tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61868393514950063612024-03-12T17:35:01.348-07:00Getting PublishedA first time "subject" author meets the publishing industry. Hilarity ensues.JeffEvartshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01110136459320492803noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-37403389778203050132012-04-24T13:27:00.002-07:002012-04-24T13:27:32.083-07:00Why I recommend against using iUniverse<br />
I am absolutely torn on the subject of iUniverse. In the end I must <u>recommend against</u>
using them, and that's a real shame, because I've met many talented and
dedicated people there. The good folks at iUniverse seem to outnumber
the bad by a factor of two or three to one, so it seems totally unfair
to judge iUniverse poorly.<br />
<br />
The bottom line is that
marketing and promotion are absolutely vital to a fledgling author's
success, and their marketing and promotions departments are <i>truly,</i><b> remarkably,</b>
AWFUL. I avoided major pitfalls at several points only because I have a
few friends here and there with some expertise in the area. Had I
trusted iUniverse's marketing department with my money and my book, it
would have been an embarrassing and hugely expensive folly, no matter
how wonderful the other staff were.<br />
<br />
You might read my <a href="http://publishingroundup.blogspot.com/2012/02/spending-time-and-money-to-make-you-and.html">earlier post</a> regarding the specifics of their marketing department's antics.<br />
<br />
Their
sales, packaging, editing, and production organizations are genuinely
good. I really wish I could reward all the winners: Kathi, Andrea,
Cherry, Jade, and a
dozen more behind them, with a recommendation that people use their
company to self publish. Unfortunately, for the first-time author,
nothing will overcome bad marketing. Ask any literary agent. <br />
<br />
Interestingly,
iUniverse has given me half a dozen or more electronic polls over the
last year to sample my opinion. I've given the above feedback each time.
They've never followed up. Go figure.<br />
<br />
<b>Ultimately, iUniverse is not a safe place for a novice author to spend their money. </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-38232239962659938122012-03-15T14:35:00.002-07:002012-03-15T14:35:47.097-07:00Kirkus Indie reviews: Incredibly worth itI just <b>had</b> to put in a plug for Kirkus Indie reviews. I got mine last week.<br />
<br />
My work is nonfiction, and the reviewer actually went in and verified individual facts with the data I presented - even found one shortcoming! They even did a sort of competitive analysis with other similar sources of information, and gave me a general indication on the merchantability of my book. Value-for-dollar-wise, very few services I've ordered in <i>any</i> field of <i>any</i> type measure up to what I got from Kirkus.<br />
<br />
No matter what, I wouldn't spend an hour or a dollar marketing any book (current or future) without buying their opinion again first.<br />
<br />
Good on you, Kirkus.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-27478011025476732942012-02-09T16:48:00.000-08:002012-02-09T16:48:13.256-08:00Kirkus IndieSo in an effort to get an unbiased opinion on the merchantability of my book, I have contacted Kirkus. They have an "Indie review" for 1/3 the cost of the cheapest package iUniverse suggested, and it's composed primarily of just that: a review of the book. Yes, there's a substantial difference between a review of the book and the merchantability of it, but at least it's something... Should have it by the end of March. Here goes nothing...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-37985124311056607782012-02-05T07:01:00.000-08:002012-02-05T07:47:34.014-08:00Spending time and money to make you and your book look foolish<span style="font-size: large;"><u>iUniverse Marketing</u></span><br />
<br />
As any publishing professional will tell you - "A really bad book with
good marketing will outsell a really good one with bad marketing".<br />
<br />
In
iUniverse's case, their marketing department is beyond bad. They are the sole reason I am considering recommending against iUniverse.<br />
<br />
Their follies have included:<br />
<ol>
<li>Promotional materials delivered with misspelled words, incomplete sentences, etc.</li>
<li>Two awful cover designs. Genuinely bad, with flaws even a complete
novice would (and several did) remark upon. One portrayed starting a
business with the visual metaphor of casting a piggybank into the water - <i>literally</i> throwing money away. The other emphasized the two words "Making Bad" out of the rest of the
original title. I am beggared for words.</li>
<li>My first marketing rep went 1-for-7 in calling back on-time. These are appointments when <i>he</i> picked the time & day. Bonus points for no apologies, and also for
lying (yes really) to his boss about when he'd contacted me. </li>
<li>My second marketing rep was hard pressed to understand English on a
higher-than-high-school level. For instance, after 30 minutes of explanations on the phone, she was unable to
understand the difference between "I want to pay for and receive a book
review and <i>then</i> decide how much I want to spend marketing my
book" from "I will only pay for any marketing program
if you guarantee I will get a good book review". She just couldn't get
her mind around the idea that I wanted to make an <i>informed</i> marketing investment.</li>
<li>My third marketing rep was so addicted to his script that he ended up speaking this sentence: <i>"I
understand, Mr Evarts, that you don't want to be portrayed as 'the
expert' on this subject, but the way we're going to market this book is
by marketing you as the expert."</i> Seriously. At that point I said
"Please don't call me again". He ignored that request and contacted me
three more times. I asked to speak to his manager the last time. He
promised the manager would call me back. No contact from either of them
since.<br />
</li>
<li>None of the marketing or promotional materials used the
recommendations I'd secured from both a well-known entrepreneurial
author and a director of military.com. The guy's an E-10 for goodness'
sake. His words carry weight with my target audience. Nor, of course,
did they get any of their own.<br />
</li>
<li>Virtually none of the marketing and promotional materials were
correct on the first delivery. Certainly, if taken as a whole, they were
not worth the money I paid for them.</li>
</ol>
iUniverse offers no service in any of their
packages where a professional publisher estimates the size of the
audience for your book. Such an estimate would be a very useful offering to a budding author. No one can make guarantees or commitments - but professionals <i>can</i> <i>and do</i> make good estimates - publishing houses need estimates to scale print runs.<br />
<br />
It is possible that such a service not available because it would
cut down on marketing revenues. The marketing folks at iUniverse work on commission and have no stake in the sale of your book. It's in their best interests to sell you a $30,000 quarterly plan for selling your book "300 incorrect ways my daughter has tried to spell Welsh place-names" (i.e., something that will not have a wide audience) even though this will be a complete waste of your money as an author.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Professional and Affordable</u></span><br />
<br />
The front page at <a href="http://iuniverse.com/">iUniverse.com</a> says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
Let our expertise work for you</h3>
iUniverse has helped more than 35,000 authors publish their books <b>professionally and affordably</b>.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(bold in original text, not added)</span></blockquote>
Unfortunately my experience puts a lie in those words- the image I <i>would have</i> had at their hands would have been both <i>un</i>professional and very very costly. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-4320005230244774392011-12-23T22:56:00.000-08:002011-12-23T22:57:06.224-08:00Soon I shall be an author!At long, long last, I believe I shall shortly be "an author". I
signed off on the between-the-covers content last week, and made what I
hope is the last tweak to the covers today. Provided the changes to the
cover come through ok, I will shortly be publishing my book.<br />
<br />
Looking
back, there's some interesting stuff in there: A year is a long time.
