There was more to this process than I expected and it all had to be done while promoting the eBook release with tweets, guest blogs, press releases, radio interviews, etc.
It was also exactly at that time that WolfSinger Publications informed me the edited copy of my manuscript SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT was ready for my approval and the cover artist needed my input.
Throw in an out-of-town July long-weekend wedding, and I knew there would not be much Bubble Shooting playing happening for a while. What I didn't know was how much I didn't know about self-publishing in print.
The first thing I learned was that although the image from The Traz eBook cover could be used for the paperback version, it had to be entirely reformatted and re-sized, it had to include a back cover and a spine, and it also had to include 'back cover copy'. Oh, and by the way, I needed a new ISBN for the print version.
Although I could reuse the book descriptions I'd written for Amazon and Smashwords eBook editions for the back cover, I needed to add blurbs and reviews from important authors and reviewers. I spent quite a bit of time emailing people, offering them free copies of THE TRAZ to preview and review, and waiting for replies. June seemed to be an exceptionally busy month for many authors besides me. I had to delay my graphic designer for 2 weeks as I waited for the elusive words of praise to trickle in.
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| Some of those elusive blurbs as they'll appear on the back cover |
While my cover designer, Jennifer Johnson http://designs.sapphiredreams.org waited for my blurbs, my good friend Cheryl Kaye Tardif http://www.shamelesspromoter.blogspot.com/ reformatted the inside text to suit the printer. She did what she could but also had to wait for the reviews--as we wanted to include some on the inside front pages.
Finally, we got the praises we needed, Cheryl finished formatting and gave me a page count--something the design artist was also waiting for as she needed to know how wide to make the spine graphic.
As work progressed, I realized I didn't have a logo for my publishing company, Kastle Harbour Publishing. So Jenn kindly created a simple but spiffy logo and found a spot for it on the back cover.
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| New logo for Kastle Harbour Publishing |
I had decided to use Createspace to print my book because it has a reputation for outstanding cutomer service. When all preparations were finalized it was time to upload everything to their publishing website. I found their instructions were clear and easy to follow, but there were many decisions that had to be made, such as genre of book, age level of targeted readership, price of book, distribution channels. There were several upgrade options to consider. It took me a good eight hours to get through the process.
When I hit the "Complete" button, everything went to their previewers for approval. Meanwhile, as it was only shortly after midnight, I decided to up load the new inside pages containing the blurbs to my eBook sites. Somewhere during that process I noticed the inside picture of the cover had the word "PROOF" stamped across it. This gave me an entirely new perspective of my coach's command to proof my manuscripts carefully.
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| The wrong cover. Stamped "PROOF" |
Since it was only shortly after 1 a.m. and I had to re-upload that PROOF pic, I decided to delete all occurances of the old eBook cover and substitute them with my new paperback cover, which was slightly different in that it has words of praise on the front and an altered title patch.
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| Front, back, and spine for paperback edition |
Since it was slightly after 2:30 a.m. when I finished this task (I had to learn to convert png files to jpeg and pdf to .doc , etc. etc.) I went to bed.
This morning I got a lovely email from Createspace that all was right with my upload and I could order a proof copy of the paperback.
On Wednesday 20 July, 2011, Canada Post willing, I may hold in my very own little hot hands a paperback with my name on the front cover.
Eileen Schuh, Canadian Author
THE TRAZ ; Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ available as an eBook on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple iPhone library, Barnes & Nobel, etc.
Author's website:www.eileenschuh.com
2 comments:
Congrats mom! Yet another milestone to celebrate!!! :)
Thanks, Sweets!
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