Print-on-demand and self-publishing

These days, authors no longer have to jump through hoops trying to get an agent or a publisher interested in their manuscripts. Now authors can go the self-publishing route. Self-publishing is not for everyone, and some strongly urge against it, but it is definitely worth considering.

In a nutshell, self-publishing is when you do all the work yourself, or hire someone to do parts of it for you. Other than writing the book, you're responsible for designing the cover, formatting the content, and finding a suitable printing company. You can opt for offset printing, which is the traditional way to print and far cheaper per book, but you'd have to buy thousands of copies and stock them yourself. Another method is print-on-demand (or POD) digital printing, where you can order as needed, whether it's two copies or five hundred. No matter how many you order, the price-per-book is the same (although some digital printers will offer a bulk discount).

A couple of good examples of POD services are CreateSpace and Lulu, both of which allow you to upload your ready-to-print files so that your book is available to order within days.

There are companies known as subsidy publishers who act a bit like traditional publishers in that they do all the design work for you, then print and distribute your book. But the author pays a substantial cost for this service, usually upwards of $2000. Traditional publishers like Scholastic and Random House pay the author for the manuscript and take on all costs, and have a strong vested interest to ensure the book succeeds, whereas subsidy publishers have very little interest. And where traditional publishers have extremely tough standards – to the point that the chances of getting published by them are almost nil – subsidy publishers are not anywhere near as picky and will gladly take on your work as long as you pay them.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over what being self-published means. The term carries a stigma, and I've met authors who have insisted quite strongly that they're not self-published... and yet they designed the cover, hired editors, and organized the printing and distribution. That's self-publishing. Personally I think subsidy publishing is also a form of self-publishing, in that the author pays them money to do all the work. It's no different to hiring a professional team.

I chose to save my money and do the work myself, using CreateSpace, who are an online print-on-demand service. Since they're part of Amazon, my self-published books immediately show up in Amazon. And since December 2009 there's an Expanded Distribution service that means my books are added to national distribution channels such as Ingram's database (among others).

The following are tagged/related posts from my blog...

Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School

Posted on March 2, 2010

This week I received a nice thick package from Brian Clopper, a fifth grade teacher at Jones Dairy Elementary School in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Since he's a teacher, and this post is about his 11-year-old students, I'll refer to him as Mr. Clopper! Anyway, Mr. Clopper has been reading Island of Fog to his class, and the package he sent contained twenty letters (handwritten in pencil) from his students, along with various sketches of creatures from the book.

I've had plenty of reviews about the book, some from middle graders and teens, and many from older readers, but this package of letters from a class of 11-year-olds is by far the best feedback I've had to date. The general consensus is that there's one particular scene that drags a little, but I also know which other scenes are hot favorites, and which creatures are the most popular. One classmate suggested that a scene near the end (involving the parents) was "gruesome," although another liked the way it played out. Miss Simone needs to be nicer and sweeter to the children, and there needs to be more action with the manticore. Favorite characters include Hal, Abigail and Robbie, while Thomas is the creepiest.

But it's best to let you read the words of the fifth graders. I've put together a page containing all the letters, faithfully reproduced without changing anything except where I needed to remove a name. The drawings are brilliant, and I've included these too. Be warned, though – for those who haven't read the book, you might want to look at these letters with one eye closed and the other squinted to avoid spoilers. See the link at the foot of this post. I'll also be writing directly to the class to answer their questions. I wish I could go visit, but it's an eight hour journey!

Brian Clopper BooksAs for Mr. Brian Clopper, he's not just a teacher but a writer as well. He kindly sent me a couple of his own self-published works, one being a short Birthday Comic Book Card featuring Marvin the Dragon, and the other a compact 100-page short novel entitled Graham the Gargoyle, complete with superb illustrations by Brian himself – a man of many talents!

Oddly enough, when I opened the package and the contents fell out, the title Graham the Gargoyle struck me as familiar. For a second I thought Piers Anthony had written about such a character. Then Brian mentioned that he'd been a fan of Piers Anthony while growing up, and when he wrote Graham the Gargoyle he sent the book to Piers in the hope that the author would review it. He did, and favorably so, saying:

"[Graham the Gargoyle is] for young readers, as the little gargoyle struggles through family, school, and tormenting by the local bully to finally win through. I recommend this for ten year olds, who will relate." (April 2001 newsletter)

This was back in 2001, so I'm not sure why I remember the title. Maybe I just think I do. But anyway, Brian has been visiting Piers Anthony's website every month ever since, and this is how he came across my novel, Island of Fog – because of Piers' review in his July 2009 newsletter. Brian was curious and bought my book via Amazon, and liked it enough that he wanted to read it to his class. He's currently reading Labyrinth of Fire at home and plans to read that to the class as well. He clearly has great taste! :-)

Brian is also writing a new novel about a character named Irving Wishbutton. I love the concept of this, although I'd better not repeat it here for fear of someone else borrowing the idea. The manuscript is written, and Brian plans to start submitting to agents in April. I've read the portion he sent me, and am inspired. I had already planned to write something new after the third "Fog" book, but haven't quite figured out what yet – but it will be good to start with a clean slate and do something new. (I do plan to write more "Fog" books as well, though, probably in 2011.)

