rowyn | A Rational Arrangement: editing complete!

As I was doing my usual aimless webbrowsing this morning, I thought, "I should do something more productive. Like edit A Rational Arrangement ... oh wait, I'm done with that."

Right.

I declared last night that I was going to stop poking at A Rational Arrangement now, and officially handed it off to alinsa, who'd volunteered to typeset it for me ages ago.

My plan for the story from here goes something like this:

* Serialize it on LJ and Dreamwidth (under my existing Rowyn accounts). The serial will run three times a week, for 250 or so posts. (Come to think of it, I actually do have to poke at the manuscript some more to divide it into posts.)
* Possibly serialize it some other places at the same time, such as tumblr, or on its own site. "Its own site" does not seem worth the effort of creating; almost everyone I know who has their own domain complains about the effort required maintaining it and its unreliability. But maybe something will change my mind on this. All the cool kids have their own sites, after all.
* Create a cover for it.
* Not long after starting the serial (maybe a month?), release it as an ebook, so that people who don't want to wait for each post can buy it.

Possibly-optional steps:

* Set up a micro business for self-publishing purposes. I don't know how important this is, but some sources say it's useful for tax purposes to have your writing under its own business, and it doesn't seem like it'd hurt. Should research.
* Buy some ISBNs. Some of my friends who self-publish say you don't need to do this any more, and some of them still do it, so I should presumably research it further.

The cover is the part that feels like the most work, at this point. I don't particularly want to commission a professional artist to do a cover, for various reasons. The two biggest reasons are: (a) I don't think the book's odds of profitability justify the expense of a pro cover. It's a niche product for a niche genre and (b) I have no good ideas that would require a pro artist. I have been trying to picture how I'd illustrate the book in standard "here are the protagonists" romance style, and I got nothin'.

I have one idea for a cover that I like, which would be "smallish photograph of three overlapping wedding bands, against a dark background, with book title the dominant element." I might need to pay a photographer for this. I dunno. Presumably it'd be cheaper than paying for a cover painting, at least. This style of cover is popular in YA, which my book isn't, which is the main downside to it. The main upside is that I like it, unlike everything else I can think of.

I have no actual design programs. I will play around with ideas in ArtRage and see what I come up with.

I plan to publish the book under a pseudonym, probably "L. Rowyn". This would save me the trouble of getting social media account names that match my author name. Also, assuming I ever publish non-romance books, I'll probably do so under a different name anyway. Not out of a desire for anonymity, but because the markets are different enough that I think a different 'brand' makes sense.

I am probably forgetting some steps. What am I forgetting?

Also: yay! I finished editing a book! I've never declared victory on editing before. Exciting. \o/