Sunday, May 16, 2010

Unattainable Perfection

I was going to title this "In the Home Stretch," but then I realized I have used that title. I seem to be in the home stretch frequently. That may be because the finish line keeps receding. I'm sure I've left out at least a dozen steps as I try to record what I'm doing to write, publish, and promote Words To Live By.

It's painful to admit publicly, but I never realized just how many steps it takes to produce a little book (and it IS little). Every proof I receive has mistakes. What is so frustrating is that these are not new mistakes; they are mistakes we (the copy editor and I) didn't catch. The last proof, which was the third, required ten tiny corrections, which meant a new high-resolution PDF to be uploaded to CreateSpace, all of CreateSpace's rules to follow again, and another proof to be mailed back to me. I guess it will never be perfect no matter how many times I read it, and frankly, I am not eager to read it again.

What complicates this process is that I have two book in progress, both at exactly the same stage of publication. The other one is the sixth edition of How to Write a Nonfiction Book. That means I am reading two proofs, making or overseeing two sets of corrections, and sending and receiving two sets of files. When I said I was "updating" my existing book, I didn't realize how much I would be adding or that a poltergeist would get involved. Short of throwing things around, this one has done almost as much damage. All I can say is save your files with draft numbers and dates, and back up, back up, back up.

Last week, I attended a presentation by Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing: the Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies—Analyzed, Ranked & Exposed. Mark and I had a nice chat while I was buying his book. He asked me who was printing mine. I told him. He said, "Well, don't read that part."

Words fail me.
Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 2:22 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Time flies when you're writing a book

I lost 16 days somewhere! Last time I did an update, Words To Live By had just been copy edited, and Peggy (otherwise known as "my wonderful designer") had made the corrections. The next step was to go over those corrections and reread the whole book again. More mistakes; more corrections.

In the meantime, I ...
  • bought the bar codes to go with the ISBNs
  • rewrote the back cover blurb describing the book
  • checked the new corrections
The very last things Peggy will do are ...
  • insert the Library of Congress number on the copyright page
  • change the blurb on the back cover
  • send me the absolutely final cover and inside pages
Then I will upload the book to CreateSpace, who will send me a proof, which I will reread once again. If I find mistakes, I won't accept the proof, and we will correct the errors.

While I'm waiting for all of that to happen, I will get prices on printing "readers' copies" and make a list of people to send them to. The purpose of readers' copies is to put the book in the hands of media, bookstores, and reviewers; request reviews and testimonials; and try to arrange for appearances and presentations.

At this point the publishing and promotion steps overlap until the printed book is in my hands, on Amazon, and in the bookstores. Then, the real work begins!
Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 6:11 PM 0 comments
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Monday, April 5, 2010

In the Home Stretch

The beat goes on, and on, and on. I had no idea it would go on this long. I found a great copy editor, and after the book had already been edited three or four times, she found about 150-200 mistakes. The moral of the story (you guessed it): You must have your book copy edited!

Next step, my wonderful designer makes corrections; the copy editor and I review them to be sure they are all made; the book goes to the printer—in this case, CreateSpace. Then, I await a proof, which I will read, cover to cover.

In the meantime, I am updating my book, How to Write a Nonfiction Book: From Concept to Completion in 6 Months, and giving it a spiffy (did I really write that?) new look. I promise I will not bore you with step-by-step description of how that project progresses. I just figured, since I was keeping you in the loop, I'd mention it.
Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 6:50 PM 0 comments
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Monday, March 22, 2010

Words To Live By Gathers Speed

It’s great to be able to say to my students, I know just what you’re going through because I’m going through it, too. The book is on fast forward, moving faster than I ever dreamed it would.

Here’s what I’ve done:

  • Had my manuscript copy edited
  • Purchased my ISBNs
  • Had my book cover and interior designed (now in layout)
  • Applied for a fictitious name for my publishing company
  • Opened an account with CreateSpace to publish the book
  • Begun to fill out their voluminous application forms
  • Created a new Web site and ShopSite store
  • Developed a detailed marketing plan
  • Registered my copyright
  • Designed bookmarks

What are my next steps?

  • Read galleys and have them copy edited
  • Create list and send out readers’ copies
  • Write press release and set up press room on Web site
  • Make a list of local TV and radio talk shows
  • Write talking points for interviews
  • Contacted a copy editor for the galley proofs
  • Begun to request testimonials from fellow authors
Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 6:21 PM 0 comments
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Thursday, March 4, 2010

Web Site Nightmare

I am about to scream. If you do anything that involves Web sites and the Internet, perhaps you will understand my exasperation.

