Shift Work, the first novella in the three part Night Shift series, is up for pre-order on Amazon (out March 19) and GOOD GRIEF! I am knackered.

I have never self-published before. I was with Morrigan Press for two books and some short stories, then Torquere Press for a couple of novellas, and then Dreamspinner for a whole bunch of books. I like being with a publisher! The fear of letting people down keeps me from missing deadlines, slacking off, or letting an edit slip in a few days late. I had this idea, though, and it was a bit odd! And I wanted to try this format (three linked novellas that I’d bundle at the end of the run). So I pubbed it through Rogue Firebird Press.

I have been constantly RIDDLED with anxiety. Riddled with it, people.

So far, it seems to be unnecessary anxiety though, so that’s nice. I mean, fingers crossed I don’t find anything awful has gone wrong that I’ve just missed so far. Maybe I should say it SEEMS to have gone well!

It has been interesting, though. I did my own cover! That was tense since the only quality control was me, and I once put balsamic vinegar on my fried rice and ate it anyhow since ‘eh’. It came out quite well though! I’ve got the second cover finished and ready to go too. I’ve talked before about needing to know the basics of cover design even if you’re getting someone that’s professional to do your covers for you (I am not, btw. I’m good enough to do my own, but I’d not take money from anyone to do theirs!). I think that’s even more true now that I’ve done this. Cover designers are amazing and skilled in ways I do not know what of, but they don’t know your book the way you do so you need to be able to tell them what to focus on.

Not in a micromanaging way–no-one will thank you for that–but just in what character works best ‘on screen’ for the cover, what colours you think evoke the right tone for the book, what sort of ‘mood’ you want to convey. You might be wrong and you can discuss that with them, but that will help too!

Layout! That was a LOT LESS terrifying than I expected. I’ve had some experience with Indesign back when I worked on a literary magazine and it’s an amazing tool, but also an exhausting one by the time you finish. Turns out, you don’t need Indesign! Once I had my template set up I was able to do the layout for the book easily enough. I wasn’t able to do any of the fancy curlicues and bits that I’d been thinking about, but that is frankly for the best. ‘Don’t Over-Complicate Things’ should be my watchword. And yet is not!

What else have I learned?

That I can motivate myself, if only by ruthlessly bullying myself in a way no workplace would tolerate.

That Apple Books is the most finicky platform to put things on.

That I still need to do my header and ad images for Shift Work. Well, more remembered that. Still.

The importance of knowing what you need for paperwork before you sit down to sign up for/fill in paperwork for/upload things to. It makes it a lot easier if you aren’t having to get up and go scuffle through drawers.

Writing the blurb is still the worst part of the process! I wrote a whole book (a wee book, but still) and yet I stare at maybe 200 words and am like ‘Can I read and write? Have I forgotten?’.

I really should do a series bible as I go along instead of waiting to the end. I probably won’t, but maybe other people can learn from my mistakes!

So far, basically, so exciting 😀 We’ll see how the novella goes. It’s a bit of an odd idea, but I’ve had so much with it! It’s nice to be able to write something short(ish) and play around with how things are done. I hope it works out!

Don’t worry though! I’ll be getting back to my hanging series on DSP very soon. My schedule is very firm about that.

Shift Work is available for pre-order now on Amazon