Probably 40% of that year was spent with the ball in my court. Maybe
more. It's certainly possible to self-publish in a lot less time than a
year, and if I were to publish another book, I'd ballpark it in the
120-to-240 day range. On a third go, probably 90-180 days.<br />
<br />
As a first-time author, I was really surprised at several aspects of the process.<br />
<ol>
<li>My skills in writing, my vocabulary, and my collegiate-level knowledge of punctuation and technical organization pale in comparison to those of a professional literary editor. I scored 99th percentile in the WEST test in college, yet I am no more than dust.<br /><br />Oh ye who condemns the greengrocer's apostrophe and hates "scare" quotes, ye who stands agog at the misuse of literally and infer, ye for whom a split infinitive is the beginning of a splitting headache: prepare to be humbled by the flaws and inconsistencies in your own writing. <a href="http://publishingroundup.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-received-my-editorial-feedback.html">It hurt much more than I expected to see my writing critiqued.</a></li>
<li>As an engineer, I was completely surprised by just how much font choice and page layout impact the readability of a book. When you're reading a 2, 8, or even 40 page technical document printed in black ink on bright white 8.5x11 inch printer paper, <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b>courier mono spaced 10-point</b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> is just fine. When you're dealing with a paperback book using dark grey ink on beige </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5x8 inch </span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">paper, the font suddenly matters a lot. So do margins, and leading whitespace.</span></span><br />Don't even <b>try</b> to approve an electronic galley without actually printing it out in the format you're actually going to print with. On a white screen with black text and no left-right pagination, you're just not going to have a clue. This is a (trust me on this) financially expensive mistake. Don't make it.</li>
<li>By the time you've researched and written a non-fiction book, you actually <i>are</i> a minor expert on the subject. We all accumulate organic knowledge from our day-to-day lives. Independently researched information is different. Few adults ever take the time to put an academic quarter's worth of open-minded open-ended learning behind anything they do. If you have, trust me- you're at least a minor expert.<br /> </li>
<li>Like starting a small business, marketing is everything. If you want even moderate financial return on your book, plan to spend
most of your time, effort, blood, and treasure marketing your book. If you used crayon and wrote your book in pig-latin, the editors will fix it. If you don't market your book well, you will sell no books.</li>
</ol>
That's all I've got right now.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas,<br />
-JeffUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-16153632436434034262011-09-22T03:27:00.000-07:002011-09-22T03:27:00.237-07:00Back in gearToday I am writing a little bit out of frustration. SO much has gone well, and I've really enjoyed the process of writing and publishing a book. Not only that, I've learned a bunch about an industry I didn't know anything about.<br />
<br />
My book is finally through editing passes, and I'm getting a hardcover and a softcover sent to me so I can check them one last time before we start the presses. Like the editing folks, the printing folks at iUniverse are great to work with. I even have ISBNs now!<br />
<br />
Personally I've set a celebration goal of 500 copies sold through channels as my "I'm a real author" benchmark, but the ISBNs do make me feel pretty professional.<br />
<br />
More on the frustration parts after I cool off a bit. No sense writing a post I'll only delete in the morning. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-60992732887135792002011-06-29T16:10:00.000-07:002011-06-29T16:10:46.000-07:00Cover art: less fun than making sausageThe esthetic parts of book publishing, like cover art, were some that I had most hoped to slough off to my self-publishing company. I'm a software engineer, and art is not one of our strengths.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the first cut iUniverse offered on cover art was <b>so</b> bad that even I, with my engineer's eye, could tell it was awful. On the off chance I was being too picky, I sent it around to a couple of my more artistically inclined associates. They were universal in their disdain for the covers. I was seriously discouraged, because this was an area that I had really intended to get my money's worth. I sent it back, with comments, and their response was pretty much "Well, this is the cover we promised to make for you. If you don't like it, make one of your own". After talking a bit more with my Publishing Services contact, it became more of a "Why don't you show us what you were thinking about and we'll take another swing at it". Fair enough.<br />
<br />
Happily, thinkstock is a really neat outfit, and they have an enormous and fairly well indexed collection of stock photography and art that you can use to gen something up. I took an afternoon and with my rudimentary GIMP skills cut & pasted my way to a selection of three alternate covers. I'd post them here, but unfortunately I haven't paid ThinkStock for the source images yet, so it'd be infringement.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I sent them on to iUniverse. We shall see what happens next.<br />
<br />
I'm really hoping they come through. This is an area which I really need the expertise of a practiced professional.<br />
<br />
Aside from that, we're essentially ready to publish. Whee!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-45221802923859155202011-05-10T23:09:00.000-07:002011-12-23T23:27:04.610-08:00I fail to make Rising Star statusI am left wondering what it must take to get this award. I had promotional quotes from experts, links to bookstores, book fairs, and libraries established, a <a href="http://www.jeffevarts.com/">website</a> up, and an open invitation to write an article on the subject in a major online publication serving my target audience.<br />
<br />
Apparently you must offer a truely awesome gantt chart and established interview/speaking schedule to get this.<br />
<br />
iUniverse has explained that in order to remain independent the Rising Star Board does not communicate specifics with iUniverse, so there is no way to know in what way my submission fell short.<br />
