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I just want to thank my team. A team who makes it possible for me to have released a novel of this quality.

As many of you know, I did not use a traditional publisher to publish my novel. I do not, however, feel that I can in good conscious call myself an “indie” or “self-published” author. Why? Because I did not do this independently or by myself. I have in no way published this book on my own.

I think a better term than self-published is the term self-organized publishing team (SOPT). I would tell all authors who choose not to use a traditional publisher to avoid doing everything yourself and instead create your own SOPT.

My book went through a rigorous writing and editing process with the expectation that Fire Light would be produced at a the same quality as it would if a top notch publisher had done it. I am proud to say that in comparison to many eBooks released by big publishers, the Fire Light ebook isn’t just equal quality, it is better quality.

Take a look at the amazing team that made this novel happen.

Michelle Barneck

My wonderful wife, who was a sounding board, a content editor, an out loud proofreader, and just a huge support at all times and in so many ways.

Michelle has a degree in Marketing and is a great blogger and is now helping me with advertising.

Sarah Bylund (Editor)

Sarah is a professional editor who was worth every penny. She helped my novel improve significantly.

I am certain that Fire Light will get 1 to 1.5 starts higher for having used her.

Joshua Weekes (Artist)

Joshua is a professional graphic artist, also gave me significant help. He drew/designed my first concept covers and helped me progress my cover to what you see today. His fiery trinity symbol is the series logo on the paperback spine.

He also provided a sounding board for me to bounce ideas off of. He came to LTUE with me and always helped me feel inspired.

Joshua has now started Fox Hollow Publishing. Had they started FHP sooner (before I creating my self-organized publishing team), I am certain I would have published with them.

LaRae Roberts (Photographer)

LaRae is a professional photographer. She provided me with a much needed Salt Lake City skyline for my cover.

Proofreaders

Over a dozen beta readers and proof readers scoured my novel for errors. Not to mention my wife who read every word out loud for me and found hundreds of errors.

  • Michelle Barneck (my amazing wife)
  • Jaime Allred (my wonderful sister)
  • Heidi Elder
  • LaRae Roberts
  • Andrew Roberts
  • Joshua Weekes
  • Trisha Packer
  • Mark Minson
  • Ryan Gardner
  • Greg Westbrook
  • Paul Price
  • Janet Hamilton
  • Robert Matthews
  • Ashleigh Madsen

Advice from other Authors

I have consulted other authors and either they or someone from there team has responded: David Farland (my creating writing teacher), G. P. Ching, B. Justin Shier, Robert J. Crane, Aaron Patterson, Brandon Sanderson (a member of Sanderson’s team, Peter Ahlstrom, recommended Sarah Bylund as my editor).

Blogs and Forums

Then there are all the blogs that have given me such good advice. There are forums that have answered my questions. I am especially appreciative of the forums on MobileRead.com.

Tools

There are tools I am using such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and CreateSpace, NookPress, Google Play, etc… These sites make it possible to easily publish my books on their stores.

Sigil, the open source ePub creator was invaluable. I am a firm believer in writing a single good ePub file and using it everywhere.

Microsoft Word (tried another tool and it wasn’t as good).

Visual Studio and VisualStudio.com, where my novel is under source control in ePub (HTML and CSS) and word format.

Conclusion

So in the end, my publishing team involves over twenty people who I have named. It involves a development teams that works on different products, such as Sigil, Word, Visual Studio. It involves significant consulting from other authors. It involves those individuals on forums who have taken time to answer my questions.

I essentially have had help that I would argue equals that of any top notch publishing agency and for that, I thank you all!