It takes a village

I completed my first e-book today (for The Arrival).  I've never used an e-reader, instead preferring my almost maddening addiction to paper books, so I have no idea how it compares to other e-books.  I feel like I rushed it, and partially I know why I feel that way, but I don't really know if it matters.  The bonus illustrations at the end of the paperback gave me quite a bit of trouble and I nearly chose to omit them altogether.  However, I didn't think that fair to the reader, so I figured out a way to include them and must hope that it is good enough, which is not something with which I am usually content.  Before MS and Cancer, and the Stone Soup that makes up my health, I was a perfectionist and a control freak.  I don't know that I am either, any more.  I am barely in control of anything at all, and being a perfectionist requires too much energy, but this project has been so close to my heart, for so long, that I want to produce the best result possible.  I hope I did.  Hence, "it takes a village."

If not for the reader, electronic or analog, books serve no purpose, which reduces authors to nothing beyond our own egos.  Readers make up the bulk of "Team GO BOOK!" with the author falling back to watch the charge and momentum build, like a coach on the sidelines.  (I know!  I just used a sports metaphor.  Correctly.  Go sports!)  Sure, a coach can yell, but the coach isn't playing.  Once the book is out, its success or failure is decided by the reader.  And we authors get to learn from both success and failure.  Yes, we "get to."  It's an honor that anyone would pick up a book and want to read it, even more so if the person is paying for it. 

And so, through comments and reviews, I will learn about my first e-book and where I succeeded, where I failed, and where I landed in the Goldilocks Zone.  The same will happen with the paperback, as well, but I don't have that same anxiety of not knowing with a physical copy.  I own a few books and am happy with the layout, formatting, font, etc - all the technical aspects of something tangible.  I am not at all comfortable with the intangible, especially when I've never seen another e-book for comparison.  Now, the story - that's all subjective. 

Some people will like it and some will hate it.  I can't help that.  I like it and I'm pleased with the end result.  I can't ask for much more than that . . . except for, of course, the reader's enjoyment.  I thought I was the happiest I'd be in this process the moment I received my first physical copy, finally seeing my manuscript, a rough stone, polished into a beautiful gem.  I love it.  But then my friends and family and others appeared, jubilant and excited, and began receiving their copies, and I was even happier!  The excitement is infectious and builds a new anxiety about reception, anticipating those first opinions, comments, thoughts, reviews. 

I look over at my book and I am happy.  To me, it's a success.  It's a huge win out of a decade of trials.  I am excited to see and hear the response.  I am excited to learn from it.  Mostly, right now, while I'm happy to have the e-book out, I am insecure about how it compares to other e-books in format and style, and readability.  These are the reviews from which I will learn the most.  And that is why it takes a village.  Without the reader, I wouldn't learn anything at all.