Everyone loves to boast about their wins. Myself included. Don’t you? However, you can’t win all of the time. (Contrary to what kids’ soccer teams tell you nowadays when everyone gets a participation award.) It wouldn’t be realistic for me to only brag about the good things going on. I have first-time author fails, just like any other writer out there. And whoever tells you they don’t, is lying. Trust me.

However, what’s the best thing about failing? You still have a chance to thrive. Like Aaliyah said, if at first you don’t succeed, try again! And that’s what I plan on doing. Trying again and again until I get it right.

3 First-Time Author Fails & What I Plan to Do About Them

My book was rejected by the library.

And not just one library. Two. Two libraries! Being rejected is awful. I hate it. Maybe you remember when I wrote a post about all of the times my book was rejected by agents and publishers. It was brutal. But the library too? They don’t even want people to read my book for free? Ouch. That stings. I’m still trying to get The Manhattan Mishap into the New York Public Library. If Canadian libraries don’t want me, maybe American ones will.

The Manhattan Mishap isn’t available physically in stores.

This one is totally on me. Did you know that in order to have your book physically in stores, you have to purchase insurance? And it’s pricey. A little too pricey for my budget at the time of publication. Its purpose is to give retailers the peace of mind that if your book flops, they can return it. The reason I made the decision not to buy insurance? The pandemic, of course. What else? I figured most people are currently shopping online anyway. Once COVID cases simmer down, I’ll consider buying the insurance.

I regret the cover colour choice.

When I was first looking to design my cover for The Manhattan Mishap, I browsed through hundreds of other book covers. Most of them, I detested. (No offence.) They just didn’t feel like me or my novel. In the end, I knew I loved the idea of line drawings and some kind of cursive font. The last thing to decide on was the colour. It’s the same hue as Veuve Clicquot labels and New York City subway seats. Although, now that it’s printed, it feels a bit… aggressive. I don’t explicitly love it, but I’m living with it.

But what do all of these first-time author fails have in common? They can all be fixed. My book will get into the library. The Manhattan Mishap will be available in stores one day. And I can always design a new cover for another release. So, although for the moment I’m counting these as first-time author fails, they won’t be labeled that way forever.

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