My website promises to bring you along on my publishing journey, so here we go. I’m independently publishing a fairy tale called A Dress To Remember. This post will provide some background on why I’m doing it this way and how it’s going.

The Decision

In 2021, after having no success finding an agent to take on The Magic Carousel (formerly Rust Boy and the Brass Ring), I decided to give self-publishing a try with a stand-alone story that was written specifically for that purpose. During November (National Novel Writing Month) 2021, I wrote the rough draft of a fairy tale.

It was based on a short story I had started about twenty years ago but never finished. The story line focused on a princess who wants a memorable dress for a special event. She makes a deal with a mysterious dressmaker. However, the magic storytelling dress isn’t what the princess expects.

A Dress To Remember was never sent to an agent. After a single round of revisions, in April 2022, I entered it in the Florida Writers Association 2022 Royal Palm Literary Awards as a Young Adult unpublished fiction. I figured an award would be a positive thing for an independently published book to have. It did receive the Bronze Award in October 2022. (I would never recommend submitting a manuscript with only one round of edits.) The comments from the three judges were helpful in additional revisions to the story.

With future marketing in mind, I revised the manuscript and changed it from Young Adult to Middle Grade. That involved changing the main character’s age from fifteen going on sixteen, to a younger girl. No specific age is stated, leaving it to the reader’s imagination.

The Team

I gathered a team of professionals to help with the production of the book. I viewed this as a learning experience and soaked up as much knowledge as possible. The team consisted of an editor, formatter, artist/cover designer, and cataloging service.

Editing and Formatting

I selected Kingsman Editing Services for editing and formatting. The package plan included developmental, line, and copy editing, as well as formatting of the final manuscript. The developmental edit, which looked at the characters and plot, was done in July 2022. After more revisions, the story went to line and copy editing in early December 2022.

With the writing tightened and the words polished, the manuscript went to formatting in the second half of December 2022. Formatting is the process of designing the interior of the book for publication. This includes style choices for chapter headings, layouts on pages, fonts, copyright details, insertion of illustrations, and more. Attention to detail is critical to creating a professional appearance for the book.

Cover and Illustrations

Initially, I had no idea how to find an artist/cover designer for the book. During an online writing course, I asked the instructor how to find an illustrator. The answer was to look at a book I liked and see who illustrated it. While still on the computer for the course, I reached for the nearest book, which was Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull. Brandon Dorman was listed as the illustrator.

When the class was over, I googled Brandon Dorman’s name and visited his website. Brandon’s artwork is in multiple middle-grade series, including Goosebumps, Fablehaven, and Land of Stories. I wasn’t sure he would work with a self-publishing debut novelist, but I filled out his contact form and was excited when he agreed to work with me on A Dress To Remember.

The cover and illustrations went from early sketches to completed art. Since the cover is an important piece of marketing, I’m thrilled with how they turned out. There are two versions: the eBook cover, and the print version that includes a back cover and spine.

Cataloguing

A vital element to getting a book into a library is having a Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication (PCIP) block. This is the text that’s displayed on the copyright page. Cassidy Cataloguing Services quickly provided this block in December 2022.

Support Team

In addition to paid professionals, my team also included a community of authors who had taken this self-published journey already. Their support, advice, and experience proved priceless. I also had the assistance of several critique partners who helped improve the story. It took quite a team to bring this story to the readers.

The Publishing Process

There are multiple ways to publish a book, including eBook, print copy (paperback and/or hardcover), and audiobook. Likewise, there are multiple venues to make this happen. After much research, I decided to do the following:

• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for the eBook
• Ingram Sparks for the paperback and hardcover print books
• No audiobook

I bought International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) from Bowker. A unique number is needed for each format (eBook, paperback, hardcover). I also obtained a free Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN).

Finally, I set up accounts at the publishing sites and started loading the information and files needed to produce the book. The next step will be to finish uploading the cover and formatted text on both sites.

Marketing

Marketing will be a major effort for 2023. This includes topics such as the cover reveal, pre-orders, the launch, book reviews, promotional pieces, social media, podcasts, advertising, in-person events, and more. This will be the subject of a future blog post as I progress on my publishing journey.

My Independent Publishing Journey

The decision to independently publish a book was a big step and involves much work, expense, and coordination. My years of project management experience are paying off. The lessons I’ve learned from A Dress To Remember will help with the future publication of The Magic Carousel and other books.

Thanks for joining me on my publishing journey. Future updates will continue the journey.