It's been a great week. Selling books is one thing, but having a copy read to an enthralled class... well, it's a far nicer feeling than earning a few bucks here and there!

Ready to read the letters? Okay, let's go: Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School

New shipping rates

Posted on February 9, 2010

A while back I mentioned that I had subscribed to CreateSpace's expanded distribution channel, meaning that my books would be become more widely available. Well, after six or seven weeks, I've changed my mind and unsubscribed.

Being subscribed to the EDC in theory means that my books show up in the Ingram's database so that U.S. bookstores can order them as they order other books. But, as I've discovered, that doesn't mean to say that bookstores will order them. In fact, I've heard of bookstores refusing to order self-published books even when a customer specifically requests it; it's like they don't want to be anywhere near them. Well, I can understand that, I suppose, as there are many, many poorly written or produced books. But it means that being included in the Ingram's database is almost pointless.

The EDC also allows your books to show on Amazon outside the U.S. True enough, within weeks, both books showed up on Canada's Amazon as well as Amazon in France and other European countries. But the UK's Amazon is another story. This is the one I really wanted to show up on, but after six or seven weeks it still only lists my books via third party sellers at varying ridiculous prices, which is not ideal.

I've come to the conclusion that this expanded distribution thing is not all it's cracked up to be for self-published authors. Apart from a few sales on Amazon.com each month, all my sales are via my website, and these are books I personally sign and dispatch. And I prefer it that way. The only snag is that international shipping is expensive.

So, in an effort to make my books more accessible to those outside the U.S., I've decided to swallow more than half the international shipping cost. Previously I was charging $9.95, even though the actual shipping cost was $10.76 to send one book and $12.95 to send two. Now I've lowered my rates as follows:

  • $3.95 flat rate for one or more books delivered in the U.S.
  • $5.95 flat rate for one or more books delivered anywhere else in the world

If you haven't already, take advantage of me and buy one or both books here.

Quality control at CreateSpace

Posted on January 14, 2010

I've been pulling my hair out with frustration at the poor quality of books received recently from CreateSpace. Don't get me wrong – I have a load of perfectly good ones in stock in case you're thinking of buying one. :-)

A while back I ordered 48 copies (a box load). The order went missing, which I suppose, in the absence of any other evidence, we can blame on the postal service. CreateSpace sent me a replacement box once 15 working days had elapsed. This replacement batch was pretty shoddy, to be honest. Many copies had wonky spine text where the cover hadn't been aligned correctly; the spines weren't as square as they should be; many had damages due to bad handling; some had severe scraping on the backside; and ALL of them were covered in dust. Obviously dust wipes off, but still... dust? Aren't these printing facilities supposed to be dust-free environments? Or is it just the packaging department that needs a spring clean?

I wasn't going to stand for shoddy workmanship so I contacted CreateSpace and complained with a detailed list of faults. CreateSpace hardly batted an eyelid; they sent me their standard apology and immediately dispatched 25 replacement books (those that I had decided were unsellable at the standard price).

These replacements arrived less than a week later. Unfortunately it was more of the same: covered in dust, wonky and rounded spines, slight damages...

Fed up with what I saw as CreateSpace's declining production quality, I complained again – loudly. I had already posted on their forums about this, and I posted again. I also wrote to CreateSpace and told them I would not be buying any more books from them. Somehow I got through, and received an email from somebody in "Executive Customer Relations." I can't make out if this title suggests I'm an executive customer or if they're the executives, but in any case I'm certainly not related to them.

Anyway, the point is, this email was overflowing with apologies plus a request to send photos of the books. I did so earlier today, showing close-ups of many of the problems. I made sure to take the pictures in sunlight so that every particle of dust showed up bright and clear. I could post the photos here, but I don't want to frighten anyone.

A little while ago I received a further email from my kind relations at CreateSpace. They're dispatching another 15 copies of each book (that makes 30 total, if my math is correct) AND they're refunding my original cost. Most importantly, they've said that the books will be reviewed before they're dispatched.

Now I could jump up and down and be happy about all the free books I'm getting, but to be honest the only thing that matters to me is that future orders are problem-free. It takes time to complain, and even more time to wait for replacements, and yet more time to complain again and wait for replacements for my replacements. What I want is a box of high quality books delivered FIRST TIME. I even suggested to CreateSpace that I'd be happy to pay more per book if there was such a thing as a "premium quality" service, for those who perhaps have higher standards (ie, fussy people like me). CreateSpace's book production prices are unbeatable, but the books are almost worthless if I can't sell them.

I'm more hopeful now though. Maybe I've finally broken through the "standard apology" barrier. I'm not the only one to complain about this kind of thing, but it doesn't help that there are plenty of CreateSpace customers who say their books look fantastic, so either those people got lucky or they have low standards. I think they just got lucky. When I compare my latest batches of books to earlier ones, there's a big, big difference, so it looks like recent production quality has been slipping.

Despite all this, and as I said earlier, I have plenty of perfectly decent copies to keep me going for now. I might shift the rejects in a dimly lit subway somewhere...

Expanded Distribution at CreateSpace

Posted on December 20, 2009

In my last post I said I was planning to move my books from CreateSpace to Lightning Source, mainly for better distribution and also because LS has better printing facilities.

