Self-Publishing isn't simple
Lots of moving parts
Just a quick note to say that The Bridge Between Us is now available in print from Amazon, and also enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program.
There are lots of moving parts involved in self-publishing a book— way beyond just writing. After I write the second draft, I send the book off to my human editor, who reviews it and gives me feedback. Most of the time that feedback involves a full third draft and a second review.
My cover designer, Kelly, comes up with the e-book cover, allowing me to get the book up for pre-order, along with uploading the Word docx.
Then it goes off to my beta readers, who usually have a month to review the manuscript and point out typos, missing words, and errors of fact.
“You abbreviate mathematics to math which is not UK English usage. The British write ‘maths’ since mathematics is plural.”
“Gloucester Cathedral has a tower but not a spire.”
(Gloucester Cathedral with tower)
And so on. I’ve found that no matter how many beta readers I have, they each find at least one unique error.
Once the book is finished, it goes to my formatter, Silvia, in the Czech Republic. She creates the beautiful look of the finished book, in both epub and PDF formats.
But it’s not done then!
Then I turn back to Kelly and give her the number of pages in the PDF. That allows her to create the print cover, which has front and back and spine width.
Once I had the print cover and the PDF file, I uploaded everything to Amazon. Each of the three print distributors — Amazon, Draft2Digital, and Ingram Spark, have slightly different requirements, like the dimensions of the image or how close the text is to the edge of the image. It often takes a couple of iterations to get it right.
That’s where the delay in the print edition came in. I wasn’t sure I’d get everything together in time for Monday’s e-book release so I delayed the print release until today.
And I have an MBA in operations management and spent years preparing schedules for shopping mall construction and computer game production. I probably should invest in some expensive scheduling software, but my ego won’t let me. (I can do this myself! I know I can!)
I am celebrating the release of Eden Alexander, the last American hostage held by Palestinians. However nearly two dozen hostages are still believed to be alive in Gaza, including a student, a software tester, a bartender and several soldiers. Too many innocent people are held against their will around the world, not just in Gaza. My hope is for release and peace for all.
Have a great week!
Neil
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