The Outer Edge is now in the final phase of publication. The artwork is in hand, the cover precis written, the typeface chosen, the cover layout is in hand, the final edits and proofs are complete ...
Some authors have compared this final stage of publishing a new book to the expectation of awaiting the birth of a child, and it isn't a bad comparison. As an author you've laboured to create the story, often spending as long or longer researching the background than writing it. You've revised the original, revised the revised version and revised that until you are almost able to recite the work in your sleep. You've let editors read it and agonised over the critique they provided, then revised the areas they didn't like yet again, and finally you've got a finished manuscript.
But you're not finished yet. Now the publisher's editor will have another go, and you need to go through their changes, edits, corrections and polishing. Continuity issues have been checked and corrected where necessary, the whole checked for plagiarism of other work, and finally you're there. It's out of your hands. It's being set up for printing and for sale as an e-book, and your baby is about to be sent out into the world for readers to love or hate, for critics to tear apart or praise, and, you hope, that more people will like it than the other - and, of course, that it will at least repay the effort you have put into it.
The Outer Edge continues the Harry Heron adventure series. I think, and the publisher, Indiego Publishing, agrees, that it is an exciting tale. Graphic, humourous in places, dramatic and full of action in others. I'm in your hands. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.