Well, I spent some time the other night working through LS's online system, uploading my book files for Island of Fog and generally setting it up. I had to think hard about the price though. If my list price is $11.95 and wholesalers are only interested in stocking the book if they get a 50-55% discount, that leaves virtually no profit after the manufacturing cost is taken off my share. I started to think I would have to either bump up my list price a dollar or two, or limit the wholesale discount to 40% and risk cutting out wholesalers.

As I was pondering these imponderables, and researching a bit more about wholesalers and how they won't buy your book in bulk unless they get at least 50% discount, and how they expect books to be returnable in case they can't sell them, I happened to look at my existing book setup page at CreateSpace and found an option I hadn't seen before. In the Sales Management section, it has these options:

  • Pro: Yes
  • List Price: $11.95
  • Sell via Amazon.com Retail: Yes
  • Amazon.com Retail status: Live on Amazon
  • Sell via eStore Sales: Yes
  • Type of eStore: Public
  • Sales Region: US and international sales
  • Sell via Expanded Distribution: No

Wait a minute! "Sell by Expanded Distribution"? Where did that come from? And what is it?

I delved into CreateSpace's help section and found articles about this new feature. I then found their official announcement:

We are pleased to announce that CreateSpace will now offer expanded distribution options to allow our members to make their titles available to an even wider audience of potential buyers beyond Amazon.com and eStore. The Expanded Distribution Channel gives your books access to thousands of outlets, including online retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic outlets, wholesalers, and distributors. Expanded Distribution gives you the potential to distribute your work throughout the U.S. through our direct relationships with wholesalers such as Ingram/Lightning Source Incorporated and Baker and Taylor.

My jaw was hanging open a bit by now. When did THIS happen? Oh, December 3rd, 2009. Recently, then. So how come I didn't know about it? Because they never sent me an email, that's why! The only way to find out about this is to search the help section about this new feature, or be a regular on their forums where the announcement was made. *Sigh*

Okay, so there's a great new feature that allows better distribution. How do I enable it? Oh, look, there's a button under the new feature that says "Enable this now." Well, duh. So I enabled it, and now it says:

  • Sell via Expanded Distribution: Yes

Why on earth wasn't this enabled by default when they introduced their new Expanded Distribution system? Who wouldn't want to be part of this scheme? Well, anyway, it's enabled now... but what does it mean exactly?

Up until now, CreateSpace books have only appeared on Amazon.com (since CreateSpace is owned by Amazon). According to the forums, members who have enabled the Expanded Distribution feature have, over the next week or so, watched their books appear throughout the internet on various online bookstores including major sellers like Barnes & Noble, Borders, and so on. This means that, by pressing a button, my books should show up in databases nationwide, and possibly – although this is a little unclear – in Europe too. Certainly on Amazon.co.uk and in other countries.

So I've had one wish granted. But even better, this Expanded Distribution system has come about because CreateSpace has joined forces with Lightning Source. Amazon probably recognizes that their own print-on-demand system isn't a match for LS, and plus, LS is owned by Ingrams, the nationwide database used by stores across the country to order their books. When you order books from LS, your books are automatically added to the Ingrams database. So by joining up with LS, CreateSpace is expanding distribution for its members and (hopefully) providing even better print-on-demand quality.

There's even better news. By staying with CreateSpace I get to retain the lowest print-on-demand manufacturing costs (thus keeping the same list price of $11.95 and still getting a reasonable profit). And I don't need to mess around moving my book files to a new system and phasing the old ones out.

The only possible downside is that I recently bought ten ISBNs and spent a lot of time signing up with Lightning Source. But, I'm going to see how far this Expanded Distribution reaches. If it doesn't exapnd to the UK, then I'll use my new ISBNs and set up a copy on LS just for the UK. It would be nice to use my new ISBNs at CreateSpace, so that Unearthly Tales is listed as the publisher and not CreateSpace, but you can't just switch out an ISBN on a book – you have to retire the old book and create a brand new one, even if it looks exactly the same.

Anyway, the upshot is that I'm staying with CreateSpace!

Self-publishing

Posted on December 16, 2009

I've been busy the last couple of days sending out thousands of copies of Labyrinth of Fire to eager fans. Well, all right, hundreds of copies to keen readers. Okay, about twenty-five copies to those who have read Island of Fog and are sorta-kinda wanting to know what happens next.

Included in this batch was a copy to Piers Anthony, my famous writing buddy. Well, when I say buddy, I mean acquaintance. Well, someone I conversed with via email a couple of times. Anyway, the point is, he seemed to like the first book (see his review here, second paragraph) so I thought he'd be interested in the second. Since he doesn't tend to mince words, I await his response (if he gives one) with bated breath. My face is turning blue as I write this...

I've started to "think big" lately. Using CreateSpace for my book printing has been great and I certainly recommend them to novices, because the prices are so reasonable and the service fairly straightforward. Lulu is better in many ways, but their prices are a little silly. But the big problem with CreateSpace is distribution. It doesn't help that I took the "cheap" option and used CreateSpace's ISBN numbers, which means that I'm not listed as the publisher and therefore I have no control over distribution channels (ie, getting the books listed in nationwide, and even worldwide book databases, which bookshops order from). But even if I used my own ISBNs at CreateSpace, distribution is limited because CreateSpace only print in the USA.

