[stylist] Self-Publishing Update: the Interior of the Book

[Chris Kuell]

Hey Donna,

Thank you for taking the time to give us the details of your book project. 
It's very helpful, and I appreciate it.

chris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 5:36 PM
Subject: [stylist] Self-Publishing Update: the Interior of the Book


> Hi Friends,
>
> Most of you already know that I am about to self-publish my novel The 
> Heart
> of Applebutter Hill. Since some other Stylist members are thinking about
> this option, I have been writing periodic, if not regular, updates in the
> hopes that sharing my experiences will prove useful to others in terms of
> getting an idea what is involved. The book should be out in a month or so.
> In this e-mail, I'll talk about where we're at with the interior. The 
> cover
> and the website info will shortly follow in separate e-mails.
>
>
>
> I'm going to use Create Space for print & Kindle, and Smashwords for the
> other e-book formats, which include Blio. Create Space is first, and it 
> has
> three basic approaches:
>
> 1. The free method allows people who have preformatted manuscripts and/or
> book covers to upload them to their site
>
> 2. A variety of packages in three categories (Standard Value Solutions,
> Total Design Freedom Solutions & Total Design Freedom Solutions for
> Children's Books). If you want to spend the money, they'll do everything
> from multiple rounds of copy editing, formatting, signature cover design,
> press releases and a video in their $4,853 "Total Design Freedom Marketing
> Pro" package. For just about that much you can get a package that includes
> illustrating children's books.
>
> 3. An a la carte option, in which you pick and choose between the free and
> paid services. I'm attaching a .docx of four Total Design Freedom packages
> with both the package total and the a la cart prices as of January. There
> are other options  online.
>
>
>
> I'm trying to do some of it for free and purchase a minimum of services a 
> la
> carte. I want to take advantage of their free Interior Reviewer. 
> Purchasing
> copies of the POD books is not as cheap for authors as I had hoped, and 
> they
> don't give you a price break unless you order 5,000 copies. The price is
> dependent on the size and page count.  For mine which is 6" x 9" and circa
> 340 pages, it's about $4.50, per copy (approx, and I'm not sure about
> shipping.). I would like to save money on the things I can, so I can buy
> more copies for promotional use.
>
>
>
> I asked about using Create Space generated interiors with other 
> publishers,
> since there are many who offer discounts. The answer is, no. They allow 
> you
> to use the front cover image in promotions, but you can't take either the
> cover or the interior to a third-party publisher. Two of the issues here
> are:
>
> 1. Different printing services have different requirements for the "print
> ready" files they work with,
>
> 2. Different versions of a book need different ISBNs.
>
>
>
> The ISBN is the International Standard Book Number. Create Space will give
> you one that makes them the publishing imprint of record, or you can buy
> them directly through Bowker. One way or the other, all ISBNs in the US 
> come
> through Bowker. Obviously, if you buy your own ISBNs and have the basic
> formatting, you can go to anyone. I saw a deal somewhere that cost $250 
> for
> 10 ISBNs.
>
>
>
> I wrote to ask Create Space about the accessibility of the Interior
> Reviewer, which points out formatting problems visually. I expressed my
> fears that I might not be able to use it with Jaws. They wrote back saying
> that they would do it for me, if I provided them with a preformatted Word
> document: preformatted means to their spe    cifications, not the way most
> of us go about formatting. They also said that their uploader doesn't work
> with some advanced formatting methods, but didn't define them.
>
>
>
> I don't have anything all that advanced going on in my novel - just a
> different font and size for chapter titles, a different format for poetry 
> &
> lyrics and vertically centered copyright and dedication pages. I have done
> so much work trying to figure out how to use Word's advanced formatting
> (Styles), which is mandatory. I am very close to having something I think
> might work. I'm going to see if their uploader can deal with it, before
> admitting defeat and turning the job over to them.
>
>
>
> I read about the Interior Reviewer enough to tell that there is a menu 
> list
> of the problems, so it might be workable with Jaws after all. You can't 
> use
> it until you commit to which of the 3 ISBN options you are going to use.
>
>
>
> I expect to get the free one, which is necessary to take advantage of some
> of Create Space's advanced distribution services and necessary to get an
> LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number). The LCCN is necessary to get
> distribution through Baker and Taylor - the book distribution company used
> by schools and colleges. Since I'm niche-marketing my novel as a tool for
> diversity and anti-bullying initiatives in secondary schools and colleges, 
> I
> want to do this. You can do it privately, but it just feels like more 
> hassle
> than I can handle, and it would cost more with no foreseeable benefit.
> Before I give the Interior Reviewer a try, however, there's the matter of
> the cover, but that'll have to wait till next time.
>
>
> -- The Heart of Applebutter Hill, a novel on a mission:
> DonnaWHill.com
>
> Read Donna's articles on Suite 101:
> http://suite101 <http://suite101.com/donna-w-hill> .com/donna-w-hill
>
> Connect with Donna on
> Twitter:
> www.twitter.com/dewhill
> LinkedIn:
> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
> FaceBook:
> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill
>
> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
>
> Apple I-Tunes
> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374
>
>
>