<br />
For the record, below is a summary of the marketing info I sent to them. (Their headers, my lightly-excised info)<br />
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<style type="text/css">
<!--
@page { margin: 0.79in }
P { margin-bottom: 0in }
P.western { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt }
P.cjk { font-size: 11pt }
P.ctl { font-family: "Arial", sans-serif }
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</style>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">AUDIENCE/MARKET:</span><br />
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">Non-self-employed
high school or college grads with 2+ years of work experience after
graduation</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">SELLING
POINTS:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">Other
titles in this area are completely impractical. They're more
entertainment than information. Some are huge encyclopedias of
interesting / weird / high-paying jobs, but they devote only a few
words to each one, give no real information, and in many cases the
job is singular: Curator for the National Arboretum. That's no use to
anyone.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">An actual survey of
practical jobs that a regular person could expect to do for
themselves? That book doesn't seem to exist - yet.</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">MARKETING
& PROMOTION POINTS:</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">I have</span></div>
<ol>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">created a personal
website</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">two alumni
organizations (X and Y) which will publish notices of
my publication</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">a local library
with a local author program which will allow me to do a Q&A of
my book, and/or at least announce the publication of my book</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">contacted two
non-iUniverse marketing organizations that specialize in promoting
books</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">begun working with Z at iUniverse to produce marketing and publicity
materials</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">PUBLICITY:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">I plan to hire a
professional for a 3 phase approach</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">Phase I is 2-3
months: This is a sanity check to see if anyone wants to BUY it.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">Phase II is 3-12
months: Minimum profitable run time, according to my sources.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">Phase III is 13+
months: Until the book stops selling...</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">ADVANCE
PRAISE/ENDORSEMENTS:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: x-small;">"Earning
without being employed" provides the reader with a "Gee, I
can do that" idea that these professions are within their reach.
Military veterans come with a great work ethic and self-starter
attitude, and would find this book of great value to capitalize on
their skills and experiences they learned and achieved during their
service." --EndorsementPersonOne</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Bitstream Charter,serif; font-size: x-small;">"If the only
thing standing between you and successful self-employment is What or
How, you can toss those obstacles away by reading this nifty book
filled with how-to information. Quite simply, Jeff Evarts has rounded
up a goldmine of entrepreneurial options and he shares them in this
easy-to-read collection. Start digging." --EndorsementPersonTwo</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Bitstream Charter,serif; font-size: x-small;">TIMELINE/APPEARANCES:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Bitstream Charter,serif; font-size: x-small;">None</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: Bitstream Charter,serif; font-size: x-small;">PREVIOUSLY
PUBLISHED TITLES</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Bitstream Charter,serif; font-size: x-small;">None (technical
papers, but not “book titles” per se)</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-22783149208995290002011-04-11T10:01:00.000-07:002011-04-11T10:01:34.862-07:00"In the can"OK, there is <b>probably</b> a book-industry term for it too, but I only know the movie industry one.<br />
<br />
I am now officially in cover-copy-polish mode, so the body/content of the book is frozen. After so long in editing mode, this really feels like a big step forward. Still waiting to hear on the Rising Star front, and marketing looms on the dark horizon. We shall see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-61006666876160483052011-04-03T12:23:00.000-07:002011-04-03T12:33:52.955-07:00Change in an Industry: an ongoing processI've been debating whether to blog this next bit, because at first it sounds somewhat negative. I think, though, that it's actually bang-on-topic with the way the publishing industry is morphing around into a new thing, and some parts are lagging behind other parts. I am very happy with iUniverse in the main, and sometimes blogs give the impression that everything has suddenly changed when it has not. This is just a bump in the road, not a general characteristic.<br />
<br />
By the way, if you haven't read Eric Raymond's essay <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1607962284">"The Cathedral and the Bazaar"</a> about how the democratization of writing tools affected the programming industry, you might find it informative. There are a lot of parallels to the publishing industry and the struggles it's going through.<br />
<br />
<br />
Onwards.<br />
<br />
iUniverse offers several evaluation steps during the publishing process, which they cast in the form of awards. Basically, they're reasonably objective industry-quality evaluations of the work from several independent perspectives. "Winning" one gets iUniverse to invest some of their company's resources into your book without charging you for it. In essence, it's a winnowing down of the books they're working on to help iUniverse direct some gratis effort toward making your book successful: they put some of their skin in the game.<br />
<br />