So the other day I took the plunge and bought my own ISBNs. You have to buy these in bulk, with a minimum of ten for the price of $275.00. So I now have ten brand spanking new ISBN numbers which I can assign to my own titles whenever I want. The first two will be assigned to Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire, to replace the existing ISBNs.

But more than that, I plan to "move my operation" to Lightning Source, which is a very well respected printing company. They specialize in print-on-demand digital and offset printing. Their price-per-book is just a little more than CreateSpace but I hear their quality and service is exceptional, the cream of the crop. And their distribution is better than most companies can offer, with the best part being that they have a UK operation – so in theory my books can be ordered by bookshops in the UK as well as in the US.

This is a major step for me and just setting up an account with Lightning Source is an ordeal, but I'm through the application process and just need to send the forms. Once fully approved I'll be able to start moving my titles across. I expect to overlap them with the current CreateSpace editions, but eventually will remove the CreateSpace editions altogether. The books will look identical in terms of size, format, and so on, but the production should be better – CreateSpace are acceptable, but I have to work at getting good copies from them, which involves calling for replacements. Out of a box of fifty books, I'll typically have to call for a replacement of ten due to poor binding or sloppy packaging. Or for a box that never arrived!

Another change will be that I'll be listed as the publisher, and for that I can choose my own publishing name – which is Unearthly Tales.

More on this another time. But in the next six months I'm hoping that my books will be available in the UK for the legions of fans I have there. :-)

Book delivery... and new book trailer

Posted on December 14, 2009

Labyrinth of Fire is now available – again! This time I have a shelf full of copies, as opposed to a handful that went quickly and left me waiting for a bulk order that never turned up.

My replacement order arrived via UPS this afternoon, so I've breathed several sighs of relief. Tomorrow morning I'll be sending out a bunch of copies as well as delivering to local bookshops and libraries (all as requested). But I'll still have a load left over, so if you're chomping at the bit and want a copy before Christmas, order now and I'll post right away!

For those who haven't yet got a copy of Island of Fog, order both together and save on shipping. The shipping rate is actually the same for two books as it is for one. It's $4.95 for deliveries within the USA, and $9.95 for the rest of the world.

The story picks up directly where Island of Fog left off, with some of the children having to deal with their new shapeshifting abilities. Some of the others think they have it easy... but I plan to throw them to the lions in the third book. Well, not lions exactly... but maybe manticores. Or worse. Actually, in Labyrinth of Fire, all the children are in danger one way or another. It's just that some have it worse than others.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there's a new craze in town: Book Trailers. These are... well, trailers for books rather than movies. This might sound odd, since a book doesn't have any actors or movie footage or even any soundtrack. But nevertheless, many publishers, and even authors, are putting together short trailers to promote their books. Some consist of the author reading an excerpt, which I think is guaranteed to bore the pants off potential buyers. Others are hiring actors and playing out key scenes. But most are putting together little montages of photos and overlaying suitable titles and music.

I couldn't resist having a go myself. It was fun, but of course I don't have a musician to hire for the music, so I, er, borrowed some music from a movie soundtrack. Right afterward I came across some free-use downloadable music that would have done just as well, so I might change it at some point. But since I didn't ask permission to use the music on my little test trailer, the least I can do is give due credit. The main chunk of music is a track called The Forbidden Line, and the later piece is called It Is Not Real, both from the movie soundtrack of The Village.

View the Book Trailer for Island of Fog

Box of books missing... or lost?

Posted on December 5, 2009

I spent much of last week pacing like a caged animal. A box of Labyrinth of Fire books is Out There somewhere... instead of here where it belongs. It's so frustrating. Every day I look for the postman to roll up in his silver jeep, and I watch to see if he'll stop at the mailbox or turn into the drive. If he turns into the drive, it'll mean that he has a box too large to fit in the mailbox... ergo, my books!

Yesterday he turned into my drive and I sighed with relief. At last! But when I hurried out to collect the package from the back of the jeep, I discovered that it was not my box of books after all, but something my wife ordered. I was so mad. In a fit of anguish I almost threw the box in the dirt and stamped on it, but at the last second I thought better of it – otherwise it would be ME being thrown in the dirt and stamped on.

And so I continue to wait. In the past, deliveries have arrived within 7-10 days of the order date, so this late delivery is very unusual. I fear the box is lost somewhere. I spoke with the printers and they said that if the box has not arrived by December 8th then I can call again and they'll send out an expedited replacement box. That's fine, but in the meantime I have people waiting. If you're one of those, THANK YOU for being so patient.

I've now added a note to the "buy" page explaining about this delay. Continue to order by all means, but be aware that I'm effectively out of stock at the moment. Bah!

When you take an umbrella out on a cloudy day, that often prevents it from raining. It usually only rains when you forget the umbrella. In the same way, I'm hoping that this post will force delivery of the books. Maybe on Monday I'll be able to post again and say, "I spoke too soon – they're here!"

Then again, maybe I'll have to wait for a replacement box, which will be another couple of weeks from now. Groan.

