Tony Denn
Well, since I am technically still "aspiring" myself as I write this, I guess I should only post what I've learned with my first three written novels (Never the Sinner is my first release, but I have two others that will likely never see the light of day).
The main thing is perseverance. A close second is patience. Keep on doing what you love, but do not be in a hurry to publish. Make it the best work you can, leave it weeks before editing so you have fresh eyes, employ an editor (no matter if it takes you 3 months to save up the fee, it's worth it), and beta-test the heck out of it. My original planned release date was the end of May, hoping to catch the summer market, but every time I took a step back to review it, my novel was just not up to a professional standard. I kept putting it back the more issues I found and in the end it is coming out on Sept 6th 2014.
The main thing is perseverance. A close second is patience. Keep on doing what you love, but do not be in a hurry to publish. Make it the best work you can, leave it weeks before editing so you have fresh eyes, employ an editor (no matter if it takes you 3 months to save up the fee, it's worth it), and beta-test the heck out of it. My original planned release date was the end of May, hoping to catch the summer market, but every time I took a step back to review it, my novel was just not up to a professional standard. I kept putting it back the more issues I found and in the end it is coming out on Sept 6th 2014.
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