lilaschow

Today you can get your very own copy of my book on the kindle ereader!   Isn't that the greatest?  Here's what it looks like:



If you want an actual, physical copy of the book it should be ready in a couple of weeks after I review the proof.  If you think Amazon is the devil and want to get the book through a different seller, you just have to give me a few days to get my act together. (it only takes a few days for that to happen, I swear!)

If you like the book, please consider giving it a review.  If you hate the book, please consider recommending it to the most annoying person you know.

I had planned on creating the ebook version of Barely There (coming soon!) and having that ready to purchase first.  However, when I checked the steps I needed to go through for the print version, I got sucked in to the whole world of print on demand and then got lost in all the choices.

Like, should I create my own publishing company for tax purposes and liability?  Or should I do Create Space or Lightning Source?  And if I go with Create Space do I sign up for expanded distribution even though it will increase the price of my book by easily $7-$10?  And should I submit my work to the Library of Congress?  Should I edit Barely There by 10ish pages so that I can get the better price?  My maps may not be of a high enough resolution, should I redo them or just risk that they will be blurry? Oh, why, WHY?  

Too many choices of one kind, and oddly surprisingly few choices when it comes to cover design.  I wanted to make sure that all my books can be linked visually, but making the cover from scratch was such a pain and doing it through one of the online templates is so much easier.  However, the choices through Create Space are very meager.  So, here's what I decided to do:

1. I'm far too lazy at this point to figure out how to make my own publishing company.  I will just use my SS# for my tax ID and hope Monsanto doesn't try to sue me.  Hey, it says right there on the first couple of pages that I am using the real world fictitiously.  (even though every evil thing I wrote about them is true -- I couldn't even fit in all the evil stuff they've done)
2. This was easier than I thought.  Lightning Source won't let me create an account with them.  Maybe it was because in filling out the form I listed my title as "Supreme Overlord" and for my fax # I wrote "wat" because seriously.  A fax number?  In this day and age?  Do they want me to format it in Morse Code?  The downside of this is that Amazon will be the only place that you can order a physical copy of the book.  But, I can always change that if it becomes a problem, just as long as I get the ISBN number myself and not the free one they provide.
3. To Expand the Distribution or not.  It would make my book available in stores, libraries and schools ... but at the same time, how realistic is that?  You would still have to go into a store and order it, so most people would just do it online.  And my book is not fit for schools.  And if I opt not to do the ED the book is cheaper and I get more royalties.  Again, this is another option I can change down the road if I need to.
4. Library of Congree ... I don't know.  Create Space will do it for $50, but I'm already paying $100 for my own ISBN number or I can do it for free   though they may not list it and you have to be an actual publisher.  But I don't think this one is time sensitive, so I'm just going to pretend I forgot to do it.
5. I did edit the pages.  There will be no TOC in the print version, just so you know.
6. I am going to bet on the maps not being blurry.  Let's see how that works.

Maybe I'll work on the cover so more.  But first I have to decide where I want my page numbers to appear.  Bottom Center.  No, wait, I mean top on the outer edge.  Wait ...

I planned on getting my book out in March or April at the latest.  And here we are, two days from the end of April and I need about two more weeks to get everything ready.  There is a surprising amount still left to do, but I am super excited to finally make my work available to others.  

I have two other novels ready to go, they won't need nearly the editing Barely There did and hopefully I'll have learned enough this time around that it won't take so long to make them public.  

Things I still need to do are:

1. Finish the last round of editing
2. Finish the cover
3. Get my ISBN numbers and barcodes
4. Finish my maps
5. Upload to Amazon and others

So mostly just finishing!  And once that's done, I can move on to the wonderfully happy world of publicity.  I hear it's easy to drum up an audience, almost ridiculously so .... right?

I got permission to use the photo I wanted for the book cover!!!!  It was easy because I used my favorite medium, the web, and never actually had to talk to anyone on the phone or face to face.

I'll leave you in suspense over which photo it is.

You know how you want the story to appear on the page, but going through and changing things and double checking takes such a long time.  Part of it is that when I was with my last agent she really had me change the manuscript.  A lot of the changes were very good, she made some important observations and really helped develop the characters.

Some though ... some I knew even as I was making the changes that I would not keep them if I had the choice.  I changed a POV and changing it back is a pain.  I changed a few plot points and I wasn't happy with them.  

So although it's taking longer than I wanted to make the edits, in the end I win because I get a much better story and I still get to be stubborn and keep things the way I want them.  It's very exciting.

"What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Carl Sagan, The Persistence of Memory



eta: shortly after I posted this, I got an email from one of my old agents.  What timing!