Digging a Ramp...
Okay...I am cautiously digging a dirt ramp up to the edge of the hole. Why you ask? Good question...convoluted answer. I spent several days working on editing the template for the first paperback printing at CreateSpace of my novel, The Falls: In the Dead of Winter, in The Falls small town mystery series. (14 volumes now and going strong) I'm sure it's not perfect by any means yet, but after using the CreateSpace reviewing tool (which is excellent by the way) I felt like I needed to get the show on the road, so to speak. At this point, only seeing the book in paper form and being able to give it the eye test is what's needed.
I had already designed a cover and was fairly happy with it, with one exception. The program won't allow me to use the logo for the series that my friend Kate Eileen Shannon had designed in the space assigned for the publisher's mark. Now it will let me place several other pictures there, so I'm not sure why it won't allow the logo. Hopefully, Kate can help me get that fixed. I have to say, the design process for the cover, although quite rigid in some ways, is excellent as well. I am very pleased with what it looks like on screen...now for the eye test, as I said before.
Next I went into the program and set a price, which floored me. The program told me that at 602 pages, the book couldn't be produced and sold for less than $20.18. Well, as I told myself, and Kate told me as well, the first book in the series is not a moneymaker, it's the way to get people interested, and as long as I have a Kindle version for $2.99 it should be alright.
Now, the other books in the series are somewhat smaller. Some as much as two hundred pages smaller. So they will sell for a lot less in paperback. I'm still shuddering at the $20 price tag, but I know I need to get the paperback out there. So, for now...that's where it will be. Then I got to the part in the instructions where I could order proofs.
I ordered just one, in order to edit it in paperback form. That was only $8.07, $11.66 with shipping. Should be here in about a week. I've been advised by my Irish Fairy Godmother to order one proof at a time, then go back and edit the document, reconvert to pdf and download it to my file in CreateSpace until I'm happy. Seems like a very smart way to go. When I'm satisfied and place it out there to sell, I will buy a dozen or so proofs to give out to family and friends.
Thus the ramp. With every proof that I edit and send back I build the ramp a little higher and make it a little more secure. Am I out of the hole yet? Not by a long shot, and I anticipate a curve ball or two along the way. But the ramp is starting to be built, shaped and fortified. I'm going to make it as strong a ramp as I can, not hurry it along, make sure it holds my weight when i go to climb out.
I must tell you, I can't wait to get the proof in my hands! After 22 ebooks in Amazon Kindle and having written all my life in one way or another, to see my name on the cover, turn the pages and smell the book, will be a great feeling. One of those 'I wasn't sure I'd ever get there!' type moments, in all honesty.
To those of you have gone through this, a sincere thanks for carving the path for those of us who follow. For making the path a little easier and for cheering us on. For those of you who are still inspired and dreaming of it happening...my advice is overwhelmingly, take the steps. Do it. Don't wait for a better time or situation. If people like me can do it, you can do it too. Without much financial investment. Of course it is required that you invest your blood, sweat, tears and soul. And to Kate, my thanks for sticking by a stubborn old Scot when he needed a true friend.
May the dragons watch over all of you...(and my proof!)
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