[stylist] A Writer's Wormhole: Novelist to Publisher in 3 Easy Nervous Breakdowns

[Donna Hill]

Hi Friends,

The following is the text of my latest post. It ends with the standard text
I am including about screen reader access to Word Press's comments form. If
you would like to help me, I'd really appreciate it if you went to the
accessible form (the link is at the bottom of the article) and left a
comment. If you have to copy and paste it, make sure you get it all -- it
ends with the number 3. Please feel free to comment here as well.

Donna

 

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A Writer's Wormhole: from novelist to publisher in 3 Easy Nervous Breakdowns

by Donna W. Hill

Published 3/23/13

DonnaWHill.com/2013/03/23/writers-wormhole-novelist-to-publisher-3-easy-nerv
ous-breakdowns

 

Graphic: Screech Owl in Wood Duck House by Rich Hill" 

 

Last week, a desperate quest for sanity compelled me to stand down from my
mind-numbing routine and ask "What on Earth has happened to me?"  I was a
writer. Somehow, however, I must have entered one of those wormholes the
physicists talk about. While it was a route to another part of the universe
where I need to go, it was a journey of suffocating pressure.

 

The Heart of Applebutter Hill: The Writing Process

 

For years, I lived in Applebutter Hill, a fictional land with portholes into
mythical worlds where two shy teenagers travel in a camouflaged airship
dubbed the Cloud Scooper. Classrooms transform into realistic
representations of places like Westminster Abbey, and a grumpy acorn
inspires a song with the tag line, "Mighty oak trees are nothing but little
nuts who stood their ground." This world is not entirely of my own making.
It is inhabited by the spirits of loved ones, friends and even enemies.

 

My theory of writing is informed by my identity as a journalist. Get the
story and write it up; everything beyond the inquiry stage is editing. For
fiction, inquiry occurs in the imagination.

 

Editing a Novel

 

Once I had it down, I picked and fussed. I combed through the novel for
errors, phrases that could be tightened up, things that weren't clear. I
tried to make the dialog more realistic, the narrative crisper. I rearranged
paragraphs, sentences and even single words, in a quest to present
information in the perfect order for building and sustaining suspense. 

 

I invited others to read my novel and give feedback. Fortunately, I have
people in my life who are willing to say something other than, "Yeah, it's
great. I liked it." I agonized over their comments, took their advice and
made changes. Ultimately, the manuscript cowered in fear that I would move a
comma, question an adjective or turn something else into a contraction just
to reduce the word count.

 

Bringing a Book from Manuscript to Publication

 

If I was distracted, forgetful or uninvolved in the everyday details of life
while writing and editing, it was nothing compared with the next stage. The
novel was done. Though I would love to continue writing, to delve into my
notes on a sequel or work on something else entirely, I restrained myself.
Nowadays, I am simply shepherding the work of my life through the
publication process.

 

At first, it wasn't complicated. I researched agents, sent out queries and
tried not to despair of the emptiness that was my In Box. But, the clock was
ticking and my patience was wearing thin. I decided to self-publish. 

 

What company should I go with? Create Space or Lulu, Smashwords or Book
Tango? What about the others? I made my choices (Create Space for print and
Kindle; Smashwords for the other eBook options). Did I choose wisely? I have
no idea. I suspect that any of the many options would be workable. The
wildcard is the author's willingness and ability to press on with
promotions.

 

Choices, Choices, Choices!

 

Create Space has several options for every aspect of the process. For the
interior design, for instance, you can upload a print-ready PDF or use their
online Interior Reviewer, which does the conversion for you - both are free.
The trick is that you need to, at the very least, make a properly formatted
.doc, .docx or .rtf. 

 

You can also pay them $379 to design the interior for you. I think I truly
entered the wormhole, when I realized that Create Space's discounts on promo
copies don't kick in until you order 5,000. Yeah, that's "five thousand."
The savings on multiple copies is on shipping only. $379 buys a lot of
promotional copies.

 

The Novel's Interior Design 

 

I decided to design my novel's interior myself. Are you raising an eyebrow?
Well, get the other one up there; it's a crazier idea than it seems. 

 

Formatting your book starts with choosing a trim size. 6" x 9" is the most
popular and the one I chose. Create Space provides guidelines on margins and
gutters, and a trip around Word's Page Set-up dialog turns your manuscript
into something resembling a book.

 

Then there's Styles. If you're the average Word user, just throw everything
you think you know about formatting out the window; it may look great for
printing a manuscript, but that's not how it's done. The pros use Styles,
not local formatting. A Style is a collection of choices about font and
paragraph attributes and parameters (such as what Style the following
paragraph should be) bundled together and given a name. 

 

Time for more reading. Being the prudent sort, I practiced on new documents.
I congratulated myself on how quickly I was getting the hang of it. Somehow,
however, I lost a measure of cynicism and forgot everything I had come to
expect from Microsoft. I was, therefore, shocked to learn that Word 2010
doesn't automatically make these new Styles available to other documents.
They need to be imported. Also, unlike Word 2007, the Developer Tab is not
on the ribbon. 

 

Book Design: Formatting Problems & Headaches

 

The problems really started when I tried to import Styles. Since I am blind,
I use text-to-speech software to access the computer and the internet.
Wonderful as this is, it has some drawbacks. Chief among them is that
software and website developers are a baffling combination of uninformed and
uninterested, when it comes to adding the 1s and 0s that allow screen
readers to communicate with their products.

 

Running up against some of these stumbling blocks sent me over the edge. I
was so close! While hovering over my computer in a state of paralysis, I
realized what I should have known all along - I am not, nor do I want to be
a professional book designer. My novel deserves better. I conceded defeat. I
soothed my ego by assuring myself that I had - in over a hundred hours that
I will never get back - at least learned enough about the topic to be
somewhat conversant in it. I then threw in the towel, ran up a white flag
and spent $397.

 

Accessibility Issues for People Using Screen Readers 

 

Screen reader users, there are significant issues with Word Press's "Leave a
Reply" form - which is labeled on this site "So, What Do You Think?" Even if
you access the edit fields and fill them out, the "Submit" button doesn't
work most of the time. I have advised Word Press of this issue. 

 

Meanwhile, here's a "temporary" solution. Every page and post has a link
labeled "Accessible Comment Form for Screen Reader Users." It is accessible,
but does not link directly to the automated comments system. It will be sent
to me, however, and I will forward it to Word Press to post on your behalf.
The URL is: 

donnawhill.com/accessible-comment-form-for-screen-reader-users-3

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-- 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
 
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Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
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