I am eternally grateful for the friends and support that I have had on this amazing journey. From my wife and and kids to the incredible friends that have helped me put Star Skimmer together. They have offered up inspiration, guidance, love and belief in my story that I have found valuable and I treasure them more than they will ever know. It provides me with not only insight, but also a sense of validity that pushes me forward.
I have two remarkable alpha readers, a slew of betta readers, a wonderful publishing team and a phenomenal editor. Some people will never appreciate the enormous amount of work that goes into writing a series, and it would have been a struggle without those fantastic people helping me along the way. I wanted to take a moment to thank them and share what the process looks like for each book.
Obviously, it starts with a story. In this case, a bedtime story inspired by my sons. As I begin to write, I tackle the project a chapter at a time. I will often edit as I go, but not so much that it tangles me up in uncertainty and second guessing -which is a blessing to be sure. After a chapter is complete, I will edit again to iron out the wrinkles and to catch mistakes, usually missing words, spelling, some grammar, but mostly the flow and cadence.
When I'm happy with it, I send it off to my alpha readers to garner feedback and to ask questions to make sure what I'm trying to portray is both clear and concise and that the story is fun and easy to comprehend.
When the story is complete, I then painstakingly merge all of the separate chapter files into one document. I then do another round of edits and read through to tidy it up a bit more. Then begins one of my favorite parts of the process- the scrutiny! I sit down with my editor once a week for however long it takes and do the final edit. A line by line read through in which we take a very hard look at plot, continuity, phrasing, flow, sentence structure, spelling and grammar. My scrutinizer just so happens to also be my best friend.
The first go around, I had to go through the arduous task of finding representation. This is the part of the process in which you send query letters out and a sample of your work to agents and publishing companies. I didn't initially keep track of how many submissions I sent out, but over that first year, I'm certain that it was somewhere between eighty and ninety. Eventually I got the nibble I was looking for and accepted an offer through Fore Shore Publishing in England. It turned out to be a very good fit for me. They provided copy edits, cover designs (some of which we used for the posters) marketing and placing the finished product into book stores. A partnership that has brought us to where we are today.
I'm not naming any names. One, I respect their privacy, but also because I love them so much that I want to keep them all to myself. If you know, you know- and they know how much I love and appreciate them. Thank you all so much for the love and support, I really couldn't have accomplished this without my amazing team, the publishing company team and the support of my family, friends and fans. I am blessed.
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