Birthing a book – part II

IT'S A BOOK !!!

 Welcoming another book to the Rose/Nettleton shelf

        An Uncertain Refuge

        Born to Carolyn J. Rose

        May, 2011

        100,000 words

        

 

        

        

        Recently I compared writing a novel to being pregnant and compared publishing a book to delivering a baby.

        Well, here’s the official announcement. An Uncertain Refuge emerged from my keyboard and became a Kindle and Nook last week.

        So far, it seems happy and healthy in the e-nursery with thousands of others. The text is relatively free of blemishes and it has all (or almost all) of its commas and periods. It just got its first review and more readers every day ask to hold it.

        That’s gratifying because An Uncertain Refuge had a long gestation and a difficult birth. 

         235 agents turned down the opportunity to deliver it to a publisher.

        Eventually I considered the state of the publishing industry and decided on a “home delivery.” With the assistance of cover artist Allen Chiu and the support and coaching of digital conversion midwife Kimberly Hitchens of Booknook.biz who kept telling me to keep breathing and schedule a panic attack later, An Uncertain Refuge became an e-book.

Next month Patty G. Henderson will create a print version and a friend whose job was out-sourced to India will help me wedge it all into a template and enable the book to stand on its own two covers.

        Given all that, it’s hard for me to let go, hard not to check on it several times a day to see if it’s still making friends.

And it’s harder still to admit that there’s nothing I can do if it isn’t. I’m not going to be the kind of author who jumps in to defend a book and ends up in a vitriolic exchange that goes viral.

Honest.

I’m not.

Really.

I promise.