[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]<\/p>\n
We usually share a post from our authors the day after their book comes out, and generally they are still happily basking in the post-release afterglow at that point. But how would they feel if we checked in with them once that has had a chance to fade? That question led us to follow-up with INKomplete Series author Mara Malins to kick off this week-long spotlight of her book series beginning with:<\/p>\n
By Mara Malins<\/p>\n
After working on INKomplete<\/em> for what felt like years (decades, centuries, millennia\u2026), the series was finally released into the wild back in November. All four novellas have been available to read for four whole months\u2014long enough for me to process the entire writing timeline from submission to publication. So, when Cori asked me for another blog, there was really only one thing I could write about; the aftermath of submission.<\/p>\n Anybody who has seen their work reach publication will go on an emotional journey that can be both exhilarating and draining at the same time. The stress, the anxiety, the outright determination doesn\u2019t stop just because somebody has said your work is good enough to publish. Oh no, I found out quite quickly that the hard work was just beginning.<\/p>\n That surprised me, to be honest. I thought my bit was mostly done as soon as someone said, \u201cYeah, let\u2019s get these into print.\u201d I\u2019d written the book afterall: what more was expected from the writer? I thought I knew what I was getting myself into (doesn\u2019t every aspiring writer?). We think we know each step of the process intimately. We read blogs, watch YouTube videos, share experiences about it. So I thought that after submission, there\u2019d be a little bit of tinkering on the final draft, I\u2019d need to work through the edits, maybe action one or two major rewrites to fix problems and then\u2026 it would just happen, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n Cori patiently explained to me at the time of submission that it would be an uphill struggle, that publishing with a micro publisher came with its own intricacies and that the work was just beginning. I nodded along and told her that of course <\/em>I understood that it would be hard work, that I\u2019d chosen a micro publisher because it was a better fit for my work (and reader, I still believe that!), but that I\u2019d work as hard as she needed to make these stories a success.<\/p>\n Despite my confidence and the pre-warning, I was wholly unprepared for the energy that we spent in getting INKomplete<\/em> from the point of submission to the final date of publish. The effort from everyone (shout out to my homegirls Cori and Elesha who did the lion\u2019s share) was absolutely staggering. Blog posts, promotions, emails, organised online publicity plans, sending out ARC\u2019s, gathering reviews, competitions\u2026 and this was on top of the expected tinkering and rewrites!<\/p>\n But do you know what?<\/p>\n I loved every second of it.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s been a slog. Just holding down a draining full-time job and then coming home to sort through edits, write blogs, and do everything else needed was tiring enough, but the learning curve was so steep! I don\u2019t think anybody but me was surprised when it turned out that I actually knew naff all about what happens after submissions. I had to learn a lot and I had to learn it fast.<\/p>\n But it was absolutely worth it. I genuinely believe that under the guidance of Cori, I\u2019m now a better writer. Not just because she picked me up on all my flaws (and you better believe that girl has sharp eyes. She doesn\u2019t let anything slip by!), but also because she explained the process to me, step-by-hardworking-step. It was\u2014and is\u2014like having a friend who led me to success.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think there could have been a better introduction to publishing than the one I\u2019ve taken. Now the dust has settled and I\u2019ve had a period of reflection, I can appreciate just how much I\u2019ve learned. But more importantly, I can truly appreciate just how hard everybody <\/em>worked to make this a success. I may have written the words, but it wasn\u2019t just my blood, sweat, and tears that went into the pages.<\/p>\n These are not my <\/em>books. These are our<\/em> books.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”INKarnate Cover 200×300″ _builder_version=”3.12.1″ saved_tabs=”all” src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/200×300-3.jpg” url=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/books\/inkomplete\/1-inkarnate\/” align=”center” global_module=”5949″ \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”INKapable Cover” _builder_version=”3.12.1″ saved_tabs=”all” src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/200×300.jpg” url=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/books\/inkomplete\/2-inkapable\/” align=”center” global_module=”5928″ \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”INKurable Cover” _builder_version=”3.12.1″ saved_tabs=”all” src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/200×300-1.jpg” url=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/books\/inkomplete\/3-inkurable\/” align=”center” global_module=”5932″ \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”INKonsolable Cover 200×300″ _builder_version=”3.19.18″ saved_tabs=”all” src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/200×300-2.jpg” url=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/books\/inkomplete\/4-inkonsolable\/” align=”center” global_module=”5935″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We usually share a post from our authors the day after their book comes out, and generally they are still happily basking in the post-release afterglow at that point. But how would they feel if we checked in with them once that has had a chance to fade? That question led us to follow-up with INKomplete Series author Mara Malins to kick off this week-long spotlight of her book series beginning with:<\/p> By Mara Malins<\/p> After working on INKomplete<\/em> for what felt like years (decades, centuries, millennia\u2026), the series was finally released into the wild back in November. All four novellas have been available to read for four whole months\u2014long enough for me to process the entire writing timeline from submission to publication. So, when Cori asked me for another blog, there was really only one thing I could write about; the aftermath of submission.<\/p> Anybody who has seen their work reach publication will go on an emotional journey that can be both exhilarating and draining at the same time. The stress, the anxiety, the outright determination doesn\u2019t stop just because somebody has said your work is good enough to publish. Oh no, I found out quite quickly that the hard work was just beginning.<\/p> That surprised me, to be honest. I thought my bit was mostly done as soon as someone said, \u201cYeah, let\u2019s get these into print.\u201d I\u2019d written the book afterall: what more was expected from the writer? I thought I knew what I was getting myself into (doesn\u2019t every aspiring writer?). We think we know each step of the process intimately. We read blogs, watch YouTube videos, share experiences about it. So I thought that after submission, there\u2019d be a little bit of tinkering on the final draft, I\u2019d need to work through the edits, maybe action one or two major rewrites to fix problems and then\u2026 it would just happen, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p> Cori patiently explained to me at the time of submission that it would be an uphill struggle, that publishing with a micro publisher came with its own intricacies and that the work was just beginning. I nodded along and told her that of course <\/em>I understood that it would be hard work, that I\u2019d chosen a micro publisher because it was a better fit for my work (and reader, I still believe that!), but that I\u2019d work as hard as she needed to make these stories a success.<\/p> Despite my confidence and the pre-warning, I was wholly unprepared for the energy that we spent in getting INKomplete<\/em> from the point of submission to the final date of publish. The effort from everyone (shout out to my homegirls Cori and Elesha who did the lion\u2019s share) was absolutely staggering. Blog posts, promotions, emails, organised online publicity plans, sending out ARC\u2019s, gathering reviews, competitions\u2026 and this was on top of the expected tinkering and rewrites!<\/p> But do you know what?<\/p> I loved every second of it.<\/p> Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s been a slog. Just holding down a draining full-time job and then coming home to sort through edits, write blogs, and do everything else needed was tiring enough, but the learning curve was so steep! I don\u2019t think anybody but me was surprised when it turned out that I actually knew naff all about what happens after submissions. I had to learn a lot and I had to learn it fast.<\/p> But it was absolutely worth it. I genuinely believe that under the guidance of Cori, I\u2019m now a better writer. Not just because she picked me up on all my flaws (and you better believe that girl has sharp eyes. She doesn\u2019t let anything slip by!), but also because she explained the process to me, step-by-hardworking-step. It was\u2014and is\u2014like having a friend who led me to success.<\/p> I don\u2019t think there could have been a better introduction to publishing than the one I\u2019ve taken. Now the dust has settled and I\u2019ve had a period of reflection, I can appreciate just how much I\u2019ve learned. But more importantly, I can truly appreciate just how hard everybody <\/em>worked to make this a success. I may have written the words, but it wasn\u2019t just my blood, sweat, and tears that went into the pages.<\/p> These are not my <\/em>books. These are our<\/em> books.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[154,135],"tags":[119,189,164],"class_list":["post-6498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inkomplete","category-spotlight","tag-guest-post","tag-inkomplete-series","tag-mara-malins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6501,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6498\/revisions\/6501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Aftermath\u2026<\/h3>