One of the awards is called "Editor's Choice". This award is a reflection of the topicality of the work, and the quality of the writing. Since this choice is made <i>after</i> your editing pass, you can add "your willingness to take professional direction" to the end of "the quality of the writing". Fair enough. If you're a first-time writer with a good idea but terrible grammar, iUniverse's editing department can help pick up the slack, and the award is based on the quality of the goods the reader eventually sees. Everyone wins. Having lived through this step personally, I know this isn't just a case of them wanting to sell you services. The editorial advice is professional grade- they're not just soaking you for your money. "Winning" this award means that iUniverse will stand behind the quality of the writing when it's being offered to publishers, book reviewers, etc. <br />
<br />
The next award is something called "Rising Star", which is a similar evaluation of your marketing plans. While I had been moderately confident that I would get the Editor's Choice award, I was doubtful about Rising Star. I've said in this blog (and many, many times to iUniverse) that I know <b>nothing</b> about how to market books. My marketing contact, when he called, wanted to know several things: first, did I know anything about marketing books? No. Second: had I taken any action (even blindly) in the marketing area? Yes. Third: Did I plan to hire a professional or go it on my own? I planned to hire a professional. We talked for a while and he and I scheduled a followup.<br />
<br />
The day after I spoke to my marketing rep at iUniverse, I got a note from the Rising Star evaluation board. It included two "fill in the blanks" documents. They wanted me to fill them out get them sent back in "tout suite". If I dawdled, I would be ineligible for the award.<br />
<br />
The first form was no problem, a 3-4 page bit with blanks like "short author biography", "describe your target audience", and "name three other books that are comparable to your book". I filled this one out and sent it in.<br />
<br />
The second form gave me problems. The blanks that weren't duplicates of the first sheet were either impossible to fill in (ISBN, which I understood, but which hasn't been assigned yet) or completely opaque to someone unfamiliar with book marketing "Keynote" (what is that?), "Publicity" (done? planned? paid for?)<br />
<br />
No problem: I'm a noob, they deal with noobs all the time. I sent them an email, explaining that I didn't know the terms, but would be happy to fill them in if they'd kindly send me some more information. Their response was unhelpful in the extreme:<br />
<blockquote>The Rising Star Marketing Evaluation and Title Information sheet are questionnaires based on your knowledge of how you intend to market, promote, and sell your book. Each point is open to interpretation. Please feel free to decipher these questions in your own way. If there are any you feel you cannot answer, please feel free to leave them blank. <br />
<br />
If you choose not to return your Title Information Sheet by the due date, you will not be considered for the Rising Star Program.</blockquote>So: We're not going to help you, and your eligibility is on the line. I had been CCing my marketing contact throughout this exchange, but hadn't heard from him. I sent another email to a wider audience, including my prior base-touching contacts, explaining my position. I enumerated the marketing steps I'd already taken, and then moved on:<br />
<blockquote>Given the amount of "Garbage In" your team must face, I understand that you must establish timelines to gauge author willingness, etc., in an effort to whittle the incoming torrent down to a few people your team can feel comfortable working with.<br />
<br />
That said, I find your Title Information Sheet "Fumble through our foreign-language Rorchach test, on our timetable, or get lost!" attitude to be very, very inappropriate given my previous interactions with iUniverse. In short, this is Not Funny.<br />
<br />
I have been completely honest about my capabilities and knowledge since day one. It would be a shame if the ignorance I've been professing all along were to stop my progress cold. Please explain your terms, [accept my submission without this form], or refund my money.</blockquote>The board made no response.<br />
<br />
My marketing contact called me the next day. He said the problem was his fault: that he had intended to walk me through filling out these forms, but that after talking with me for a while, had come to the conclusion that I knew enough to do it on my own. Even though he's been honest (to his own detriment and credit) in the past, the fact that he's in a commission sales position makes me take his acceptance of "fault" that with a grain of salt.<br />
<br />
End of the story: We got the entire thing explained over the phone in about 3 minutes. "Keynote" was another term for "Elevator pitch", which was a term I <b>did</b> know, "Publicity" meant "Your current plan of action to publicize your book", etc. I submitted the form, properly filled out, ten minutes later.<br />
<br />
In short: iUniverse almost lost a customer because of a vocabulary issue. Really.<br />
<br />
The lesson: Companies are not monolithic entities, and change propagates through them unevenly. In some ways, the "Rising Star Evaluation Board" hasn't kept up with the rest of iUniverse. They apparently see themselves high on a pedestal, deigning to judge the work that comes before them by a rubrick both arcane and opaque, answerable only to themselves. I'm guessing that will not be a common characteristic in the evaluation boards of successful self-publishing companies going forward.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-19199696240372254892011-03-18T15:55:00.000-07:002011-03-19T04:02:25.563-07:00Editor's Choice: check. Now, for the hard partiUniverse tells me this morning that my manuscript has received their Editor's Choice Award. From what I gather, that's a 90-to-94th percentile "grade". I guess I'd be more pleased about that if I knew what kind of stuff I'd been up against.<br />
<br />
Now, the part of the process which I am least qualified to do begins: designing and writing the marketing plan. Brian Hallbauer from iUniverse called me this morning to start that discussion, and we're going to talk again on Monday. Marketing is (duh) the most expensive part of the process, (Runs high 4 to high 5 digits for a campaign) and also has the highest variability for ROI: until the final tally is in, you don't know if it was worth it.<br />
<br />
Monday we begin planning. Here goes nothing...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-20949744065683542352011-03-11T11:05:00.000-08:002011-03-11T11:05:00.516-08:00Self-publishing: gut-checkSubmitted my post-line-edit manuscript. Yay!<br />
