The Long and Painful Road to Publishing Economy of Fear

Today my novel The Page Turners: Economy of Fear went on sale.

Getting this book published has been a long and painful journey.

The manuscript itself was completed in late 2013; however, it was put on hold so that I could create my online course, The Novel Writer’s Blueprint: Five Steps to Creating and Completing Your First Book.

Then it was pushed back further so that I could create the book version of The Novel Writer’s Blueprint.

Then I realized what my writing students and coaching clients really needed were a book and course about overcoming fear. The novel was therefore put on hold again so that I could create the Smash Fear and Write like a Pro book and course.

It was late summer of 2014 before I was finally able to return to the novel.

The Page Turners 2I emailed my cover designer, and asked him to get started on the cover. Months later, he still hadn’t provided even a first draft of the design. Then he stopped answering emails completely.

Luckily, my editor, who also happens to be my interior designer, is multi-talented, so we added the cover to his list of tasks for the book.

Editing moved slowly throughout the fall of 2014.

As fall became winter, my editor, who had always been quick to respond throughout the two years and three previous books we’d worked on together, began taking weeks to respond to emails.

Then, in early 2015, when we were 90% of the way through the interior design process… he disappeared completely.

Poof. Gone. Vanished.

I considered him a friend, a valuable creative partner, and an integral part of the process of creating the Page Turners books.

It took two months of sending emails and posting messages in our project management system, Trello, before I finally came to terms with the fact that he was gone and not coming back. (Where he disappeared to, I still don’t know.)

I hired a new cover designer, Derek Murphy, and after two months he had produced a great cover.

I hired a new interior designer, Caroline Frechette, and she designed the paperback and ebook interior.

And now, finally, on July 6, 2015, the book has gone on sale.

It’s been a long, agonizing journey, but The Page Turners: Economy of Fear has finally published.

You can buy it here. I think you will like it.

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Kevin T. Johns is an author, writing coach, and ghostwriter. He helps authors from around the world get their stories out of their heads, onto the page, and into readers hands. Grab a free copy of his short guide for authors by clicking the image below.