The hard work never ends
A few thoughts on turning a story into a book
It’s done. I’ve completed the first Chronicles of Seraph book. All editing is finished, and I have the full story ready to go.
Well, ready for the next stage. There’s still a lot of work to do.
Writing a book is far more than ‘writing’. It involves planning. It involves editing. The first draft (the first ‘writing’) is often very different to the final version. And even then, when the story is completed, it’s not a book. It’s a file sitting on my hard-drive. At one point, before the proliferation of computers, it would’ve been a bunch of typed or even hand-written pages. The raw material of a book.
A story doesn’t have to be a book, of course. I enjoy writing (the ‘planning-writing-editing’ thing), and I’m proud of the final results. This could be enough. But I want others to read and enjoy my stories. I get satisfaction from seeing my stories in on-line stores, and holding physical copies of them, actual books. And, yes, I’d like to earn money from my stories.
None of that is going to happen if Kane (Chronicles of Seraph 1) remains on my laptop. So I have to turn the file into a book.
And even then, the work’s far from over.
I see this whole publishing thing as three activities. First, there’s the ‘writing’, ending in a completed story (or collection of stories). Then comes publishing, where the file becomes a book, out in the world for others to read and enjoy. Finally there’s marketing and promotion, activities designed to draw potential readers to the book and encourage them to buy or download. There is overlap between these stages — they’re not isolated — but I can only focus on one stage at a time. Now that I’ve completed the story, I look to publishing.
I want my books, even digital versions, to be as professional as possible. One aspect of this is the cover — it needs to look like a book cover rather than something I’ve thrown together in Photoshop (or worse). I’m no graphic designer, so this is something where I need help.
I hire professionals.
From the start of my writing journey, I’ve used a company called Deranged Doctor Designs, and I’m very happy with the work they’ve done for me. I did try someone else for my Shadows series, but those covers didn’t work, and I had the people at Deranged Doctor make new ones.
I already have the cover for Kane (Chronicles of Seraph 1) (I also have the cover for the second book, because I like to get covers done in advance). I’m all set to go on the ebook. But the cover for the physical book needs more information — a page count and the back-cover copy.
Let’s consider the page count first. To get this, I need to format the interior. I do this myself, and as I’ve been making my final edits I’ve been formatting, a chapter at a time. So I have the interior ready, right?
Not quite. There’s more to a physical book than the story. There’s front and back matter.
I tend to stick to the same layout for my front matter (copyright page and so on), so that’s a simple cut-and-paste job from previous books, changing details as needed. I keep things short and simple. People get the book to read the story, so they don’t want to flick through too many pages to get started.
Back matter’s a different beast. It’s where I encourage readers to continue reading my books. If they’ve enjoyed this story, there’s a good chance they’ll enjoy more, so I want to point them to those stories while I still have their attention.
So, a list of other books I have, right?
Sort of. I used to do this, but as my back-catalogue grows I tend to list series, with a short note about the kind of stories they contain, and links where readers can find them. Readers of one series might not be interested in another series.
As I write in series (primarily), my first call-to-action will always be the next book in that series — an image of the cover, the back-cover copy, a link and QR code to help the reader find it.
But Kane is the only Chronicles of Seraph book I have out at the moment, so I need something else.
This is where my mailing list comes in. If I can keep in contact with readers of my books, then I’m not reliant on other sources to let them know when I have a new book out (or when I have a deal or promotion running). So I want to encourage readers to sign up to my list.
To give more incentive, I use reader magnets. For my three previous series, I wrote a stand-alone novella set in that series-world, and offered this for free. I don’t have that for Kane. But what I do have is a deleted scene. It’s an episode that originally took place fairly early in the story, but I cut it because it slowed the pacing and didn’t tell the reader anything new. It’s a decent scene, though. So I’m editing it, turning it into its own short story, and I’ll offer this to readers of Kane if they sign up to my list.
They’ll also get those novellas connected to my other series, but I won’t tell them about that straight away. It’s good to over-deliver, right?
So, my back matter is now a brief thank-you for reading, an offer of that deleted scene, and a list of the other series I have available. Oh, and I’ll push Grim Khonsu after the deleted scene stuff, because that series (serial) is in the same story-universe as Chronicles of Seraph. And it’s free to read.
With that sorted, I have a page-count. Now I need that back-cover copy.
I’m constantly learning about writing effective copy, and I know I won’t get the back-cover text right first time. I usually use the same text on the cover as I do for descriptions on Amazon and Kobo and so on. As I spot improvements, it’s easy to amend the on-line text, but not so easy for the physical covers. So, I need to get it as close to perfect as I can.
I’ve been using AI to help with this. I fed the story into Claude, and had a back-and-forth. It gave me ideas, and I said what I liked and what I didn’t.
The back-cover copy isn’t a simple synopsis of the story, of course. Ultimately, it’s sales copy (it’s a part of marketing). The job of the back-cover copy (and the description on-line) is to encourage a potential reader to make a purchase. They’ve already been attracted by the cover, so I need to hold their attention and convince them this is the book they should be reading.
I’ve been doing a lot of work recently on branding, looking at what makes my stories mine. It boils down to my characters, especially how so many of them are struggling to retain their humanity in the face of threats from technology, from oppressive regimes, from societies that view them as numbers and assets. This theme runs through Kane as well. So, while the copy gives some details of ‘plot’, it focuses on the main characters’ struggles. Readers might be attracted to plot, but they stay (and want more) because of the characters.
I might go into more details another time. For now, I have something I’m happy with.
So, I have my back-cover copy, and I have the page count. I can give my cover designers this information, and then I’ll have the files for the physical covers. I have the formatted interior of the physical books, and I’ve formatted the ebook file.
And this is far from the end. I need to upload these files. I need to decide on pricing. I need to order proof copies of the paperback and hardcover. I need to input meta-data (including keywords and categories, which means doing a little research). I need to decide on a release date.
Then, with the book ‘published’ (or set to publish on the date I choose), I need to turn to promotion. I need to consider how I’ll get this book in front of potential readers.
Which is a whole other topic.
Is it all worth it? I got into this because I wanted to write. Why put myself through all this extra work?
Because I want others to read and enjoy my stories. Writing is two-way communication. Keeping my writing to myself is like talking to myself. It might be good in the moment, but it’s of limited value.
So I’ll accept this extra work. Now that I’ve done the hard graft of producing this story, I’ll put in the time and effort to bring it to others, because stories need to be shared.