Guest Post from Annalisa Crawford, Author of Cat and the Dreamer

Today I’m delighted to host Annalisa Crawford, who just released her first novella in ebook form. I think many of you may know Annalisa already, as she is very active and supportive in Bloggiland. I know that I’ve seen her comments when I’ve visited many of your blogs, so I hope you’ll say Hi to her while she’s visiting over here.

The links to Annalisa's book are listed at the end of the post.
All right then, Annalisa, Take it Away!

ANNALISA SPEAKS:
First, I'd like to say a big thank you to Melissa for letting me run riot in her wonderful blog!

I'm Annalisa Crawford, and my first novella, Cat and the Dreamer, has just been published by Vagabondage Press.

This is the part of the process - the looking back part - where I thought I'd be able to share all the things I've learnt. I thought I'd be able to give something back to all the wonderful bloggers who've been so helpful to me. But the problem is, it went so smoothly, I don't think I've learnt anything at all! I have a publisher, so a lot of the problems I've read about on other blogs just haven't applied to me, because the 'publishing bit' was out of my remit.

Still, I’m happy to share the few things that I did learn! Here’s my list:

* Learn to be patient. ePublishing is a lot quicker than print publishing, so when you don't hear from your publisher for a month, or longer, don't panic. Things are happening behind the scenes! When my MS was accepted, I was given the release date. And we met it. Granted, I didn't see the front cover until a week before, and I passed the final proofs back four days before... but it didn't matter. Breathe and be patient.

* Listen to the editor, but feel free to disagree with their changes. All my edits were done using 'Track Changes' in Word which was brilliant (no need to know all those strange editing marks that they put at the back of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook - do they even still do that?) Anyway, I made all the changes she suggested. Then I stopped and thought, 'Actually, I liked that comma there, I wanted a semi-colon and not a full-stop'. So I opened up the file again, and considered each change more carefully. I still made a lot of the changes, but not all.

* Keep on top of your current WIP. I stopped writing when I got the email saying yes! I danced around the room, I kept it a secret for a fortnight or so, and I forgot to carry on writing. Even now, I'm editing and rewriting small parts of a previous project, rather than redrafting my novel.

* Stop saying 'It's just an ebook'. Did you see what I did there? JUST! I'm basically apologizing for the fact you can't buy it in Waterstone's. No, it IS an ebook, there's no just. Learn to big it up, learn to be proud. (Still learning this one, I have to choose my words carefully when I'm talking to people)

* Don't be ill the week of release so you can at least have a celebratory lunch with your hubby/wife/best friend/cat. I haven't celebrated yet. Yes, this week has been great, but it could have been better. I've just remembered a bottle of Champagne that someone bought me for the purpose of celebrating - no fear, it will be opened soon!

You know what? I think that's everything! I did warn you it would be short. I'd love to hear what you've all learnt from the publishing process.... you might have a better list than me.

OKAY, BACK TO MELISSA:
Thank you Annalisa, for generously sharing your experience and thoughts.  I think your list is actually quite helpful! Personally, I plan to use “Big it Up” as often as possible!

Wishing you wonderful good fortune with your book. By the way, I just down-loaded it to my Kindle and look forward to reading it.

Okay, here are Annalisa's links; I hope you'll check out her book, her blog and her Facebook page:

ANNALISA'S BLOG
VAGABONDAGE PRESS
AMAZON KINDLE U.S.
AMAZON KINDLE U.K
FACEBOOK PAGE