Just a little over 11 months ago, I wrote a post titled I Finished My Book, but It’s Far from Over. Now, I’ve finished editing it. Well, you’re never really finished editing until it’s published. Even then, there may be future editions. Point is, I’ve come to a place where I need to find some other eyeballs. For my collection of eyeballs. Just kidding! I mean having other people read it. Particularly an editor. Therein lies the rub. Because editors are like unicorns – a few people claim to have seen them, but they’re extremely rare. And they possess some powerful magic:  they’re able to get your book published — or not. So I’m looking for my unicorn. Or eyeballs. Or unicorns with eyeballs. I mean magical unicorns with eyeballs. Yeah, let’s go with that last one.

It’s occurred to me that I could find 48 eyeballs – 24 people to read one chapter each. On the other hand, having a professional look at the whole thing is really important. Trouble is, they don’t come cheap. And there’s another rub. I’m not rolling in dough. Or flailing in dollars. Cavorting in cash. Etc. Someone who’s not a professional, while they may have great insights and good knowledge of the English language, know me well, or know about cycling or memoir, may still not know the intricacies of the publishing world. In fact, I may need an agent, too. Maybe first, someone who can find me an editor. Or a publisher who has their own editor. It’s complicated. Almost like a whole other skill set, knowledge base and a job unto itself.

But just having people read and give comments, not actual editing, would be useful. That’s called beta readers. And before you bravely and kindly raise your hand to volunteer, I’m not sure how if it would work to send my book out around the world electronically. You wouldn’t do that to a baby, but it’s not the same. Like I said before, the comparison is weak, but I do feel like I’ve given birth to something. But it’s still in the very early pupal stages, and is not ready for prime time just yet.

Some people have said to self-publish, and that means being my own agent-publisher-editor. That’s a distinct possibility, given the intense competition to get one’s book published. But I think I should at least try, first. I’ve put a lot of time and effort in, it would nice to make a little money off of it. Though that’s not the primary motivator. I want to tell my story and hopefully inspire others who may not be in the best of shape to become athletes, or at least fathletes (fat athletes).

So I need to do some research and find out if I really have to come up with a big chunk of change to hire an editor. If so, how much? Will I need to do a crowdsourcing campaign in order to bring in the big bucks? Or can I get it done the low-tech way by giving chapters to friends to read, especially folks I know in the bicycling community? It’s a brave new world, or more like, what fresh hell is this?

If anyone reading this blog has had books published, particularly a memoir, please feel free to comment. Or send me a gmail with my blog name. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to blog for now and see what happens next. Thank you again for reading and your support. You’re probably something of an athlete, too, so I guess you could call yourself an athletic supporter! Man, that’s an old joke. I’ll stick to my non-day job, which is not comedy writing. A Dude Abikes out!

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