I decided to create my own Web site for Words To Live By. For only $1,000 I could have hired an expert to do it, but, no; I had to do it myself. I had designed and created my other Web site for writeanonfictionbook.com, which has a gazillion links and pages. (In the interest of full disclosure, my friend and Web guru Bobette Kyle wondered around behind the scenes and fixed my mistakes. Since I didn’t understand HTML, she found quite a few little mistakes to fix.) The site now runs like a well-oiled machine most of the time. It has a ShopSite store constructed by a ShopSite-approved firm in Canada; it has a blog, created in the simplest of all blog programs, Blogspot; it has links to a video and ezinearticles.com. In short, it works.

So, how hard could it be to design a simple little Web site for one book? This one has only a few links to pages about the book and the author, testimonials, and a shopping cart. It took a while, but I finally got all the pages set up and the links to connect to the right pages.

Wednesday: It is not difficult to upload a Web site … usually. In this case, it was impossible. words-to-live-by.com would not upload. It could not find the server. Nothing worked. Nothing. Not even six phone calls to Verio (my wonderful Web site host) over three days. Each time, things improved somewhat, but never enough to fix the problem, whatever the problem may have been. I will spare you the details, because there are hundreds. Suffice to say, this was frustrating beyond belief.

10:30 a.m., Thursday: Today, I got some “good news.” Verio is having a DNS problem that is affecting other sites as well as mine. I guess the good news in that I am not alone, this has become a high priority, and they are working hard to resolve it.

8:04 p.m., Thursday: Another half hour on the phone with Verio. Dreamweaver, my Web design program, seems to be corrupt in some way. The Verio tech suggested calling Adobe. The sixth or seventh tech I've talked to told me everything was fixed, including the store, which was set up wrong by the ShopSite tech. Tried it. Lost all the links and can't even connect with the server via Cute FTP, which was the only thing that was working before.

10:00 p.m., still Thursday: Just hung up from Verio tech #8, who was learning HTML but didn't know enough to help me. Back to doing it myself. Space by space and letter by letter, I went through all the lines where things did not appear to be working; found the glitches; fixed them; redid all the links; uploaded the site again: and (this was too insane for words) created a blog to go with the words-to-live-by.com.

Friday: Peggy Nehmen, who designed my fabulous book cover, sent me a new JPEG file, which meant I had to go into every page of the Website, store, and blog to remove the old cover and insert the new one.

Saturday: My daughter called and pointed out a couple of typos on one of the pages; I fixed them and reloaded again. My friend, Bobette, wrote a testimonial and e-mailed it to me. It never arrived. It turns out I have not been receiving her e-mails for a week. We don't know why. She dictated her testimonial; I copied and pasted it and uploaded again.

But this time, I think I've done it. I really think I've done it. If I haven't, please don't tell me.

Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 8:53 AM 0 comments
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Where do I go from here?

On November 22, 2009 I wrote: “I am going to sit here with my book next to the computer and go through the process of planning, writing, publishing, and promoting my nonfiction book just as I teach others to do it. And I am going to do it on my blog, The Writing Life.”

It took me ten weeks to write the first draft and have it edited. I thought it would take a lot longer but I should have realized I would become obsessed with the project. Once I begin to write, I am always obsessed. The book, so far, isn’t very long—2,1791 words, which is only 87 manuscript pages.

My editor and I have agreed not to look at the manuscript for two weeks, so that it will be fresh when we reread it. I am going to spend this “down time” planning next steps.

Here is my initial “to-do” list (very preliminary):

  1. Buy Dan Poynter’s newest book....................................... done
  2. Read relevant chapters..........................................in the works
  3. Reread Zinsser’s Writing Your Life
  4. Begin to follow timetable...................................... in the works
  5. Research copyrights
  6. Register copyright
  7. Write copyright page
  8. Write dedication............................................................ done
  9. Write preface .......................................... use “writing out loud”?
  10. Write acknowledgements
  11. Write bibliography/recommended reading
  12. Write back cover copy............................................ in the works
  13. Apply for ISBN
  14. Apply to library of congress for an LCCC number
  15. Decide on publishing method
  16. Research creating publishing company
  17. Choose company name.................................................... done
  18. Design company logo...................................................... done
  19. Think about who might write the foreword
  20. Have cover & page spreads designed......................... in the works
  21. Reread/reassess manuscript (with editor)
  22. Send chapters to friends for review & critique
  23. Revise/reread
  24. Have manuscript copy edited
  25. Map out promotional activities list............................in the works
  26. Register for a domain name ............................................ done
  27. Choose a website host.............................................done: Verio
  28. Sign up for ShopSite store......................... done: through Verio
  29. Send out readers’ copies/solicit testimonials

Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 6:03 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Looking for a specific blog post?

There are more than I realized, so I am taking a brief break from Words to Live By (my online book) to provide the list of back posts ... just in case you're looking.

Posted by Bobbi Linkemer at 3:03 PM 0 comments
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