Errata

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.  Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.  You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. — Neil Gaiman

So…

Getting some feedback on Pilgrimage to Skara and its all good to hear.  One thing for sure that is coming out is: I really fucking did this wrong.

Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart.  There’s a lot of work involved that one might not consider.  I sure didn’t.  Getting started in this process, I felt a like a blind and deaf man in a spherical room covered in Teflon and olive oil.

So it was kind of done on a wing and a prayer.  I did what I thought I could and hoped for the best.

After my first review, I was contacted by a kind soul who offered some blunt, helpful advice on what I was doing wrong.

Editor.  No, I did not use one.  Of all the mistakes I made, I should have seen this one coming, since I am a lousy, worthless copy editor.  Everyone who has read Pilgrimage has pointed out the numerous editing errors, even though I read through it … I don’t know, eight or nine times.  Professional editing would have prevented this.

Cover.  I’m a victim of my own bias here.  I am not a cover guy when it comes to picking books but I’m getting the idea that many people are.  And my cover was not well-received.

Publicity.  I did bupkis.  It showed.

The good news is that I have a blueprint for going forward.  I know what I need to do and have an idea of how to go about it.  If I end up self-publishing my Princess of the North series, I’ll be doing this differently.

So, pace Gaiman’s quote above, I am learning from my mistakes.  I tried something new and I am learning from it.  Never entered the SPFBO, and I might never have figured this out, or at least not as fast.  I might still be blind and deaf but the traction on the floor is better now. And if we’re going to consider mistakes as learning experiences, I have to go with this quote:

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. — George Bernard Shaw

Noted, George.  Noted.