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Knowledge of our past is our inheritance. What we do with that knowledge will shape our destinies...

Monday, November 4, 2013

Citadels of Fire--A Four-Year Wait for Cover Art: My Road to Publication

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I finally got the cover art for the first installment of my historical fiction trilogy! (YEAH!) I'm doing a cover reveal on Wednesday on this blog and several others, so be sure to drop by and see it. It's kind of surreal, given how long it's all taken.

Let me explain. No. Is too much. Let me sum up.

Kremlins was the first full-length book I ever wrote. I remember that I graduated collect in December of 2009 and had finished the manuscript by then. I wanted to have a finished, full-length manuscript read to peddle as soon as I had my diploma. 
Source

At the time, it was entirely too long and terribly written, as all first manuscripts are. But it was a passion project for me, and one I dearly wanted to see published. Most writers complete a handful of books before they gain enough skill to actually be considered for publication by a traditional publishing house. It's common to hear a writer talk about their first book, and how terrible it was, and how eventually they realize how un-publishable it is and move on to other things.

That's probably what I should have done, just based on how terrible I know the writing was, but I loved the story. I very much wanted to share it to the world. Because of that, every time I learned something new, or found a way to fix a weakness in my writing, I re-edited the manuscript. I must have done it fifteen times. I also, somewhere in this time, I divided the manuscript into three parts. A trilogy, to make it more publishable.

 photo db3ad41a-5c50-4fbd-9144-b82fc0a76471_zpscce1d96a.jpgEventually, I had a fairly well-polished first book. It was picked up by Jolly Fish Press last year. Originally, it was supposed to be published in September, 2013. As the date got nearer, it got pushed back to October. Then, it got pushed back again. The first push was just a logistically thing. The second was because of the partnership of Jolly Fish and the international distributor IPG. (See my full post on the ramifications of that partnership HERE.)

So now, Citadels of Fire is set to be released in May of 2014, which a much more far-reaching distribution than originally planned. (Again, YEA!) And, finally, after all this time. I have cover art. Not that I'm entirely objective, or anything, but let me assure you: It's AMAZING!

Come back on Wednesday to get the first look at it!

What do you think of my publishing journey? Has anyone else waited so long for cover art?

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