Seven years ago this week I self-published my first book.
I was strangely casual about it (not the decision, just how I told people about it). I posted on Facebook that I was doing it and once the buy links were live, I’d post again.
It’s kind of hilarious in retrospect.
(Although the excitement was overshadowed by President Obama’s announcement that we had finally killed Bin Laden. Seriously, not kidding, same day.)
I reached out to some book bloggers and asked them to read and review, for good or bad, and I’ll always be eternally grateful that they did that for me. The reviews were overwhelmingly good, easing my anxiety over the choice to put my work out there.
But when I started the self-publishing industry was just starting to break out of the cliche molds it had been in. You know, boxes of vanity published paperbacks in rejected authors’ garages. And since it was still so new I didn’t totally know what I was doing.
I was lucky to have met my now-editor, Cassie, a year before I published. She was the only person in my sphere who also had a degree in the Literature world and I reached out for her help in line editing. We were so new to this that we didn’t even know what Track Changes in Word was.
It’s hilarious to think of now, but it also meant that Earth didn’t get quite the polish that subsequent books got. Cassie did a great job when she first tackled Earth for me, making it much, much better than it was. But we both agreed, after a couple of years of us both honing our crafts (Cassie even started her own editing company, Joy Editing), that Earth deserved a second look.
So, here on our seventh anniversary, I finally have the second edition of EARTH: Book One in the Elemental Series. It is tighter, better polished, and something I’m very excited to share.
I also took the opportunity to correct a few tasteless comments in the book. When I was teenager in the 90’s my friends and I had very cutting and sarcastic senses of humor. We ribbed each other and poked at each other. We knew it was in fun and we loved each other, but I know, today, we would have been more mindful in our choices. When I wrote Earth, I tried to tap into that teenager mindset I had and, as a result, there were some poor choices. I’ve rectified those. I hope I’ve caught all of them. If my thoughtless comments hurt you or offended you, I am truly, deeply sorry.
Those are the only real edits that we made to the content in the book.
That was probably why I put this off for so long. I never like to go back to creative work too many years later because if I wrote Earth today, it would be a totally different story and the characters would be different, because I am different. I was afraid that I would change the book too much if I tried to work on it now. So I just let Cassie work her editor magic on it, sticking strictly to grammar and structure and I left the voice alone. But there was no way I was going to let the “Flamer” jokes stay. I hope my readers understand and have grown with me on that as well.
So, if you’ve bought Earth in the past, I have uploaded the second edition to all ebook outlets. I believe if you just “sync” your libraries, the new edition should over-write on your device.
If that doesn’t work, I invite you to email me at shaunagranger82@gmail.com with proof of your purchase of Earth and I will happily get you a new copy. Kindle users, be sure to tell me your kindle email address so I can easily email your device.
If you’ve never checked out my Elemental Series, I invite you to check out Earth. It’s a YA series about magic and monsters, that hopefully is even better today than it was yesterday.
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The Musings of an Author in Progress 