My goal has been to get In the Land of the Penny Gnomes out as an eBook before baby number three is born this Spring. For some reason, however, most of my Mondays have been swallowed up by the rest of life. This left me little time to revise the novel and left me concerned I wouldn’t be able to meet my goal. But today I managed to get back on track.

After spending much of the day reading over the story I now have just over 11,000 words left to read and revise. I will also add a short epilogue which ties into a thread which is left unresolved in the story ¹. After that I’ll be able to send it off to an editor to finalize the draft ².

I have my cover idea planned out in my head, and am excited to make it a reality. I’ll also have to prepare my front matter and register some ISBN’s before I get the book out into the market. This last bit is a hitch, as ISBN’s can be expensive. The best option I’ve seen so far is a ten-pack of ISBN’s for around $300, and I find myself wondering if I’d ever make that money back. My wife didn’t seem too concerned with the prospect, and she’s often a better gauge of such things than I am. Given that I’d need to use a separate ISBN for every edition of the novel, including eBooks sold on different sites, a bulk purchase may be the best way to go.

I’ve still got some work to do, but I’m excited to see the hint of light peaking in from the end of the tunnel.