Readers only see the finished product

Kia ora,

When people pick up a book in a bookshop or library, they see the final product. They see your name on the cover and think, cool, this looks like a great book, I’ll check it out.

The cover of Northbound: Four seasons of solitude on Te Araroa, by Naomi Arnold. — A great book! Northbound: Four seasons of solitude on Te Araroa, by Naomi Arnold.

They don’t see the weeks (months, years) that went into writing the story. They don’t see the hours of revision, the rounds of editing, the back and forth with cover design, the layout tweaks and refinement. They just see the finished book. That’s it.

Books aren’t born fully formed like Athena bursting from Zeus’s head. They take time, patience, effort, and a team.

You know the amount of effort that goes into not just writing a book, but publishing one as well. It’s hard graft, but you keep writing, keep revising, keep refining, because you have a story to tell and you’re going to damn well tell it.

Your book is so much more than the finished product sitting on a shelf. It’s the effort you put in, the hours of solo writing, what you learn about yourself as you write, what you uncover and turn over in your mind.

But the results are worth it. If you’re in a writing funk, know that it will pass. Keep working towards your goal.

The process is all part of the final product: the book in your readers’ hands in the book shop.

Cheers,

Deborah

PS: You know me: I’m an editor, so of course I’m going to talk about editing. If you want to learn more about my part in the book birthing process, check out What to expect from an edit and What editors do behind the scenes.

📚 What I’m reading

Thanks to those who replied last week about what I should read next! You went for The Place of Tides, by James Rebanks. I’m almost halfway through already. Really enjoying the story. It’s meditative in places, calm and measured in its tone. A memoir-biography combo, if you will.