Labyrinth of Fire available for pre-order

Posted on November 11, 2009

As the title states, Island of Fog Book II: Labyrinth of Fire is now available for pre-order. I'm awaiting a delivery of my first batch and this should be here in the next two weeks, so I expect the "official" release date to be on or around November 20th. In the meantime, those of you who are chomping at the bit can pre-order at the usual price of $11.95 and be first on the list for delivery.

The book will be available on Amazon and Kindle about a week after the official release.

I've been asked about postage costs when buying both Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire together. Well, you'll be pleased to know that when you buy directly from me, it's a one-for-all flat rate postage of $4.95 (USA) and $9.95 (international) no matter how many books you buy. And of course you get signed copies. ;-)

For those who prefer to read on-screen, the PDF edition is available NOW for $7.95. No need to wait for printing and deliveries – the electronic version is ready to go.

With the addition of this book I've had to revamp my checkout system a little, so take a look here.

And with all the editing I've been doing lately, it's only natural that the final version of the prologue and first two chapters are a little different to what I posted on this website a couple of months ago. So be sure to check out the final revision.

Hopefully all my hard work hasn't been for naught. Order today! :-)

Book cover comparison

Posted on October 7, 2009

I've been waiting impatiently for the proof copy of Labyrinth of Fire to arrive, and finally it showed up today. It looks exactly as I expected it to look, and I'm very happy, especially when stood next to Island of Fog on my shelf! Fills me with warm fuzzies. :-)

Speaking of book cover comparisons, Island of Fog has been through two or three minor revisions since April, and we're talking very minor edits to fix a couple of typos and re-word a sentence or two. But the latest revision also included updates to the spine text and back cover, as you can see below.

Since Labyrinth of Fire follows through with the same layout, both books match perfectly... unless you have that first edition of Island of Fog. Most readers probably wouldn't care much about this sort of thing, but as a collector I like things to match (I'm funny like that). So, in the interest of matching book covers (and slightly updated text), would those who bought the first edition be interested in a replacement book at production cost only, shipped when you buy the second book? Contact me privately for details.

Here's the first edition...

Full cover - <i>Island of Fog</i>, 1st edition
Full cover - Island of Fog (1st edition)

I wasn't happy with the centered text so I left-aligned it instead. Also I added Piers Anthony's blurb, a price, the genre, age classification, and a little picture! The spine text is capitalized too. Here's the latest version of Book 1 along with Book 2...

Full cover - <i>Island of Fog</i>
Full cover - Island of Fog

Full cover - Labyrinth of Fire
Full cover - Labyrinth of Fire

There's a space below the text where I'll hopefully add some blurb saying "fantastic, wonderful, etc," before I launch. In any case, one thing I can promise is that this layout will carry through to Book 3 early next year!

My next job is to read Labyrinth of Fire (again) and mark corrections with a red pen. Meanwhile, I have two proofreaders working their way through. Assuming their suggestions are simple line-edits, I should be well on target to launch in early November.

New dragonized book cover

Posted on October 1, 2009

I finished Labyrinth of Fire (for now) and have sent out a couple of copies for proofing. One went to my brother Darren in England, who has one or two eyes for detail and is a qualified proofreader. Another went to Laura Canning, who is Irish but currently living in Australia. She's a journalist, author and proofreader. I might send out a couple more proofs shortly.

New cover for Labyrinth of Fire
Click for Larger View

After all my editing the book ended up just two pages shorter than Island of Fog, but with around 5000 extra words – a fraction under 100,000.

Part of the process of uploading the files to CreateSpace and getting proof copies is preparing the artwork for the cover. Although I've had a cover design displayed on this site for a while now, it never really "worked" for me. I knew it needed a dragon on it! So I've now dragonized the cover. It's the same background image of a lava tube, but darkened. I placed the dragon on top and added some fire. I like this version much better; a story that heavily involves dragons kind of needs a dragon on the front!

For my original cover, I spent some time removing the lamps from the tunnel. I bought my picture from Big Stock Photo so I could use it without worrying about copyright issues, but it turns out that this is a common picture on the internet – the famous Thurston Lava Tubes in Hawaii.

I also bought the dragon picture. There were a few to choose from, but this one is closest to what I had in mind for the dragons in my book. Oh, and although the dragon is breathing fire already, I added some more fire courtesy of a flamethrower, as you'll see if you look very closely. You'll see the new curly orange fire above and below the yellow fire (the same image flipped upside down).

Composite for new Labyrinth of Fire cover

Finally, you can now read the prologue and first two chapters online if you want to. The text might change slightly in a later version.

With the conclusion of this book I'm now fairly well settled on the title and plot of the third and final book in the trilogy. I need to give it some more thought just to be sure, but watch this space!

Island of Fog now on Kindle

Posted on August 2, 2009

Recently I Kindle-ized my novel, Island of Fog, for those who prefer to read in that format. In case you don't know, Kindle is a compact, portable electronic screen that can store hundreds of novels. It's the book-lover's equivalent to iPod.

Island of Fog: Kindle Edition ($9.95)

I wouldn't want a Kindle for myself because I prefer the "look and feel" of real books. But for those always on the move, for instance traveling to work by train, Kindle is a great tool and becoming increasingly popular. So, for those who want it, my book is available as a lightweight, instantly downloadable Kindle edition from Amazon. Enjoy!

