The Witch's Book of Numbers is a Whole Year Old! š„³
let's celebrate by talking about the publishing process.
HAPPY HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO MY FIRST BORN!
Buy TWBON from Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble, or listen to me read it on Audible! šøš¤š¼š„³
The Witchās Book of Numbers is a year old! Holy smokes, what a year it has been!
I look at this picture now, and barely recognize this person. While I do still own that dress, my hair is back to my natural shade of blonde, and while we would still have to travel to my hometown where this book event took place, an hour by plane from Los Angeles beats five and a half from New York! Itās absolutely bonkers to me to think about how much has changed in the course of a year.
And yet, there I am, and thereās that book I wrote! I see it in my house nearly every day! I picked it up just yesterday because Iām working on a new book proposal and am trying so hard not to plagiarize myself!
One of the most wonderful parts of the last year has been connecting with other published authors. The experience of writing a book can be incredibly solitary, no matter how many editors, designers, and other publishing professionals are involved, and every book deal is different. Especially if itās your first rodeo and youāre an unrepresented writer, the process can feel like wading through dark waters, wondering if anyone else has ever felt the uncertainty that youāre feeling.
Spoiler alert: They have! Almost everyone does! The publishing industry is purposefully opaque!
Now, this is larger conversation for another day, but to celebrate my bookās birthday, I want to share a little bit about its conception, in hopes that it can shed some light onto one possible publishing experience. If the WGA strike has taught us anything, I hope itās that we writers are stronger together.
My book was published by an imprint of a larger publishing/distribution house. While the parent company is well known, the imprint is a smaller operation looking to grow its list of books. Over the course of a few months, I worked with an Acquisitions Editor to drum up a proposal for what is now The Witchās Book of Numbers. After all parties involved were happy with the proposed book, we moved on to the deal phase.
The first thing I want to note here is that the work that I did with the publisher directly is typically done before trying to sell the book. Because you can sell non-fiction manuscripts on proposal (i.e. you donāt have to write the whole book in advance), a more traditional process would include putting a finished proposal out on submission, either to a publishing house that is open to direct submissions from authors or through oneās agent or manager. Itās rare that a publishing house will take the time to go through this step with authors themselves, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to grow this book with the help of supportive publishing professionals.
There are many steps to making a book, and the timeline for production varies from project to project. But I can tell you that mine was quick! My deal was inked late May of 2021, and I turned in the first draft on September 20, 2021. This means that I had just a little over three months to write the book. Thankfully, this book was truly a culmination of over a decade of personal study, and I felt ready and prepared to essentially brain dump on the page. However, so much of the writing process really does entail procrastination, staring at a blank page, and tearing hair out over specific phrasing that will only really matter to the writer themself, so Iād like my next publishing timeline to be a bit longer for the sake of my poor, frazzled nervous system.
After my first draft was turned in, it took a few weeks to receive notes back from my editor, which then turned into a cycle of revisions and further notes. From first draft to second draft, the focus was on adding additional or āmissingā content, and then the second to the third honed in on re-ordering, editing and addressing specific notes.
All in all, it was almost a year to the day from when I turned in the first draft to when the finished book hit shelves!
Reflecting on the process and the year thatās passed since it was published, I am incredibly grateful for how everything went, and I have a (long) list of things I want to do differently next time.
The publisher of The Witchās Book always says that publishing is a marathon, not a sprint, but I feel like I absolutely sprinted through the production process, and then got burned out after reaching āthe finish lineā of publication, which is really the starting point of a bookās true life. Then, in January, I got the opportunity to narrate my own audiobook, which was really important for me to do. But again, the experience was isolating, and the help that I did end up hiring (and paying for out of my own pocket) sexually harassed me during and after the recording process, which directly affected the ways in which I shared that achievement and offering publicly.
In so many ways, I do feel like Iāve dropped the ball on my book baby. But I trust that itās finding itās way into the hands of those who need it, and now that itās out there, I can continue to uplift it and celebrate it for years to come. Iām also incredibly gobsmacked and grateful for the ways in which its publication has supported my longtime, bucket list goals ā Iām a published author! Iām working on new books! I have an agent! If little me could see me now!
So thank you thank you THANK YOU to every single person thatās picked up a copy of my book. Thank you for every share, every recommendation, every social media post and comment. Just thank you. Your support means more than you could ever know, or I could ever put into words.
Iām also happy to share more specific experiences privately, so if youāre a writer looking for someone to hang out in the publishing mud with, send me an email! Iām here for you!
If this lil letter didnāt turn you off to it completely (š), please help me celebrate The Witchās Book of Numberās first birthday by purchasing a copy, leaving a rating or review, or sharing this post with a friend that you think might enjoy it. I wrote it for me and for you, and may it continue to live a full and lovely life for years to come.
So be it, so it is.
Buy TWBON from Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble, or listen to me read it on Audible! šøš¤š¼š„³