Things are starting to come together! This might be the last post in a short while — or the last in this format.

Now that “Blood Game” is a little over four months from its planned early-February release, one of my essential chores will be to spruce up this website. I created it a few years back, knowing that a website would someday be necessary, but I didn’t put too much thought and effort into it. Web design isn’t one of my skills, and besides, a functional author site wasn’t really necessary back then. It will be soon. Don’t be surprised if this site is down or disheveled in the coming month or two.

The front cover of the book is done, beautifully created by the team at Miblart.com in Ukraine. Back cover still needs tweaking, mostly just to get the blurb positioned correctly. I’ll be showing it off before the end of October, about the time I’ll begin the “marketing.”

Meanwhile, I’ve completed the seventh draft of “Blood Game,” the last draft other than the copy editing (that’s where Becka goes through and does a last sweep to catch any last remaining errors). The interior of the book is essentially done, and will include title page and dedication before the story, and after it will come Acknowledgements, a sneak preview (first chapter) of the sequel “Crying Call,” and About the Author.

And so begins all the other chores toward publication. Copyrighting the work, and buying all the ISBNs. Uploading and formatting everything into IngramSpark, the publisher so they can print and distribute through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers. None of these little chores are hard, but as it’s my first time, there’ll be a learning curve.

Most of the work will be “marketing.” The upsides of self-publishing are the freedom, independence, and better profit margin per book. The downside is not having an international marketing team hyping and promoting me. I’ll need to contact influencer-type people and media people who might help me get the word out. I’ll also need a better social media presence, and have begun making videos on BookTok (that’s TikTok for book folks). Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to do silly dances, though.

It’s a strange feeling … I’ve never been the “hey look at me!” type, probably due to a childhood of being paid way too much attention. But it’s an essential part of self-publishing, so … HEY, LOOK AT ME! I’ve got words over here! Words, people! And they tell a pretty good story….