<br />
The problem (if there is one) with self-publishing is this: it requires a daily gut-check from the moment you sign up until you get the moment you cash your 'break even' check. If you publish through the established system, you get a strong indication that you WILL sell as soon as the publisher accepts your work. With self publishing, you can fool yourself for much longer, and for me, that's been hard. We shall see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-5182886958691010812011-03-10T12:44:00.000-08:002011-03-11T11:03:53.714-08:00Line EditsFirst let me say: Wow, I don't want a line editor's job. It's important, and apparently in-demand, but it is <b>not</b> my kind of "fun".<br />
<br />
Of the changes proposed, I accepted a couple hundred, made alternate changes to three, and rejected five. I figure that's a pretty good indicator that the service was not only valuable in detecting mistakes, but also in correctly fixing them. <br />
<br />
The two most common things fixed by this edit were "putting a comma before an 'and' in a list" and "not spelling out numbers". Both of which could be automated, but there are SO MANY fiddly exceptions that you really do have to check each one.<br />
<br />
There was a lot of other good stuff though. Places where my sentences were overly complex, and they tweaked them a bit, a couple of places where I'd used "alternate spelling 1" and they preferred a different spelling. Although technically not a line-editor's job, they even detected an unsupported statistical claim, and flagged it. Overall, I got a lot more than I'd expected, but I'd also paid more than I expected, so I figure I got what I paid for, and that's the important bit for me: I really do seem to get what I pay for.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-76134118944519376212011-02-08T11:57:00.000-08:002011-02-08T11:57:54.628-08:00Final Draft Submitted?I'm not sure if that's the right term. I got my Rx edit back, and it contained more solid advice, which I took. I also took a final opportunity to make sure my facts were up-to-date (I reference the price of gold and some other "current values" for legality, licensing, and other stuff like that) and added a paragraph to an appendix. Hopefully there will be no more "content" changes from here on out, just grammar/spelling/punctuation tweaks.<br />
<br />
One noteable snafu was discussion of title. I had maintained, from my first phone call all the way back with Bob, through Leah, and now to Kathi, that I wanted help with "cover design and title selection". Somehow the "and title selection" got lost by the wayside, and the editor had just ok'd my working title. Title choice is a Very Important Thing when it comes to sales of any book, and while I'm flattered that my working title passed without comment, I really do want to leverage the editor's expertise here. I sent a separate email in asking the editor (through Kathi) to explicitly consider alternate titles.<br />
<br />
I'm also getting a bit nervous about the content getting frozen. I felt like I had "finished" the book more than a month ago, and nothing substantial has changed content-wise, but since it's nonfiction, and I'm a first-timer through this process, I'm starting to experience an irrational fear that I've gotten everything wrong and people will tear the book to shreds. Given the preparation and research I've done, I really don't think that's possible, but that doesn't seem to help. I think that has to do with the "irrational" part of "irrational fear". Pooh.<br />
<br />
A word about self-publishing also: I find all these blogs by authors who are "traditionally publishing", and they all warn you about self-published authors having to keep big boxes of books in the basement. (woo! alliteration!) That seems to be completely wrong nowadays. iUniverse does print-to-demand fulfillment for a variety of major customers (Amazon.com, B&N) for both their online and bricks-and-mortar stores. That means that unless I want a box or two to sell (or sign, or give away, or...) I shouldn't actually have an inventory. Ever. We shall see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-46035905630039959822011-02-01T08:05:00.000-08:002011-02-01T08:19:25.073-08:00Reviewers and Self-Publishing AuthorsI have always known that different people will have wildly different opinions of the same book. I have a friend who rereads Lord of the Rings every year, and I have another who thought it was intolerably dull.<br />
<br />
It never occurred to me (until this morning) that other people might have differing opinions on <i>my</i> book. My subconscious tells me that <i>MY </i>book is clearly less a matter of someone's taste, and more a matter of being totally appropriate and incredibly useful to all people everywhere. Otherwise (duh!) I would not have taken the time to write it. Therefore, <i>no one</i> should have anything but a favorable experience with it. Or so my subconscious tells me. This weekend put my subconscious on a forced march back to Reality.<br />
<br />
I had my book out with two reviewers. One in collegiate academia, and one in a large industry which employs a lot of college-age folks. I'll refer to them as Industry and Academic. Both had enthusiastically agreed over the phone to review the book. Academic even asked if I might come up and speak to the students once the book was published, which was <i>extremely</i> flattering. <br />
<ul><li>Industry got his on Jan 10 and finished on Feb 1. (22 days)</li>
<li>Academic got the PDF on Jan 28 and finished on Jan 30. (2 days)</li>
</ul>Academic's response was via email:<br />
<blockquote><i>[...] my honest opinion:<br />
<br />
Easy to read.<br />
Good format.<br />
Some good ideas.<br />
Got a little tedious around idea number 7, but then again I'm 60 and clearly not in your target demographic.<br />
<br />
In general, I think it's a good book, but would be surprised if college students -- particularly business students -- would give it a second thought [...]<br />
<br />
By the time I got to [Section N], I started to wonder if you were serious or this was a big goof. Sorry man, I just don't know about this book and who I would recommend it to. Maybe the local SBDC.<br />
<br />
Anyway, thanks for thinking of us and good luck.</i> </blockquote> Summary of Academic's review:<br />
<blockquote><ol><li>He <i>literally</i> feared my book was a joke. That's supposed to be hyperbole!</li>
<li>He doesn't think college students would give it a second thought.</li>
