What Readers Never See Behind One Finished Book

Alright, this might be a slightly whiny post, so please prepare to feel deeply sorry for me. 😀

One thing I think readers often don’t see when they pick up a finished book is just how much work exists behind those pages.

And honestly, people often say that writing the book is the easiest part.

They’re right. Writing The Puppet King took me years.

There was the plot, the characters, the world, the magic system, the emotional arcs, and all the invisible pieces that have to come together before a story can truly work.

When I finally finished it, I realized I also had around 300 pages of deleted scenes. And the book itself is around 600 pages.

That was only Draft One.

Then came the part where I had to read the manuscript again and again, editing until I couldn’t look at it anymore, until it became the best version I was capable of creating on my own.

After that, I sent it to beta readers. They left comments throughout the manuscript, some hilarious, some deeply helpful, all valuable.

Which meant I had to go through it all over again and fix the places that confused people, the moments that needed more clarity, and the parts that weren’t landing the way I wanted them to.

Then it went to my editor.

She did a phenomenal job. Which, of course, meant I had to go through the manuscript one more time to make sure everything still worked, made sense, and felt whole.

And once the book itself was finished… the real work began.

Covers. Formatting. Social media. Research. Marketing. Filming content. Creating posts. Building a website on my own. The work never really ends.

But after all my dramatic complaining, let me say the most important part:

Every bit of it is worth it to me. Because I believe in this story. I believe readers can connect with it. I believe it has something real to offer. And it would be worth all of this effort even if only one person reads it and loves it.

That is why I keep doing it. Because books once saved me. They gave me strength when I needed it most. And now, I want to return the favor.

If you’d like to follow the journey of the book and see how it’s coming together, you can find more here:

Click Me