Baby steps forward

January 2014 is the month of positive action on the book front. The month of commitment, and no going back.

Positive steps this month...

• Submitted application for business license. Waiting for that to be processed before I start registering for tax etc.
• Met book designers and discussed the project, what I'm looking for, and what services they can offer. I've decided who I want to use, just need to confirm with them and commit hard $$.
• Shopped around for photographers for author headshot and got some recommendations. There seems to be a fairly consistent "going rate" for a session, so it will likely boil down to who I feel comfortable talking to.
• Researched web site hosting and domain name registration. Again, it looks like I've made my choice, now need to set aside time to sign up and start putting together a simple site.

I mentioned in an earlier post that there's a psychological watershed involved in laying out hard cash for the first time. You'll notice that, although all of these steps involve expense, nothing has actually been paid out yet.

But today I made my first legitimate business expense.

In getting a book ready for publication, especially a first book, there are many strands of activity going on all at the same time. For a while now, I've been trying to guess which of these many strands would lead to that first tangible expenditure.

And the winner is ...

Art materials!

Now, off to do that cover art...