I’m a big fan of making to-do lists. Not only do they help me keep track of things but when I have a visual representation of what I need to get done it makes me stress less. A month ago my to-do list for publishing A Shift in Shadows this fall consisted of:

  1. Get basic website setup
  2. Work with designer on cover
  3. Work with marketing person on stuff (this is where it all went wrong)
  4. Finish editing (HAHAHA editing is never done. Seriously someone needs to take this book away from me.
  5. Send manuscript to beta readers (see above on me never being done with editing)

What I failed to take into account was all the subtasks that would be created for marketing purposes. There are so many options for submitting a book to get reviews. SO. MANY. I’m doing a lot of research to figure out which ones are the best fit for me which takes a lot of time. I’m also still nailing down all the details for self publishing through Draft2Digital and Amazon. Not to mention direct-to-print options and audio books. I still have my original to-do list up on the whiteboard next to my desk and I feel like it’s mocking me. Stupid smug whiteboard.