I was reading this interesting post on Percival Constantine’s blog, the other day.

Now, I’m always thinking in serials, when I write.
Granted, I wrote a few one shots, but – probably due to my preferences in reading – I tend to prefer short fiction that goes in series.

Right now I’m working on my first English-language novel (I know, I know, I told you so already, ad nauseam), and I’m thinking of it in terms of the first episode in a serial.
I’ve two other stories featuring the same character – both currently in the form of a logline, but promising.
Then, of course, we’ll see what the publisher and the readers have to say about that.

As soon as I deliver the finished novel, I’ll start on my next project – once again, a serial.
What I’m planning is big, complicated, high-profile and will take up most of 2015.
Lots of writing, lots of research and work.
Lots of new things thrown together.

This project I’m trying to develop – and Percy Constantine’s excellent post – got me thinking about planning.
Not only planning the story, but planning the whole (self)publishing process.
Will I have to set up a dedicated website?
Certainly I’ll need to finally buy my own domain… something I’ve been planning to do with Karavansara, too.
What about starting a mailing list? What should I put in it?
Will I stay on Amazon Kindle, or would it be a good idea to try Smashwords?
And then all the rest – what about the marketing plan? Advertisement? Blog tour? Get reviewers?

Do I need a stable team of helpers?
Can I pay them?
Can I really crowdsource editing?
Would it be feasible to get a Patreon account for the thing I have in mind?

Book trailers?
Gadgets and merchandise?
Tie-ins?

What about extras for subscribers and fans?
Paper edition? Maybe including extras and offered at a discount to mailing list subscribers?
Maybe do a paperback for Christmas? (and yes, this means planning for Christmas 2015 well before it’s Christmas 2014).

Lots of work.
And it’s a first in so many ways – so far, I’ve pretty much winged it.
And I was playing safe – publishing in my own language, with a solid and well-established blog as a showroom for my work…
So far it’s been easy.
Now it’s time for it to be good.

And it actually feels strange, being here, one week before Halloween, talking about stuff that will happen (might happen?) after New Year’s Eve.
It feels silly, and conceited, to think about the fans of characters and stories that do not exist yet.
But it’s the right way to do it – to get the maximum results from something I believe in.

So, more work, more planning, more decisions to be made.
When I started punching on my mother’s Olivetti typewriter, almost thirty five years ago, I did not know I’d have to learn all this stuff, do all this stuff.
And yet – it’s still fun.
And as long as it’s fun, I can go on and do it.

Any ideas, out there?
Suggestions?
Personal experiences?