Faith Blum's Publication Story + Q&A

It was a dark and stormy night. Or so many pretend stories start. This one, however, started differently. And it's real.

My publication journey started with a Facebook message from a friend of mine. She told me about a writing contest. The winner would get their book published by WestBow Press. I didn't win the contest, but that book was a semi-finalist. The contest spurred me on to publish my book. I had recently made a couple of online friends who had independently published books of their own. They helped answer some of my questions.

I won't go into all the details, mainly because I don't remember many of them. I hired someone to design the cover. I definitely recommend that unless you are super good at knowing all the intricacies of book cover design. I also hired a formatter because I had no clue how to format a book, especially a paperback. At the time, I didn't hire a proofreader. I had my mom and sisters do that for me.

My biggest mistake with the first book was that I rushed it. My book was good, but not great. It still had many typos and a few loose ends I should have tied up. Those have now been corrected.

Since my first published book in November 2013, I have figured out at least a little bit of a routine of writing, editing, editing, more editing, and publishing. The marketing part is still coming. Slowly.

If I had it to do over again, I would delay the publication of my

book for a few months to make sure it was truly and fully edited. I would hire a proofreader to go through it and I would learn a little more about the craft of writing.

It's been an eventful journey, but one that I would gladly do all over again if I could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would like to open the floor now for questions. Feel free to ask Faith any questions you might have about writing, her writing, her writing process, or anything else you can think about. She'll be around sometime today to answer them!