emerge from the ground and become curious about it.  It's like the big 'coming soon' sign you see outside a new development.

At this point I hope more people will become intrigued by my project.  They will start to see the structure, they will see a bit of the build quality and begin to picture what the final building will be like.  They might just want to invest.

The final bit of a build project is the internal fittings and fixtures.  It's where you get the thing looking ready to occupy.  You fit the plumbing and paint the walls.  You start to look like you really do have an idea what you're doing.  For me, I see the second trilogy as being like the internal fixtures.  With six books out, I hope I'll look like I've got half an idea what I'm doing.  And I hope I'll also have at least a slack handful of reviews from people who can vouch for the quality of my work.

I have built a house from scratch, and have renovated many more.  Comparing writing to building seemed like an obvious comparison to me.  And to be honest, as I write this post it helps me realise how much more is still to do.  Sure, I've not exactly become an overnight best-seller.  But there aren't many reasons why I should, yet.  The real work has barely begun.