As I stated earlier, the print version of my book recently came out and is available along with my Kindle version (which came out in August, 2015) on Amazon. I wanted to write just a little more about this first experience in self-publishing.

      Abysmal Canyon is my first book and because I chose to design the entire printed version myself, inside and out, I have experienced quite a steep learning curve. I thought creating the Kindle version was a challenge, but that was nothing compared to the print! I used templates from CreateSpace for both the interior and the front and back cover. Those were extremely helpful. Then, after several months of knashing my teeth and lots of curse words, along with moments of sheer happiness when I had finally figured something out, I began the process of ordering proofs to polish the book.

      It is amazing how differently a book reads from the digital version to the hardcopy- hold-it-in-your-hands printed book. Suddenly you see things you had totally missed – “orphan lines” are left dangling all alone at the bottom and top of pages, a chapter ends with just a few lines on an otherwise empty page, line spacing is different, indentations are different, font types, size of fonts, margins, pagination, you name it – the list goes on and on. Some of those things I had dealt with before I ordered proofs, but not all. After a lot of research on what to do, then adjusting all of the above, I finally reached a point where the book appeared to be perfect and I said, “Enough!” It was time to release my creation into the world!

      I nervously gave the okay to Amazon to release the print version publically and ordered several copies of the finished book. When the books came in, of course, as the gods would have it, there were still 3 minor grammatical dings! These were so inconsequential that they had slipped right past me and my editor numerous times. There was more cursing on my part. It irked me to no end. But, life must go on! After all, it was only a comma and a few apostrophes and ? But, I wanted so badly for my book to be perfect. I knew I would no doubt be getting some criticism for my writing style or the story line, but I didn’t want to be criticized for grammatical errors, of all things! Still, it was going to be a monumental task to go back and fix those #@*$!!%* errors and my printed book was already for sale on Amazon, so what was I to do?

     In the end, I followed the Zen path. I took a deep breath and decided to just let it go. I have read books published by major publishing houses that had errors and that didn’t bother me or keep me from reading the book. Although I have always been a bit surprised to see them, I won’t be anymore! I have a feeling most readers will probably never notice those in my book, but if they do (if you happen to be one of them) know that I am well aware of the little demonic darlings and please forgive me.. and enjoy the book anyway! Thank you! 🙂