In a world full of things I never seem to get around to doing (or finishing), it’s nice to be able to point to things that actually represent progress. A progress report on book 2 would look something like this: First draft: finished. Second draft: 85% finished (though I’m adding a couple of new bits, so that percentage should probably
Read moreFun facts: 1. They set a minimum on how much I can charge for the paperback. As in, I literally can’t say, “Screw it, make it $8! Or $5! Or a buck, let’s charge a buck!” because that’s way below the minimum. It’s some magical math that takes the cost to produce it into account and then adds dollars for
Read moreI am now officially hands-off on book one. The Kindle version was finalized two days ago. Well, really it was mostly finalized a couple of weeks ago, it’s just that two days ago was the deadline for any final changes. I mean, sure, there could be corrections later, if they’re needed, but no, really, this is the final version. The
Read moreReviewed another proof yesterday. The interior is fine, it’s the paperback cover I’m obsessing over. It’s not even the front cover, it’s the back and spine. Teeny-tiny little tweaks that probably wouldn’t even be noticed. This proof was cut badly, unfortunately; I’m guessing the ginormous printing machines are miffed at me. The spine text ended up slightly off-center, so naturally,
Read moreNineteen days out, and we hit our first major snag. The proofs should have arrived yesterday, and by now, I should have had any final tweaks finished and ready to go. UPS, however, seems to have lost them entirely. They were last seen wandering around New Jersey at 2:30 AM on Thursday, and they haven’t been seen or heard from
Read moreHere’s something you probably don’t know: when I first thought about pulling the book out of the trunk, dusting it off, shining it up, and publishing it, I had a very specific plan in mind. A detailed, covers-all-the-bases, suitably intricate plan. This is that plan: Publish it as a Kindle book. There is no step 2. I wanted to just
Read moreWriting is a funny thing. It’s painful, amusing, easy, really damned difficult, astonishing, disappointing, refreshing, soul-deadening… In the end, it must average out to something that’s positive for me, because I keep doing it. (Well… that, or I really enjoy torturing myself and I just haven’t figured that out yet.) Publishing a book is something else entirely. It’s not a
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