The story does not end when you publish your book, says Richárd Meillear: Lord March Rain taught me more than writing . . .
I always dreamed of becoming an author. I had the story waiting patiently in my head for years, and I imagined that writing it while working full time would be the hardest part.
It wasn’t.
I had a vision of holding my finished novel in my hands. Unfortunately, the vision was a little fuzzy. It showed me the destination, but not the route. Once I stepped onto the road of self-publishing, I realised it was less like a walk in the park and more like climbing a mountain.
Beta Readers
Since I didn’t have the budget to outsource every stage of the process, I decided to edit the manuscript myself. For this, I knew I needed help from beta readers. To avoid problems, I sent out requests to more friends than I needed. You have to prepare yourself for this because everybody has a life, and life often rewrites plans not just for you but for everybody.
So, I sent out about 30 requests. About half declined immediately. The other half generously agreed to help. Then life happened, and by the end I had eight completed beta reads. I ended up hiring a professional to do beta reading. Finding the right professional takes research, but when you find someone good, the investment is absolutely worthwhile.
While I was waiting for the reviews (I gave my readers about four months), I tried to prepare other things. Like testing how to create an EPUB correctly using Kindle Create, sketching a cover design by hand, starting to make regular posts on my author page on Facebook, and planning what else I need to do for self-publishing my book.
None of these turned out to be as straightforward as I had imagined. Each step had its own rabbit hole. For example, Facebook posts need to have a picture attached; otherwise, they tend to disappear into the endless stream of social media. This led me to AI image generation because I wanted to create a unique campaign. AI image generation is much more complicated than I initially thought, and the pictures on my posts show the learning curve.
Improving the Story
Once I received the reviews, I analysed them and began editing my book. As I went through the whole book, I ended up adding a lot and removing a few sections. That part is a bit painful, but I had to let it go or amend it significantly to improve the story. The first versions of everything are rarely the best.
After editing and rereading a few times, I got a professional to do copy editing. I couldn’t afford more, but receiving help proved crucial. You need another person’s eye to find mistakes. Even Grammarly Pro, which I used throughout the process, isn’t perfect. I dismissed many suggestions because those changes would have altered the tone. Your book is unique because it is written in your tone and your style, not because it is grammatically perfect according to a tool. So don’t accept everything blindly.
After I finished the manuscript, I formatted it. Amazon has templates for all the trim sizes they offer, so I recommend using that. You save yourself the trouble of formatting from scratch. One more piece of advice. For financial reasons, I used Google Docs to write my book. It served me well while writing, but it is very limited in terms of formatting for book publishing.
Formatting
While I could guide you down the rabbit hole of formatting your book, I try to avoid reliving the headaches of margins, headers, hyphenation and chapter breaks. This part of the work made me respect people who do this for a living.
Once the formatting was ready, the next trouble was with the cover. I thought I had enough money to get a designer on Fiverr. Unfortunately, the good reviews for the designer I agreed with were false, but I learned that I should never accept something that doesn’t look like what I imagined. I ended up refusing the delivery and received a refund, but it still cost me a whole week.
It has been 20 years since I last used some features of Photoshop, but with the help of AI that told me how to create some effects, I created the cover in two days, so the 7-day trial turned out to be plenty for this. Again, use the cover template creator on Amazon to design the right size. It is there because a generic cover might not fit with your page count. I won’t go into the details, as the branches of this particular rabbit hole are just as many as stars in the night sky.
Amazon KDP
After the cover, I was finally ready to create the account on Amazon KDP. You need to prepare thoroughly for this, as it is a business after all. You have to provide your TAX and bank details.
Creating the account was actually easier than uploading the book itself. For that, I recommend checking YouTube videos.
YouTube is actually a treasure trove of How-to videos. When you encounter a problem, just Google it or search on YouTube. You are not the first person to meet with that problem.
And don’t be afraid to use AI. AI is excellent for guides. Not perfect all the time, but it saved me a lot of trouble. Starting from the research and ideas for the side stories of my book (historical research is its speciality), through the previously mentioned step-by-step guide for Photoshop, to the next step of building a simple website. AI never wrote my novel, but it became an incredibly useful assistant for learning unfamiliar skills.
I won’t go into the details of creating websites, because I might run out of space for my article.
The Neverending Story
All in all, for a self-published author, writing the first manuscript is only the beginning. And the story does not end when you publish your book.
Writing my novel felt like giving birth to a story. Publishing it felt like helping it learn to walk. One day, I hope it will find its own way through the world, but until then, there’s still a parent hovering nearby, making sure it doesn’t fall over. And that, perhaps, is a story for another article.
(c) Richárd Meillear
About Lord March Rain by Richárd Meillear:
What if death were not an ending, but a return?
What if every person who entered your life had already known you long before this one?
Lord March Rain is one spirit among many in the realm beyond death. After aeons and countless incarnations on Earth, he stands on the threshold of his next evolution, close enough to sense completion, yet still bound by truths he has not fully understood.
As he revisits the lives that shaped him, forgotten connections begin to surface through love, grief, sacrifice, and choices that echo across centuries.
But when his newest incarnation unfolds on Earth, the boundaries between past and present begin to fracture. Meditation awakens memories that were never meant to remain buried, revealing how deeply human lives intertwine, and how even the smallest actions can ripple through countless souls.
Can a soul truly evolve without first understanding the lives it has touched?
Blending metaphysical fantasy with spiritual reflection, Lord March Rain is a journey through reincarnation, memory, destiny, and the invisible threads that bind us together long after death.
Order your copy online here.
And see more Resource articles on Writing.ie here.
