Reedsy: What’s This All About?

So I was watching a Kindlepreneur video, and it introduced me to Reedsy.  I don’t want to take away from the video; you can watch that here.  The long and short is Reedsy seems to be a gift to the author world where it provides a one-stop-shop for your needs: Cover art, editors, marketing, you name it.

The down side? Well, because the company is very selective in who it links authors too, the prices are higher. How much higher? Well, that’s what this post is about. I’m looking to see if this company has what I want at a price I can budget for.

Signing up was easy. It took a few seconds. So next up was looking at what they offer.  Let’s start with editors. I’m happy with Sara, but it’s always nice to see what is out there.

I searched editors for Betrayed since that’s what I’m saving up for. I was pretty frustrated because I can find a paranormal romance editor, but just plain paranormal? Nope! Still I found an editor who looks great (worked for Angry Robot), so I sent a request for a quote. The good news is this makes it very easy to find the type of work I’m looking for. What I want to know though is what is the price range I’m going to need to budget for. I don’t know about other authors, but I have a very limited monthly amount I can budget with, and I need to see how this site’s services align with my budget. Unfortunately, I’d have to fill out the form to get a quote, and I don’t actually have time to do that right this second and write this post, so for now, I’m going to work on filling out the form and follow this blog up with more data.

I also looked up another service I truly want some help with: Marketing. So what if I want some help marketing Sojourn in Captivity?  Well, I found marketing for Space Opera, and I found a hit. I sent a request for a quote to him as well.  I actually filled this form out first.  We’ll see what we come back with.

The last thing this site gives (not nearly the last I’m interested in, just the last one I’m looking at today) is Book Reviews.  They offer a review for $50.  That’s in my budget, and reviews are helpful. The form was a little tricky, taking me a minute to figure out, but the gist is I upload my book and fill in some basic information, and then they have reviewers who look at it.

So the marketing information I requested took about 20 minutes to fill out. From here, I wait and see what comes back. We’ll follow this post (as I said) up in another, but my hope is this trial can help others see if this is a good fit for them.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

Caught is FINISHED!

After more time and revisions that I could ever count, I’m so very proud to say that my second book is ready to send off for review and, more importantly, publishing!  I don’t know that this feeling will ever get old for me, but I plan to enjoy every moment I can every time I reach this stage.  About a year-and-a-half ago, I published The Journals of Bob Drifter. I had no idea what to expect, and I honestly didn’t know what I was doing.  I just wanted to publish my book.

Caught is different. I’ve mentioned a few times. It’s darker, but I feel like it’s a step forward for me as an artist. I learned a lot from Bob, and I’ll always be proud of it, but if I’m not pushing myself to reach new levels of skill, I’m going to be irrelevant before I’m even heard of.

This process is still going to take some time, but it’s a matter of weeks now instead of months.  I want to send it to some reviewers (Kirkus and Red City) for cover blurbs. While they take a swing at it, I’ll probably address some style issues and do another proofread. One thing I regret about Bob was not doing another proofread.  It’s a problem that I’m not sure I’ll let stand for much longer, but I don’t have to make that mistake with Caught.  So there will be a lot going on here in my life. I’ll be setting up my book for publishing, waiting for the reviews to come back, and taking that time to do another read-through just because I care that much about fixing any mechanical issues that may pop up in the book.

I don’t have a release date yet, but I’ll announce that as soon as I get a few things figured out. What matters to me is first that my dream has come true a second time.  That doesn’t happen without God’s help, and a lot of help from some very important mortals as well.

I’d have to start here with my mom.  The reason for that is she had a nightmare once.  She told me about it.  I filed the thought away and the result is this book.  I love my mom. I think a lot of my creativity and drive comes from her side of the family, and this book is a result of her many conversations with me about stories.

Ben is my alpha reader, editor, best friend, and pretty much whoever else I need in life.  He is and will ever remain the first person I send my books to.  If I never sell another book (I’d rather sell a million), I’ll keep writing them so long as he enjoys them.