First delivery of books

Posted on April 30, 2009

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, because the UPS van turned up with my first delivery of 50 Island of Fog books. I was out at the time; Nessa and I had a few errands to run, and we were also shopping for bits and pieces for our "booth" at this weekend's Down Home Days street festival. But Nessa's mom phoned to tell me they'd arrived, and I was pleased as Punch. I wasn't expecting them quite so early, and had planned to set up my booth with a load of leaflets containing a long excerpt from the fourth chapter – not ideal, but better than nothing. But now the books have arrived, so I can actually take those along with me (although the leaflets will come in handy too).

Books

I have to admit that the arrival of the first box of books is what I've always dreamed about. Well, sort of. My dreamy-dream has always been to have that box arrive courtesy of some big traditional publishing house like Scholastic, and not a self-publishing print shop. Still, it's a good feeling to see myself "in print" and in such quantity! And I have to say, so far I've been very impressed with CreateSpace.com. The quality of the three proofs and these first 50 "real" books is extremely good, and the speedy service has surprised me. They claim that orders of up to 100 books will arrive within 15 business days, but I ordered these on Friday 24th April and they arrived on Wednesday 30th April. Now that's fast!

By coincidence, I'd also ordered some TuffGard jiffy mailers (the ones CreateSpace use to deliver my proofs), and these turned up on the same day as the books, delivered by the same UPS van. So not only do I have the books, but I have jiffy mailers to send them out in! Also, since I approved the proof last week, Amazon has been slowly updating my listing, and this now seems to be finalized: Buy from Amazon.com

My booth on Saturday is starting to take shape, at least theoretically. I have a 10 ft square tent/canopy and a 5 ft table. Nessa bought some fine white "netting" that she's going to lay out in some way to make it look like fog, on top of which I'll stand a 2 ft tall wooden lighthouse that I found by chance in a shop. (A lighthouse features quite prominently in the story.) Nessa also had the bright idea of renting a cotton candy (or candy floss) machine; we plan to give away small helpings of "fog" throughout the day. Oh, and this morning I should, hopefully, be able to pick up my two banners, which are 6 x 4 ft (to hang on the side of the tent) and 5 x 1 ft (to hang on the front of the table).

I'll post pictures of the booth after the event. In the meantime, all those who wanted to order a copy of the book can now do so, either directly from me, or from Amazon, or from CreateSpace – just go here for information.

Island of Fog now published and available to buy!

Posted on April 25, 2009

It's here at last! I received my third and final proof yesterday and was very happy with it, so I went ahead and pressed the "Approve" button. The book went on sale immediately at CreateSpace and will be available on Amazon within 15 days. But in the meantime I ordered 50 copies for my own stock, and these will be with me shortly (again, they typically state within 15 days for order deliveries). Anyway, if you want to, feel free to order a copy now, and I'll start shipping out the moment the books arrive.

It's all very exciting, for me anyway! On May 2nd there's a local annual shindig known as Down Home Days, a sort of craft fair street festival type thing. I got myself a "booth" (a 12 ft space) and am arranging a tent and all that good stuff to set up in. I've ordered a couple of large banners, one 6 x 4 ft and the other 5 x 1 ft, showing the book cover and some blurb. Of course, I doubt I'll actually have the books in time... so instead I'll hand out some specially-prepared pamphlets containing the entire first chapter and some ordering information. Since these will be free give-aways, this might actually be a better way to sell the book as those who are not sure can take it home and digest it before shelling out some money. Still, it would be nice to have the actual books as well. It's vaguely possible they'll be here on time, but I won't hold my breath.

In a recent post on my Secret Blog, Ilsa left a kind message saying, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could ship a box of them over in time for the Enid Blyton day on May 9th? I bet they'd go like hot cakes there!" Gosh, what a fantastic idea! But a) I doubt I could get a box over there in time; b) I don't think I'd want to send a box anyway in case they didn't sell; c) this is assuming someone would be willing to handle them for me; and d) even though it's a children's (9-12) book, it doesn't exactly relate to Enid Blyton! But some flyers... Hmm, I wonder if Tony Summerfield, the Enid Blyton Day organizer, would mind... :-)

Years ago I set myself up with two bookstore owners in the local area, so I have a couple of good starting points for "readings and signings" and so on. Also, my niece is the acting President of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce, so it's pretty cool having someone so close who knows just about everybody. She's given me a list of middle grade teachers in the area, and is hooking me up with the manager of the local library. When I'm comfortable that everything is going okay, she's also going to organize a press release. Ah, it's so nice knowing influential people! (She also knows a guy in Congress and, through him, is currently obtaining tickets for a tour of the White House for when we all go to stay in Washington and Virginia in July. Maybe I'll drop some books on Obama's desk...)

PDF download now available

Posted on April 16, 2009

I had a rotten few days in Florida recently. The beach was nice, and Lily had a blast, but both Lily and I brought a bug with us from home that meant more than a few visits to the toilet! Worse, sitting in a restaurant on the last day, I was suddenly overcome with nausea and put my burger down even before taking the first bite. Before I knew it, I was lightheaded and then wham! collapsed on the booth seat, out cold. I wasn't out for long, but long enough for Nessa to call 911 (which I canceled as soon as I woke up, as by then I inexplicably felt right as rain).

