My first book, Empeddigo. It’s a complete and total mess, but… so was I at the time it came out. It’s been out for a good 15, maybe almost 16 years now. To be fair, I haven’t read it since it came out. So the details here are going to be with 15 years of not touching it. Frankly, I don’t really know if I can recall most of the characters’ names.
That doesn’t mean I can’t speak to mistakes I made while producing the book. As a writer, I’ve very much matured and grown since writing Empeddigo. Look at my works and tell me I’m wrong.
On the book production administration side, I’ve definitely improved, but there is still a long way to go. I still make mistakes when it comes to publishing my novels now. But for Empeddigo:
Mistake 1 - Not editing a lot more. This is really a writer portion of the problem, but the truth is I didn’t do a ton of editing after writing the first draft of Empeddigo. Sure, I did do a second draft, but it was more of a spit-polish than a critical read and edit.
Mistake 2 - Being inexperienced and/or cheap. Granted, this is largely due to inexperience at the time. While I did “hire” a friend to do the cover art for the novel, it’s not the highest quality. The book looks fine, but not great. And that absolutely is not a reflection on him. He was younger than I was and had never done a book cover before. At the same time, I had no funds to hire a proper editor or formatter, once again relying more on friend-favors and that type of thing than hiring someone. To this day, I still am not great at the formatting, but I want to be. I will say I totally screwed up the formatting of Criminal From Birth. But with the sequel likely coming in 2026, maybe I’ll do a format update and re-release for Criminal itself as well.
Mistake 3 - Rushing. To be fair, this really ties in with both the others, but it is what it is. I fell for the hype of finishing a novel during NaNoWriMo. While I wasn’t one to finish the book in November and turn around and try to publish in December or January, I simply didn’t allow myself the time to do things right. In all honesty, this is likely the biggest mistake in itself. But that’s always been a struggle for me: taking my time. I’m working on trying to be better about it, and 2025 A.F. is much better about it than 2010 A.F.
So if you’re working on your first book, the best thing I can say is… don’t be in such a hurry. Take your time. Be nitpicky. The rub is that it’s a whole other pit to fall into, seeking that perfection. Perfection is never going to come. There will always be something to tweak.
So… with my first book, the thing I did right?
I moved on from it. Sure, I did it prematurely. I really should have spent the rest of 2010 cleaning and preparing it before releasing, but… the fact of the matter is I didn’t sink into attachment. I was ready to move to a new project. That’s one huge thing. Sure, you can refine any art project indefinitely, smoothing edges, refining words, polishing for ages… but all that does come with diminishing returns. I wouldn’t have learned so much if I hadn’t moved on to my second book. And third. And more. With each one, I get new lessons, new experience.
I would be beyond shocked if there was an author who didn’t look back at their first book and cringe at something or other. Mistakes are learning experiences. I’m glad I finished Empeddigo and had the nerve to put it out there. If I took the idea now and tried again, would the result be better? Yes, absolutely. In all ways.
But it wouldn’t be a reflection of who I was 15 years ago. It was the book I needed to write and produce then. I’m proud to have done it. That’s enough.
That doesn’t mean I can’t speak to mistakes I made while producing the book. As a writer, I’ve very much matured and grown since writing Empeddigo. Look at my works and tell me I’m wrong.
On the book production administration side, I’ve definitely improved, but there is still a long way to go. I still make mistakes when it comes to publishing my novels now. But for Empeddigo:
Mistake 1 - Not editing a lot more. This is really a writer portion of the problem, but the truth is I didn’t do a ton of editing after writing the first draft of Empeddigo. Sure, I did do a second draft, but it was more of a spit-polish than a critical read and edit.
Mistake 2 - Being inexperienced and/or cheap. Granted, this is largely due to inexperience at the time. While I did “hire” a friend to do the cover art for the novel, it’s not the highest quality. The book looks fine, but not great. And that absolutely is not a reflection on him. He was younger than I was and had never done a book cover before. At the same time, I had no funds to hire a proper editor or formatter, once again relying more on friend-favors and that type of thing than hiring someone. To this day, I still am not great at the formatting, but I want to be. I will say I totally screwed up the formatting of Criminal From Birth. But with the sequel likely coming in 2026, maybe I’ll do a format update and re-release for Criminal itself as well.
Mistake 3 - Rushing. To be fair, this really ties in with both the others, but it is what it is. I fell for the hype of finishing a novel during NaNoWriMo. While I wasn’t one to finish the book in November and turn around and try to publish in December or January, I simply didn’t allow myself the time to do things right. In all honesty, this is likely the biggest mistake in itself. But that’s always been a struggle for me: taking my time. I’m working on trying to be better about it, and 2025 A.F. is much better about it than 2010 A.F.
So if you’re working on your first book, the best thing I can say is… don’t be in such a hurry. Take your time. Be nitpicky. The rub is that it’s a whole other pit to fall into, seeking that perfection. Perfection is never going to come. There will always be something to tweak.
So… with my first book, the thing I did right?
I moved on from it. Sure, I did it prematurely. I really should have spent the rest of 2010 cleaning and preparing it before releasing, but… the fact of the matter is I didn’t sink into attachment. I was ready to move to a new project. That’s one huge thing. Sure, you can refine any art project indefinitely, smoothing edges, refining words, polishing for ages… but all that does come with diminishing returns. I wouldn’t have learned so much if I hadn’t moved on to my second book. And third. And more. With each one, I get new lessons, new experience.
I would be beyond shocked if there was an author who didn’t look back at their first book and cringe at something or other. Mistakes are learning experiences. I’m glad I finished Empeddigo and had the nerve to put it out there. If I took the idea now and tried again, would the result be better? Yes, absolutely. In all ways.
But it wouldn’t be a reflection of who I was 15 years ago. It was the book I needed to write and produce then. I’m proud to have done it. That’s enough.
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