From Mischief to Confession Implies Guilt to Celeste: A 10-Hour Descent into Publishing Madness | 10 Lessons of Self-Publishing
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Read Celeste its just $0.99! 😜
It’s 5:00 a.m. as I write this blog post, and I’m surrounded by open tabs, corrupted EPUBs, PDF re-exports, metadata typos, and sheer publishing fatigue. My book Celeste is finally live in paperback on Draft2Digital. Amazon has the ebook. IngramSpark has another version of the ebook. Google Play Books accepted it too. And I might still upload to Lulu or Apple Books depending on whether the others distribute cleanly. But the road to this point was paved with digital hell.
This novel was born in 2011. I wrote it back then under the name Mischief. It lived in pieces: old dialogue, broken outlines, fragments of passion. In 2023 I resurrected it as Dear Celeste, then again as Confession Implies Guilt. That version had a blue flower on the cover, bleeding water like memory. I loved that design. It was haunting, lyrical, strange. But then D2D blocked the ebook version. I kept revising. Kept trying. I landed on the name Celeste — simple, elegant, haunted. Just like her.
For the past 10 hours, I’ve been attempting to publish this thing across platforms. I tried every file type: DOCX, PDF, EPUB, Google Docs exports, InDesign outputs. Some distorted the layout. Others got rejected without explanation. I re-uploaded the manuscript seven times. I had to redesign the cover three times for three different trim size requirements. I even changed the subtitle on IngramSpark because they wouldn't let me edit the metadata once I clicked "approve."
10 Things I Learned from Publishing My Book at 5 A.M.
- The title will change. A lot.
- You might think you’ve named your book perfectly—until it gets flagged, doesn't fit the spine, or no longer feels like the story. I went from Mischief to Dear Celeste to Confession Implies Guilt before landing on Celeste. Trust the evolution.
- Every platform wants a different file.
- What works on Draft2Digital might break on Google Play. IngramSpark might reject what Amazon accepts. One EPUB will pass validation but look awful on preview. Always have multiple file formats ready: PDF, EPUB, DOCX.
- Formatting will break. Even after it works.
- Margins, fonts, justification—things you thought you nailed will break mysteriously on upload. Always triple check the previewer.
- Metadata matters more than you think.
- One wrong subtitle, missing keyword, or ISBN mismatch can throw off your entire launch. Keep a master list of your title data.
- Digital platforms are inconsistent.
- D2D might approve your paperback and block your ebook. Ingram might accept your file but lock your metadata. Be patient, but persistent.
- You will remake your cover multiple times.
- Trim sizes, bleed lines, and spine width change per platform. Your perfect cover might need resizing three times in one night.
- Customer support moves slowly.
- When you need answers now, you might wait 24–48 hours. Have backups and contingency plans in place.
- Publishing takes longer than expected.
- What you thought would be a one-night upload turns into a 10-hour marathon. Give yourself grace. And coffee.
- Emotions will rise.
- You will cry, scream, doubt, celebrate, refresh the page 300 times, and beg your file to "just load." That’s part of the process.
- You will survive it.
- At 5 a.m., blurry-eyed and exhausted, you will see your book go live. And you will realize: this is what you stayed up for.
What you don’t see when you browse a book on Amazon is the wreckage behind it. The 3 a.m. formatting failures. The emotional spiral when a clean file suddenly breaks. The hours spent just watching a spinning progress bar. The moment when you almost quit—but then don’t.
This novel means something to me. It’s not just a story. It’s grief and memory and touch and seduction and time. It’s a house that remembers. A ghost who returns. A girl who dares to kiss him. Celeste is for readers who love soft hauntings and brutal romance. It’s slow, aching, and lyrical. It’s everything I wanted to say and almost didn’t.
I’ll be sharing screenshots below of the chaos—my publishing dashboard, the D2D errors, the approval notices, the half-dead hope at 3 a.m. This post is for anyone who ever thought of giving up on their book. I almost did. But now she’s out there. Breathing. Bleeding. Beautiful.
Her name is Celeste.
And she survived me.
LIOR
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Welcome to the Liorverse.
I’m an autistic artist—graphic designer, dancer, violinist, and singer of truths once silenced. In 2011, I stood at the gates of traditional publishing with a firelit soul and two series in motion. I was still a girl. Still bilingual. Brilliant—and breaking. The world told me I wasn’t enough.
So I paused.
For fourteen years.
Now I return—not for trends or algorithms, not to become your favorite—
but to become the book you didn’t know you needed.
Each story I write carries a symbol. Something sacred, visual, unforgettable. I love obsidian black and earthy tones, but also fire, gold, and vibrant bloom. Every detail—every cover, line, and heartbeat—is handcrafted.
My stories cross worlds: this one, the dream one, the one stitched from grief and stars. Some are quiet. Some are wild. Some ache softly. Others bite.
I write romance in all its forms—tender, taboo, tragic, and soul-scorching. You’ll find innocence and ruin, devotion and darkness, sweetness and sin. Sometimes it’s a slow burn in a city apartment. Sometimes it’s a violent kiss in a haunted house.
If you crave intense emotional arcs, unforgettable characters, and stories that stir—
whether that’s warmth or wickedness—
leave a comment. Say hello. Tell me what you’re feeling. Or just whisper your favorite line.
I’m currently welcoming beta readers who devour books, love feedback, and aren’t afraid of stories that feel too much.
Thank you for being here.
You found the words.
Now let the words find you.
🖤
—LIOR