Anyway, the point is that I didn't feel up to complex tasks on my computer so didn't get to launch my book while I was away, which is what I had planned. Instead I waited until I got home. But of course then work took precedence and now here I am, nearly a week later already... *Sigh*

Today, April 16, the book is finally ready. I'm still waiting for a second proof printed copy (should be here in a few days) and when that arrives I can press the button that says "publish" and then it'll be available to buy in printed form. But in the meantime, the PDF version is available now for those who prefer to read on-screen or who don't trust their postal service to deliver.

So, without any further ado, please go here and grab a copy at only $7.95, a bargain considering it's 220-odd pages! And please let me know what you think by posting feedback on this site. Thanks!

The printed book will cost a little more, plus there's shipping to take into consideration. This will be available shortly. Watch this space!

Proof book has arrived

Posted on March 24, 2009

Exciting times! Yesterday, UPS delivered a proof copy of Island of Fog. I've been flicking through it with a big grin on my face, marveling at how real it is. CreateSpace's digital printers have done a great job and it's come out almost exactly as I expected and hoped. I say "almost" because there are one or two minor things I want to alter – for instance the cover's color tint is supposed to be blue, but it's come out a little purple. It's not bad by any means, just not what I expected, and I think blue would be better. (I took a picture of it and posted it below, and it looks blue again, so clearly my screen is a little "off" color).

Also, although I purposefully chose "cream" (or off-white) pages as opposed to white, now I'm thinking they're a little too off-white. My name is also huge on the spine, so I want to reduce it a bit. My ego isn't THAT big.

Proof Book

But these are all cosmetic changes. The real question is: How does it read? As far as printing goes, it seems to be exactly as I intended, no problems at all. My margins are just right, the font size is fairly small (necessary to avoid higher printer costs), and everything is clear and nicely packaged. Like I said, CreateSpace has done a great job. It looks and feels like a real book and not some home-made jobbie! The bar code on the back makes it look "professional" too.

As for the story itself... well, Nessa, my better and much smarter half, has put down her Stephen King book to give mine a read-through, and I've asked her to have a pen handy so she can mark any typos she might come across. This will be the first time I've let her near it, despite the fact that I've been pottering about with the manuscript since 2002.

Proof Book

After she's done, I might read it through once more myself; just a scan read though, since I've read it a blue-million times already. I keep flicking through it and haven't yet come across any typos, but I did find a line in the first chapter that made me frown!

Overall I'm very pleased, but I'll be ordering a second proof anyway, to correct a few cosmetic things and no doubt a few typos that Nessa will find. After that I'll make it available to buy. I should think the "launch" date will be around April 10th, if not earlier. The PDF version will be available earlier than the printed book. In the meantime, those who want to pre-order will be able to do so shortly. Watch this space!

Island of Fog is published!

Posted on March 17, 2009

Well, self-published anyway. Today I uploaded the manuscript and my cover design to CreateSpace.com and submitted it for publication. I'm just awaiting an email to say everything is present and correct, and then I'll be able to order a proof copy. As soon as that arrives, I'll drool on it and check it over, and assuming all is well, I'll press the button that says "Publish" so that it's available to the world. Then I just need to sit back and wait for the thousands of excellent reviews, the critical acclaim, and the offers by big publishing houses to print and market my book for me, and so on. :-p

Book CoverYes, well, we can dream, right? In the meantime I'll just be happy to see the thing in some printed form. The next step will be gathering reviews (with hopefully a few good ones) so I can have a bit more ammunition with which to sell it to literary agents, while enjoying the look and feel of an actual finished book on my shelf. I don't have delusions about selling thousands of copies, and I know the vast majority (95%?) of self-published authors sell less than 500, and I don't expect I'll be any different. But I've spent so long on the thing that I feel it's time for a little reward, and that reward is seeing it in print, with cream-colored pages and everything.

Once this itch is scratched, I can concentrate on actually selling the manuscript to an agent. It might take a few months, it might take a year, or even longer. But, in the meantime, hopefully I can get the book "out there" a bit.

The only reservation I have about self-publishing is that an agent might not want to work with a book that's already "out there." But I feel this is a small risk, and I've heard of a number of big sellers that started out by self-publishing. I think the potential rewards are worth the risk – for instance the possibility of getting unexpected glowing praise from a professional reviewer!

Of course, there's an equal chance that it will receive very bad reviews and it will bomb. But as always, I would consider negative comments as a challenge to make it better. Any writer who expects nothing but praise is a fool and liable to get his feelings hurt. So I say, "bring it on" and help me figure out what's wrong.

All being well, Island of Fog will be available in the next week or so. It's 218 pages and will be available in paperback for $11.95. Stay tuned for links and more information!

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Posted on August 28, 2008

In my last post I mentioned that I would self-publish my book, Island of Fog, when it's finished. My exact words were, "I've decided this is the way I'm going to go, for various good reasons." Well, I'm sort of like a pendulum when it comes to self-publishing. One minute I think, "Yes!" and the next I think, "Hmm, maybe not." So I thought I'd thrash it out here. Judging by feedback on my last post, I already know what y'all think!

