General Debut Updates

It's been several months since I started my Substack and it therefore feels redundant to keep updating this blog. Nonetheless, to celebrate the creation of this beautiful new website (thanks, Danika Corrall! You are a design genius!), it made sense to write a quick update of my debut experience in bullet-point form. So, without further ado, here is a rough overview of where I am in the process of becoming a debut author!

• Contract signed ✔

• Questionnaire about cover filled out ✔

• Developmental edits finished ✔

• Audiobook document filled out ✔

• Got a new agent (Obviously this isn't your typical debut milestone, but it is far more common than I ever realized.) ✔

• New website made (This obviously wasn't a necessity, but it just looks so much better!) ✔

• Copy edits finished ✔

• Books available for preorder (though I haven't advertised them, as we're still cover-less!) ✔

• Books available in Hachette Winter Catalogue ✔

And here's what I have yet to do...

• See a cover draft

• Receive pass pages

• Go on submission to foreign markets

• Choose audiobook narrator

• Begin working with PR/marketing

• Begin ARC campaign

• Start asking blurbs. (I'll be honest, this part is so terrifying to an introvert like myself!)

• Receive author copies

There you have it, in as condensed a form as possible! I'm sure I forgot some things, but this is the general gist. I'm working on not comparing myself to other debuts, since everyone's experience is different, and I'm working on being delighted at the small wins and not focusing on the negatives. To be honest, a lot of it still doesn't feel real, and it's nearly impossible to fathom what it will be like when my book is finally available for public consumption and therefore truly out of my hands. It's both exciting and terrifying to fathom, especially for a chronic over-thinker like myself. Seven more months, and my "book baby" will be out in the world! Somebody slap me, because there's no way this is real!