<li>He can't think of anyone specific to recommend it to. </li>
<li>That kiss-off at the end is pretty epic.</li>
</ol></blockquote>Being in the traditional publishing pipeline would have been more comfortable: once you're in the pipeline, you can be fairly sure you're not just fooling yourself about the value of your work. Self-publishing authors have no such security blanket. I had Industry's response coming up in two days, and now I was dreading it. It came this morning.<br />
<br />
Industry:<br />
<blockquote>We set up an appointment to talk on the phone</blockquote><blockquote>He was impressed. He stopped <i>just</i> short of saying everyone in his industry would profit from reading the book, and suggested some industry rags where I might be able to publish articles to market my book, as well as some more concrete marketing ideas. He followed up with an email:</blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><i>[This Book] provides the reader with a "Gee, I can do that" idea that these professions are within their reach.</i></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><i>[People in this industry] would find this book of great value</i></blockquote>And went on to remind me of some of the marketing ideas we'd talked about on the phone.</blockquote>Now <i>that</i> is a different story. I think I may have experienced Bipolar Personality Disorder on a very small scale in the last two days.<br />
<br />
So if you're out there, writing your own book, and the reviews are bad, keep in mind that some people are just incorrigible Luddites masquerading as evolved humans. The rest will enjoy your book thoroughly and heap praise on your name. Or so my resurgent subconscious tells me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-57228938225643083942011-01-23T16:21:00.000-08:002011-01-23T16:24:02.780-08:00ResubmittedAfter some minor indigestion with the prescriptive editorial feedback, I made changes and resubmitted the manuscript for a second Prescriptive Edit. It's Sunday, so it should be on the editorial consultant's desk first thing tomorrow morning. As I understand it, there are two major edits left.<br />
<br />
The next one (cover copy polish) is included, so that's nice. It's where I expect to need the most help: helping me design the cover and pick a title. As everyone knows, <a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2002-09-24/">computer geeks like me are not good at visual design</a>. I will gladly accept all the help I can get in this area.<br />
<br />
The last edit is line-editing to bring the manuscript into <a href="http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/">Chicago Manual of Style</a> splendor. I am more than happy to pay someone else to move commas around and respell grey to gray. I'd've paid someone else to do that if it hadn't been included in the service- what an awful job.<br />
<br />
The ball is back in their court. We shall see how things progress.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-66950141682599097342011-01-19T01:48:00.000-08:002011-01-19T03:35:07.055-08:00Marketing, Headshots, and Edits, Oh my!(Apologies to F. Baum) <br />
<br />
<b>Manuscript Changes</b><br />
I have followed up on each of the major suggestions I got from the editor (with the exception of Line Editing stuff that I'll pay them to do at the end) and I'm theoretically ready to resubmit.<br />
<br />
That said, in reading over some of the text (and making some of the changes) I realized that there might be some room to <a href="http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/2010/10/23/disney-institute-plus-it-up-what-the-heck-does-that-mean/">plus up</a> a couple parts of the book, so I'm torn between expanding some of the work and just submitting it so I can move on to the next part. I figure this must be a common temptation for authors, and if I knew any, I'd ask what they do. Sans the advice, I'm going to wait a day or two and see how I feel.<br />
<br />
<b>Outskirts Publishing Contact</b><br />
I had a really nice conversation with Elise from Outskirts about some marketing stuff they do. It looks like editing and marketing are the major differentiators between self-publishing companies. Keep that in mind if you're shopping around. Happily most if not all of these services can be purchased ala-carte from the larger (Tier-2) outfits like Outskirts and iUniverse, which is <i>really</i> good for novices like me who don't have a clue what they need.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KVzyZWQDLgeZb3KLoZZ0spPp7uv2tvwNPrSBBBxUsMBwvlKKIY1qnB0f7OuWSxHrrmF3C5XL44Gb2a9Ec4GUJQ_ez6hIxJslVp8p01yIPD6fmNSbSglkR1G_vZ7kf7y-KD01MVKQDbXX/s1600/HeadshotReversed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KVzyZWQDLgeZb3KLoZZ0spPp7uv2tvwNPrSBBBxUsMBwvlKKIY1qnB0f7OuWSxHrrmF3C5XL44Gb2a9Ec4GUJQ_ez6hIxJslVp8p01yIPD6fmNSbSglkR1G_vZ7kf7y-KD01MVKQDbXX/s1600/HeadshotReversed.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>My photos are finished</b> <br />
I got some digital photos taken by a <a href="http://www.photographybyjoel.com/">studio photographer</a> last week, and I got them today. In the absence of a professional photographer, careful lighting, and <a href="http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2011/01/17/the-best-skin-care-cream-of-all-time-pic/">software-assisted imaging</a>, I'm pretty much the opposite of photogenic. Proof of this abounds. ACTUAL conversation:<br />
<blockquote>"This is one of my favorite pictures of Roscoe." [a dog I was petting] They look farther up and see me. "Eew, sorry Jeff".</blockquote>The "Eew, sorry Jeff" phenomenon has been the suffix to an amazingly large number of comments regarding photos of my family. I'm used to it by now. I was pleased that the photographer had taken the time to take a lot of photos and select the better ones from among them. I picked this one as a headshot and popped it up on my <a href="http://jeffevarts.com/">website</a>.<br />
<br />
I was also careful to get a "copyright release" signed by the photographer, which assures the publishing company that they can use the photos on the book and in their marketing materials. Apparently many photographers retain the rights to their work, and only sell "copies" to their customers. That seems a little odd to me, but apparently that's how it's done a lot of the time. Publishers want a clear path around this potential pitfall, so they request a release in writing.<br />
<br />
