Your First Finished Book!
Holy cow! How thrilling!
You finished the draft.
You've self-edited, ROLing - Reading Out Loud - at least once.
You've had the appropriate beta readers go through it, and you've made the necessary corrections.
Now, you're jonesing to have it be read by all the world!
WRONG!
Remember. It's your FIRST book, not your 7th or 20th or 200th.
It will never be the book that will display your best writing skill.
Yes, it will be good, if you've done all the steps I mentioned above, but unless you've paid a professional editor to go over it before self-publishing, or your draft has been picked up by a publishing acquisition editor (both avenues will have you up to your neck in editorial rewrites, guaranteed), it most likely has developmental and/or line and/or mechanical gaffes every first book has.
Yes, by all means, put it out there — self-publish or promote it on a small scale — but don't go nuclear in your promotions.
You NEED independent reader feedback at this point to highlight those gaffes that weren't evident in your prior editorial efforts, so you have time to correct that manuscript before the world gobbles it up.
This is NOT a downer I'm expressing here.
It's a cautionary tale in the self-preservation of your author Image.
I read almost daily of new writers going on social media and shouting from that virtual mega-phone of their first book, and its instant availability to all 'n' sundry... and likewise, I quietly shiver, fairly well knowing what those first few book reviews may look like.
No, they won't be all bad.
But those who aren't linked to you in any way will NOT give you vacuous glowing reviews like your friends, colleagues and family might, or others who read it and never absorbed it, glossing over the gaffes.
Be proud of your achievement. hell, yes!
But don't let your excitement cloud your business sense.
You want your good author name to last for an eternity.
So, take it slow, and be careful with what you add to create that good name.
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