Don't get me wrong on this. I'm not jumping willy-nilly into self-publishing because I'm lazy or because I think it's the best way to go. I've read a lot of stuff over the years about self-publishing versus "traditional" publishing and, depending on what I've read and where I've read it, I can see arguments for either route. I'd like to make one thing clear though: I'm not talking about "vanity press" here. Self-publishing does include vanity press, but I'm talking specifically about POD (print-on-demand or publish-on-demand). Vanity press is where you pay a company to print 500 or more copies, and then stock them in your house. The vanity press company cares not a jot about distribution and promotion; it makes its money from the up-front fees and then washes its hands of the author. That's a mug's game.

Now, print/publish-on-demand (POD) is typically where you upload your manuscript to one of many online companies and have it available for ordering – but copies are only printed when ordered. Many companies charge a setup fee for this service too, but some (like Lulu.com and CreateSpace.com) are free.

This is an over-simplified explanation, but good enough. As for the printing itself: Originally, before the days of the internet, books were printed using offset printing technology (the familiar printing press machines that have long belts and clatter away day and night churning out thousands of books). This is the "traditional" type of printing, still the cheapest way to print large quantities of books. This method of printing is expensive to set up, so long print runs are necessary to make it cost effective.

POD, on the other hand, is a digital printing process and is extremely cheap to set up. It's better for short runs; the price-per-book system and little or no up-front costs means that quantity is irrelevant. You can have one printed for $6 or a thousand for $6000. But you wouldn't print a thousand; the whole point is that you don't need to buy a stock of them. And from what I've seen, the quality is amazing. I have several POD books from both amateurs and professionals, and the print quality is excellent.

As I said earlier, self-publishing is not necessarily using POD's digital printing. It can include offset printing too. "Self-publishing" means being responsible for the entire production of the book including the layout of the pages and book cover to the actual printing process. POD takes care of the printing end and just happens to include a built-in online ordering system – but you could just easily use offset printing and have a stock of thousands of books and find yourself a distributor. This is all self-publishing. However, when I talk about self-publishing my own book, I specifically mean POD.

One big difference between a traditional publisher and POD is that the big guys take over all the nitty gritty. From what I've read, typically the publisher is not in the slightest bit interested in what you think the cover should look like. As the author, you write the story – that's all. Leave the rest to the experts. I wouldn't mind that if I were offered a three-book contract and a hefty sum of money, but I'd still feel a pang of regret at not having a say in the design. I believe publishers do send the author a proof to look at, but I doubt its negotiable! I was in the Barnes & Noble bookstore last night and, once again, picked up several children's books just to check things out. I cannot stand the way some publishers, particularly Scholastic, print their paperbacks on cheap, crinkly paper. Look at Harry Potter – the biggest seller you can imagine and it's printed on thin paper that crackles when you turn the page. It's just like when you drop a book in the bath and let it dry in the sun. Horrible! On the other hand I look at such publishers as Yearling and think, "Wow – now that's good quality!"

So the end result does matter to me, whether it's the paper quality or the cover art or even the typeface. As I said, I wouldn't complain too much if I was handed a big check and told to stop bothering about details and go and write the next two books, but...

POD, of course, allows me to have complete control. The paper is good quality. The cover is exactly as I upload it. The typeface is exactly as I've typed it (in my case, Century Schoolbook). Even those first few pages – the notes, the copyright information, the chapter index – are exactly as I've designed them. Every single detail from start to finish is mine. Being the kind of person I am, that sort of thing gives me a great deal of pleasure. It's worth ordering myself a POD book just to see how it could look in real life!

And there's another thing. After many, many on-screen edits, it's nice to finally pick up the book itself and read it that way. That's where you really get a feel for it. Plus, I find that more typos jump out at me when I read printed material compared to on screen.

But there's no point in having a book at all if it's not marketed. Here's the biggest dilemma. I've read many reports of a typical big-house publisher buying a manuscript and running off thousands of copies. The book is finally on the shelves! But that's all. There's no promotion, nothing. True, the book is on the shelves and it could be found by people having a browse. But there's no hype. It's not like you're Stephen King; you don't get to enjoy the kind of hype he gets, because publishers only have enough money and resources to market one or two books a year out of the handful they publish. If you're not The Chosen One, then you might as well do all your own marketing otherwise you're not going to get anywhere. And if you have to do your own marketing, then why not take a larger royalty check while you're at it, via self-publishing?

If you have to market your own book, it's almost like your big fancy publisher is nothing but a huge printing press – only they paid you and own the rights to your work. Oh, and they distributed the books to bookstores. Not a bad thing, I suppose. But I've heard horror stories of writers who actively promoted their own book leading up to the release date – only to find that the publisher screwed up and the release date was put back, and all the marketing efforts were wasted because the author couldn't drum up the same amount of interest the second time around. The moment was lost; the buzz had gone and the ship had sailed. I've also heard stories of authors pulling their hair out because their book had gone out of print and the publisher wasn't in a hurry to get another print run underway.

I think there are pros and cons whatever you do. But for the record, and despite what I said in my other post, I am going to try and find an agent before I do anything else. I won't approach a publisher directly; an agent is a far better bet. If I was ever lucky enough to get into print the traditional way, then of course I'd be over the moon!

But in the meantime, I might get myself a preview copy via POD, just because I can... :-)