Sadly, even though I've been scrupulous about shredding reader/editing copies of my book, this endeavor is now getting complex enough to have a paperwork trail. I'll probably need to get a folder or a box in which to keep stuff like the copyright release. <Sigh>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-13531798641094684992011-01-16T13:37:00.000-08:002011-01-16T13:52:13.413-08:00Getting over itWell on re-reading the editorial feedback, it appears that it was not actually as cavalier in its mayhem done to my self-worth than I originally perceived.<br />
<br />
Actually, a lot of it is quite good. It breaks down into four main chunks:<br />
<ol><li>Line-editing stuff (comma splices, the occasional ALLCAPS word I missed fixing in my rough draft)<br />
</li>
<li>Repeated suggestions that I do a better job of establishing my credentials to write this book, particularly by adding an "About the Author" chapter. (I have no credentials, other than some experience, a genuine interest and a willingness to research the subject)<br />
</li>
<li>Request for a Conclusion chapter. I am not actually sure how to write that. The book is a survey and description of a bunch of existing jobs, what would I write as a conclusion? "Self-Employed jobs exist. These are some of them."? That sounds silly.<br />
</li>
<li>Suggestions that I reduce the "volume", the examples they gave include the first line of the book:</li>
</ol><blockquote style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><blockquote>You do <i>not</i> need permission to earn a living!</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>and occasionally thoughout the book for emphasis</blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><blockquote>Budget! This will make a huge difference in your productivity</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>I see that exclamation points and text decoration (bold, italic, underline, etc) can be a crutch, to bring the author's emphasis to the reader more directly.</blockquote><blockquote>On the other hand, I'm a first-time author writing a topical book. If I take enough time to learn and implement a better voice, the book may be out of date. Not only that, I may not write again if I don't find something else interesting to write about. I'd rather use a crutch and finish the book, provided it will not turn the audience off.</blockquote>So here's how I'm approaching it:<br />
<br />
Item #1 is dead-on. 80% of the stuff was mistakes and half of the rest can be easily rephrased. Yes, some of it (Like the Budget! line above) is out-of-bounds on style, but by intent. Let's just assume that during the <i>other</i> changes I make I'll introduce more line errors, and we'll just catch them all at the end.<br />
<br />
Items 2 and 3 sound like good ideas. Implementing them without examples would be hard. I'd be happy to do it if I had a clue where to start. Perhaps my conversation with my editor on Monday will help sort that out.<br />
<br />
Item #4 may be a matter of taste, but as a completely novice author, I'd rather err on the side of the editor's opinion. Some of the bits sound "right" to me, and the feedback I've gotten from outside readers has been positive on the tone, but I'd be happy to chop 50% of it out, so long as it didn't mean completely abolishing the urgent tone altogether.<br />
<br />
OK, wish me luck.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-43200475445359767502011-01-11T21:09:00.000-08:002011-02-01T10:55:03.739-08:00Visited a "Writer's Club" meetingThe location was nice, a major bookstore. The attendance was high. Well over a hundred, and they were out of chairs, so some people were standing in the back.<br />
<br />
But the content was a little narrow.<br />
<br />
The event started with two member-authors reading their own work, which was followed by the three winners of last year's short story contest each reading a part of their work. After that there was to be a lecture from a successful, professional visiting author on the subject of reading your own work in public, to be followed by various member-authors reading a single page of their work and getting critiqued by the authority. Basically, this was "reading your work in public" night, and that wasn't what I was interested in. It was all fiction, as well.<br />
<br />
When I looked at the membership profile (for new members to fill out) I noticed the same skew in the assumed demographic. The middle section read:<br />
<blockquote><i>I'm writing in the following genre(s):</i> </blockquote><blockquote><i>_short story</i><br />
<i>_novel</i><br />
<i>_poetry</i><br />
<i>_articles</i><br />
<i>_memoir</i><br />
<i>_essay</i><br />
<i>_screenplay</i><br />
<br />
<i>other: _______________________________________</i></blockquote><br />
Question: What's missing from these options?<br />
Answer: 80% of the dewey decimal "top level" categories. The tickbox options all pretty much fall under the headings "opinion" and "fiction". No mathematics or physics, no geology or geography, no history or technology or business, nothing like that. Even the whole genre "nonfiction" combined didn't rate a mention.<br />
<br />
My gut feel is that their definition of "writer" doesn't really include folks like me.<br />
<br />
So first blush: Several hours of authors reading their own work was unappealing, so I left after the first hour. The membership form indicated a pretty much complete focus on fiction & opinion, so I haven't joined. I'll go to another one nonetheless. No use making decisions on a single data point.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-91987977468293468862011-01-11T13:08:00.000-08:002011-01-16T13:12:51.594-08:00Editorial Feedback ReceivedI have received my editorial feedback. <br />
<br />
Apparently, before my submission, no one had thought to add a simple "You suck! Just go away." summary-judgment tickbox, and they had to write it all out longhand. Doubtless they'll fix that now.<br />
<br />
When I first read it, I could have sworn there was a note to the check-in coordinator, that went something like this:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Please assess the delusions of the author to determine whether or not he is a potential spree-shooter. I can't believe anyone who can spell the word manuscript would admit <i>producing</i> such drivel, much less submit it to other hominids for scrutiny. I would have quit reading after the 5th page if he hadn't forked over all that money for the full review. It's basically a waste of his time to think about authoring anything more complicated than a coffee order on a napkin, and a waste of <i>our</i> time to evaluate this offal-art. See if you can constructively suggest that he change genres to finger painting and/or limericks.</div><br />