Rosa was the first person to read this book (and a very rough draft at that) after Ben.  I’d just gotten to know her and she picked this up to read and wouldn’t put it down. She took it home and read through it.  That was one of the first times anyone just read my work for the sake of reading.  It was a big moment for me.  This was before Bob came out, and I was very nervous about sharing my work.  She’s of the opinion this book was better.  I have a soft spot for Bob, but I’ll admit I feel confident this book is, at the very least, written better, especially after all the editing.

Marco Palmieri of Otherworld Editorial took what I thought was my final draft and showed me how to make these characters even more impactful.  He did this during an incredible transition in his career and some emotional struggles as well.  Even then, he and I sat over a phone call and hashed out the character and plotting of the book to find ways to amp up the development and growth of the characters.

Quintessential Editor did a few passes on my book.  He’s my continuity editor on this project, and I’ll keep working with him as long as he keeps putting up with my random messages and Naruto interruptions.  Corey, thanks for your unwavering support.

Peggy has become a huge supporter of mine after Bob.  She’s read a few key scenes here and there, and I can’t wait to see what she thinks of the finished product. She’s a one-person sales and celebration team who I’ve come to admire more and more since meeting her.

There are more, but these are the people who I wanted to give special appreciation to as I head into the publishing process.

So what do you do when you accomplish a life-long dream for a second time?  You start writing another story.  I’ll plow straight into Sojourn in Despair so that project can be finished by deadline.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Caught Update

For those following my Twitter feed, you may have noticed that my updates on where I was at with various chapters had stopped.  The reason is I’d reached an important benchmark.

A note on editing:  Part of the revision process involves beta readers and editors.  The editor suggested something that scared me if I’m being honest.  We discussed changing the main character’s arc.  This required some extensive rewrites and several polishing drafts.  This is where I’m extremely weak.  I’m the most impatient person I, or anyone who knows me, know.  I hate editing.  I write a book so that I can write another book, and then another.  So any time anyone so much as recommends a tweak, I’m already grumpy.  This time around, I’ve done a much better job of being patient.  Rushing a low-quality book to you all is just going to disappoint you, so I made the commitment to make those revisions and a few others.

Once I reached the half-way point and got the main character to where he needs to be, I wanted to get a few opinions on it.  Quintessential Editor was more than happy to take a look and provide feedback.  So what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks is going over the first half of the book and addressing whatever notes my betas brought up.  I’ve just finished those tweaks, and now I can move on to the second half of the book knowing I’ve made these corrections, and these corrections have made the book more compelling and more satisfying.

Example of a character arc.

Now that I’ve finished with the adjustment of the main character, I think edits will go by more quickly.  There’s still a bit more I have to address which will slow me down at times. I may also have to add a chapter or two, but I think I can realistically expect to release Caught this fall as promised.  I’m still aiming for September, but I won’t rush.

I thought this gave an opportunity for me to talk about revisions and keep you all in the loop because this process has always been fascinating to me.  Our work is an extension of ourselves.  Pouring our heart and soul into what we’re doing makes us very sensitive to anyone saying something wasn’t quite right or satisfying.  What matters is the story though.  It’s up to me as an artist to tell the story accurately in the best way possible.  By accurate, I mean true to the character.

That’s what made these revisions so challenging because I was concerned that the character would be forced to go in a direction he wouldn’t go.  I’ve very careful about not making  a change just because someone says it would make the book more successful.  If the character wouldn’t do something, I wouldn’t have him do something just because someone said it would help the book sell.

We don’t see strength through victory; we see it through overcoming adversity.

For this main character, it wasn’t so much about making him do something he wouldn’t, it was allowing him to feel and react to what he’d been going through.  Adversity shapes us, and it shapes our characters, so when Sal was put in this awful position, I needed to give him the chance to react and grow.  Ultimately I feel you all will be pleased with the final product.

I’m still impatient.  I hate the idea of delays.  I’m not done with Caught, I haven’t started Sojourn in Despair, and I’m stuck half-way through the discovery draft of Images of Truth.  When you’re an accomplishment driven individual, a bunch of half-finished projects is pretty much hell.  The way I get through this is to remember how much I hate poorly done projects.  I’m crafting the best book I can, and I’ll release it as soon as possible.  You deserve that much.

So I’ll keep you in the loop as I finish revisions.  I have a bit more to do with artwork before I can begin the publishing process.   Until then, as always…

Thanks for reading

Matt