Hello, rebels!
I know, I know. I’m sure you’re wondering something along the lines of:
“Where have you been? Why haven’t you posted yet this week? What is more important than this?! SHE FORGOT US!”
You, my dear people, were not forgotten, merely misplaced for a few days. If you want to know with what, I’ll tell you. If you don’t care, then by all means ignore the rest of this post and continue on with your day.
(If you’re staying, here is a complimentary air hug)
Homework kept me busy, astronomy to be specific. It’s a bit of work, but quite interesting. Did you guys know that they’re planning a one way trip to Mars? It’ll be a while, but they’re planning it. Get your application in now. Aside from learning about Mars, I’ve been catching up on some tv shows, and getting into some new ones. I might’ve started watching Teen Wolf this week. I might be starting season three. Yes, I could’ve spent my time wiser, but it’s too late for that now anyways. Don’t judge me. Then there was Valentine’s day to celebrate.
This biggest part of my week, though, was ordering a book. Before you just assume that this should be easy, let me tell you a little secret. Ordering a book is easy only if the book is already published. When the book is not published, there is a lot more work involved. As an author myself, I know what it takes for a book to make it out into the big wide world of writing. In order to self-publish a book, you have to:
1. Set up basic book information
2. Upload manuscript
3. Upload cover
4. Publish
Four simple steps, right? Wrong! Although the first step is relatively easy, the rest of it is much harder than you might think.
Step one – Set Up
This step is basically just filling out your author name and the book title. Some sites (like Lulu) require you to say who all will have access to your book (i.e. – public, only available to those with a link, private), you get the idea? Hopefully.
Step two – Upload Manuscript
Before you upload the manuscript, you have a lot of work to do. If you haven’t already, you have to write the book first. Then you have to rewrite it. Then you have to edit it. Then once all that is done, you have to get beta readers. Once you have their critiques, you go through again and rewrite some more, edit some stuff. You might even change the course of the book during this step. Ya never know. But after all the editing and reworking, you have to format the book. This means you have to change the sizing of the book/pages/margins/whatever ya wanna call it. Once that’s done you’ll probably have to go through and rearrange some more stuff so all the chapters start in the right place/not halfway through the page. Sounds fun, huh?
Step three – Upload cover
This has to be one of my least favorite steps. As an amateur graphic designer, I make my own book covers (and jackets). I become a perfectionist at this point.
For the first book I published, I had a friend take some pictures and I used those for the cover. Things were a little different for the book I just ordered. I was able to use pictures I found online. Before you throw stones and accuse me of horrible crimes, the difference between the two scenarios is that the first book I make a profit from, which means I need to own everything involved in the book, manuscript and cover. All of it. The book I just ordered was different because we (I co-wrote this book with my best friend) won’t make any profits off of this book and it’s just for us to have. Point being, it’s okay to use pictures so long as you don’t make money off of it. Otherwise you need permission to use the picture (which can be hard to come by sometimes) or you need to own the pictures.
**Disclaimer: it’s always better to have permission, regardless of if you’re going to make a profit**
My main issue with this step goes back to formatting. I can’t tell you how many times I had to edit and adjust the cover because it didn’t fit right, or things weren’t quite centered. I must admit, though, that Lulu made it a lot easier to get the right sizing done. When I self-published with Create Space it was a guess game of sorts. Lulu printing is a lot more expensive though, at least when you get a hardcover with full color. But because we won NaNoWriMo 2013, we were able to get our first copies free.
Step four – Publishing
This step isn’t that hard, either. But it does take time. You have to decide how much it’s going to cost and decide whether or not to offer it as an ebook (or paperback).
So, that is why it took me so long to find this blog again. I was a bit distracted by pretty covers, formatting, and werewolves. Hopefully you’ll forgive me, and hopefully! The cover for the book will turn out good. Otherwise I will be back here ranting and depressed. Pray for a good cover, fellow bloggers.
Until next time,
The Introverted Rebel
Introverted Rebel 