But apparently that's was auto-deleted while I reread the original, more hurtful bits.<br />
<br />
I feel like kicking their pets until I feel better.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-64623739449457210632011-01-05T15:55:00.001-08:002011-01-05T15:56:43.057-08:00Waiting is death... I shall market!I dropped off the last of the materials with my check-in coordinator at iUniverse, and then there's nothing to do but wait for a couple of weeks.<br />
<br />
Waiting <b>blows</b>, particularly where money is involved, so I started chasing down some possible routes to get marketing quotes, materials, or exposure. This was a blue-sky idea fest, and I just called various organizations that I knew about.<br />
<ul><li>California Governor's Office of Economic Development<br />
[Got a director and his contact info, called, he gave me his email, sent a query]</li>
</ul><ul><li>Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepeneurial Studies,<br />
<u> UCLA Anderson School of Management</u><br />
[Called and they said they'd check and call me back by tomorrow]<br />
</li>
<li>Chico State (my Alma Mater)<br />
<u> </u> <u>Alumni Association</u><br />
[Called. They have a newsletter in which I can promote my book when it's ready ]<br />
<br />
<u> </u> <u>Business Department, Dean's Office</u><br />
[Called. Got Dean's office. They're between semesters right now, but she scheduled an email to the staff there for a day or two before classes restart. Should happen in about 3 weeks.]<br />
<br />
<u>Communications Department, Dean's Office</u><br />
[Called, no answer. Leaving a message seemed pointless. I'll call back when classes restart.]<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Google, where I worked a few years ago, has an "alumni" group, so I checked it out. Looking at the stuff there, it's more for finished work (announcements) than requests for comment.<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Just occurred to me to check with my local Barnes & Noble (looks like they occasionally have local author book signings)<br />
[Called, this store doesn't do local-author sales, but I got the email for the community relations person, so I zapped out an email to find out if there's anything they <i>do</i> do]<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>The above experience reminded me to check for other brick & mortar bookstores, and shockingly, there are basically none in the immediate area. The Borders closed, there's a new-age place, and (oddly) a mysteries-only place, but that's it for the bricks-and-mortar crowd. Ouch. Growing up, I remember having half a dozen to choose from. What is the world coming to?!?<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Next thought: local library. Maybe they have a "local author shelf" or book signings or something.<br />
[Called, got the number of the person to talk to, not there. Will call back]<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>The chamber of commerce might have something as well. They have a networking night coming up in a couple weeks. I'll check it out.<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>There's also a local writer's club meeting on the 11th, which I will attend. Not sure what to expect there... it may be "professionals only", or it may be a chat-club. Only one way to find out.</li>
</ul>Hrm, what to do now? I <b>knew</b> marketing was going to be the hardest part of this...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-66526523061816874432011-01-03T16:48:00.000-08:002011-01-03T19:00:29.999-08:00iUniverse leaps into actionWow, a same-day turnaround from iUniverse.<br />
<br />
My check-in coordinator reviewed my submissions, and had a couple questions. She also had some news: my package includes a hardback version (ooh, sexy!) so I need to do dust jacket design at some point. I asked if I could put that off until I could talk to some marketing genius about it.<br />
<br />
The next phase begins! More waiting!<br />
<br />
Ow, ow, ow. Champing at the bit when you don't actually <i>have</i> a bit in your mouth is painful.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-83712571113980020832011-01-01T23:09:00.000-08:002011-01-01T23:33:29.521-08:002011 started right: draft manuscript submittedThe funny part: their uploader didn't work.<br />
<br />
But they have a backup submission email address, and I sent it there, as well as to my "check in coordinator", along with a couple rough cuts at a cover and some title possibilities.<br />
<br />
Now the hard part: waiting. Argh! It burns!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-50309209453624597952010-12-30T07:57:00.000-08:002010-12-30T07:57:21.939-08:00Time spentAnother interesting thing: It doesn't take a lot of time to <i>write</i> (type in) a manuscript, compared to all the other jazz that goes into a published book. I think I spent around 10 minutes per page writing the book, and <i>maybe</i> another 10 minutes editing, formatting, etc. I'm all-in for less than 100 hours to write a 200 page book, and I'm <i>sure</i> I could do another similar one even faster.<br />
<br />
The odd part is what <i>is</i> taking all the time.Talking to my readers and going over their feedback, working out various title/subtitle combinations, taking a few shots at cover design, deciding what I want to put in my bio, etc. That's not even considering the time required to go out and get "marketing quotes" from authorities, contacting relevant experts for input on specific sections, and figure out how and where to start marketing it.<br />
<br />
I figure less than half the hours I end up putting into book #1 will be in the "initial concept, research, draft, line editing, and book layout" categories. The other half will be in stuff I never really thought about until after "the book was written". (har har)<br />
<br />
Live and learn.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6186839351495006361.post-68775586810013830532010-12-29T16:00:00.000-08:002010-12-29T16:00:59.388-08:00Make-work / learning my tools: cover artRight now I'm waiting on my readers for feedback before I submit the manuscript to iUniverse. Not surprisingly, I was itchy to do <i>something</i> so I took a rough cut at some cover art. It's probably painfully bad from a design perspective, but at least I learned some new stuff (frames and rotated text) in OOWriter, and confirmed that the color stuff in my PDF export & reader software works. Oddly, iUniverse doesn't seem to have a "submit cover art" feature. Weird.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0