[stylist] it's in print!

Thu Sep 29 14:34:39 UTC 2016

Julie,

Congrats! Very exciting. See you at convention next week. Will have to check your book out.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie J. via stylist
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2016 7:16 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com>
Subject: [stylist] it's in print!

My book is now available in a paperback large print format from Amazon!

I’m so excited!  It’s one thing to publish a digital book, but I didn’t realize how much different it would be to hold my actual book in my hands.   Somehow it’s more real.

If any of you are going to be at the Nebraska state convention next weekend, I will have copies with me at my exhibit table.  Please stop by and say hello.  I will also have lots of other cool things that you won’t be able to live without! LOL

The technical bits for those considering self publishing in print...
I’ve had the digital Kindle book available for a while now.  I went with Amazon’s Create Space for the print because it was affordable and also because it will integrate neatly with the Kindle version.  I also sell physical products on Amazon.  So keeping everything there is convenient.

The actual process of writing the book was done, since the Kindle version has been for sale for a long time.  I didn’t make any content changes when adding the print version.  All I had to do was sign up, change some formatting and create the cover.
Signing up for Create Space is not difficult and is fully accessible.  Zero problems there.

I prepared my own interior file.  This is everything but the cover, all the front matter, the content of the book and any back matter you might have.  Create Space has you pick the trim size of your book first, then provides you with Blank Word document that has the margins and what not preset for you.  That’s what I used.
Then I just added blank pages where they needed to be, inserted headings, changed fonts and all that sort of thing.  This was all done in MS Word and is accessible, although it does require patience and some Googling when I got stuck.

Next is the cover.  You have a couple of options here, the built in cover creator, uploading a PDF or paying for someone to do it for you.  I went with the built in cover creator tool.  It was free, but totally inaccessible, so I used a reader. I’d say it took 2 hours, but I went with something pretty basic.  We didn’t do changes to fonts or background colors.  If you wanted to use the cover creator and do something completely customized, you could probably spend 4 to 8 hours on it.  

I was able to chose all options and upload everything I needed, excepting the cover, for the whole process.  Once everything is selected and submitted, you are asked to review your book.  They have an on line tool, which is inaccessible or you can purchase a proof copy.  I used a reader to check it on line and also ordered a proof.
There are checks along the way.  The steps are listed and if you need to do something on a particular step it will show that an action is needed.  When you submit your interior file, it will run through an automatic check.  Once you have completed everything, you submit it for review from a live person.  This takes up to 24 hours and they email you when it’s complete.  This just checks if the interior file is printable.  They don’t do anything like checking for spelling, grammar or things like that.  Once you get that approval you can order print books.

If people have questions about the process, I’d be happy to try to answer them.
Julie
Courage to Dare: A Blind Woman's Quest to Train her Own Guide Dog http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXZSMOC
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