My first proof of my book, Abysmal Canyon, arrived last week. I cannot tell you what a mind-blowing feeling it was to hold it in my hands. The end result of three years of work. And while I know I am new to writing novels and have a long way to go, the feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. The down side was that it had a few errors. I reviewed the text along with another reader and we found a margin that was off and a few typos that had slipped past multiple reads and edits. The cover needed work, as well. It came out way darker than the image I sent in. You could not tell there was a canyon image on the front at all. So, I researched the best way to lighten the cover and did that (at least it looks lighter…we’ll see how it prints), then fixed the text errors and re-uploaded the book this past Friday. Now CreateSpace is reviewing it again for formatting, which it should pass, then they will send me a link to the book online which I will review. THEN, if all goes well, I will order another proof. The proofs are not very expensive, but the process is time consuming. My new goal date for the printed book to be up and for sale on Amazon will be no later than mid-November. And at that time, I will update the Kindle version so they both match. I’ll keep you posted!
book formatting
Book is Almost Ready for Printing
I am almost finished formatting and designing my book, Abysmal Canyon, for print. I thought formatting it for the Kindle version was hard – Ha!! The print version is completely different as far as font, spacing, margins, pagination, size of the book, book cover design, etc. I’m using CreateSpace, a print-on-demand company owned by Amazon. They have templates, tutorials, forums and there are lots of videos on the internet to help, but it is still crazy stressful trying to do it all yourself and hope by the grace of the universe that it looks halfway professional. I believe I have it all in place now. I used books of the same genre as guides. I’ll be putting my interior files and book cover both in the required PDF form today, which is a little unnerving because I’m hoping that doesn’t just throw everything out of whack. It’s not supposed to IF done properly… *sigh… Then, if all goes well and it still looks good, I will upload the PDF files to CreateSpace and wait for their approval. When that comes – and I don’t know how long that takes assuming they give me the green light – I will order a proof copy of the book to see it in my own hands, read it and make sure it looks good -THEN if that is a go, I’ll put it up on Amazon with my Kindle version. If not, I’ll make the changes and re-upload it. I’m thinking the book will be a little easier to market when I have actual copies to show, although marketing for me will never be “easy.” So – Whew!! Cross your fingers, toes, arms and legs that it all goes well. I’ll keep you posted.
Spirit of Place 