Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
Sure, the cover looked great. The designers followed my instructions and did a bang up job: Only with the wrong central image.
The problem was that for months I’d been using cover1 to mean a particular image. It was labeled cover1 on FaceBook, labeled cover1 on my desktop. I’d gotten used to cover1 meaning my favorite cover. Period.
But the designers changed my favorite cover’s name to coveralt1 and using cover1 for a different image, so when I directed them to use cover 1 (what had been my and most other people’s favorite), I had inadvertently directed them to use the wrong cover image.
ACK!
Once I figured out the error, I mostly felt annoyed at myself for not double-checking the actual file names.
Careless me. But fixable.
After that round of approved proofreading changes was uploaded, I got a chance to proofread the fixes. As part of any new changes I saw needed, I’d correct the main cover image, as well as trim the back cover text a little.
That’s for later. Then, I was back to waiting.
And asking questions. My contact at the Special Recognitions Board must have surely rolled her eyes with each email I sent her, but I wanted to make the best choices possible, and do whatever I can to help get prepared for the book’s launch.
For anyone who signs up for the mailing list, I created a teaser, a sample of 18 pages from early in each of the three points of view, edited for flow and context, and attached that to the auto-responder for signing up on the mailing list. I worked on buttons and other artwork for emails and pages, teaching myself how to use various stand-alone and online programs, including Canva, which makes graphic design as easy editing a Word document.
Then, on March 1st, I got the new interior, all in PDF, with the proofreader’s corrections made, and laid out exactly as a person who buys the book would see it: gratifying.
Still, this meant more yet work: for the second proofread, I was reading the book cover to cover, and making all the final changes before the book get uploaded to sell for an estimated $23.95 for the softbound Print on Demand version, and about 20% of that as the suggested price for the ebook version, though I have more control over that price than of the physical copy, and haven’t decided on final price yet.
Back to work, rereading this newest version, making any needed changes to the text, submitting a new proofreading form. Then, it was back to waiting, this time for another form to indicate the final changes to the cover; filling out and submitting that form when quickly, and then it was waiting for all these changes to be implemented, so that, finally, the last review of the manuscript and cover can be made, and only then, after the approval of the now final version, will the book go live.
Then the really hard part beings: Selling it.
How the book sells determines whether it will receive the highest designation on the Traditional Publishing Path with iUniverse: Star. This designation recognizes that a minimum number of books have been sold, the specific number depending on the form sold: physical or electronic. Thus, once A Perfect Blindness sells enough copies, it earns the Star designation and then gets the full weight of iUniverse’s help thrown behind it.
Know someone who might like this? Post it or Forward this email to let them in on it.
To ask a question or follow along with the self-publishing adventure, join the “Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness” here.