I look Very Hard For Nothing.

I swear I am getting square eyes.

I have been doing final preparation of my manuscript and cover of Veiled in Shadows.
I have decided to run with Lightning Source as my printer. They are more than competitive in terms of cost per book and they give some advantages in terms of distribution.

Like CreateSpace, the Amazon subsidiary, they have an easy path onto Amazon listings. A presence on Amazon is a vital part of my planned marketing campaign, and my main target will be the American market because it is so big in comparison to anywhere else.

Yet, if I want to sell Veiled here in Oz (or in the UK) Amazon is too expensive. It can cost as much (or even more) than the price of a book to airfreight a paperback from the US to Oz. Lightning Source is an Ingram International subsidiary, which means the potential of international distribution.

I don’t really expect many (if any) shopfront resellers will pick up Veiled, not unless I can get some real sales and interest happening. More to the point, from my perspective, is if Veiled is available at Ingram (which it will be) I may get it listed by the Book Depository. The big advantage of the UK based Book Depository is they don’t charge postage for air freight. And that’s anywhere in the world!

They are well worth checking out, I buy nearly all my books from them. Their prices are competitive with Amazon and no freight cost.

Now I am digressing from my square eyes. I have to submit my MS to Lightning Source (LS) as a PDF. No problem I thought, I already have converted it to PDF using some open source software.
Wrong! LS will only accept PDFs formatted on Adobe Acrobat.

So after a lot of hassle I manage to organise a copy of Acrobat. All good.

Wrong again!
My MS, which happily converted to a PDF using the other software, wouldn’t convert with Acrobat. One of the fonts I have used wouldn’t embed in the PDF using Acrobat (fonts have to be embedded so the printer can access them and I was using an odd one for a few pages of “letters” in the book) .

OK change the font to something similar that will embed.
Still won’t work. Acrobat reports the dodgy font is still in the document.

Much rending of clothes and tearing of hair!

When I calmed down I began a search of the MS to find wherever the font was hiding. No luck on a hard copy. So I begin trawling through an electronic copy. I can’t find it anywhere.

I realise with dismay I am probably looking for a few stray characters (of the font variety, not even Acrobat has taken a dislike to my villains).

No luck. I break the MS into separate chapters and test the most likely (the ones where I know I used the font).

Hallelujah I narrow it down to one chapter and scour that with a fine tooth comb.

Still no luck.

Then, as I contemplate retyping this chapter in a blank document, I look one last time.
I find it, a single solitary space in the wrong font. No wonder I couldn’t see it. I was effectively looking for NOTHING.

Just for your enlightenment I have included the offending space. Here it is. See there? There in front of the last carriage return. See it?

No, neither could I.

So finally last night I got the whole MS into an Acrobat PDF.

Ahh, sighs of relief all round.

Except now, I have to do another line by line check to make sure no errors in formatting have crept in with the change of font and PDF software.

At least this time I’ll be looking for things I can see.

I hope.



Now a totally random piccie, this time from my archive.
Another variety of Banksia
From the leaves I’d never guess this was a banksia, but these beautiful flowers are very distinctive.

A Few Bits and Pieces and a Grumble About the System.

Last night the Dr Who special “Waters of Mars” ran on ABC TV.
In a homage to a misspent youth I watched it. Well actually I have to admit that having never grown up, I have enjoyed most of the Dr Who series starring David Tennant.

Sorry to those American fans who haven’t yet seen it (I believe it screens on the 19th in the USA) but I found it boring. This special is basically a not very suspenseful zombie show. Some of the new series have been really worthwhile. I particularly enjoyed the 2007 episode called “Blink”, it really built suspense beautifully.
Alas no such brilliance was on display last night. For a Dr Who fan I would rate this effort 5 out of 10 and for anyone else 2 out of 10 (I suppose a die hard Zombie fan might give it 6).

I continue to format my manuscript. It is such a slooow process. Looking at every page line by line, paragraph by paragraph is likely to send me barmy. I live in dread of seeing my imaginary Uncle Harry again.

Finally a quick word about work. We heard today that one of our younger service users (I’ll call him Joe) has been hit by a car. According to one of the Royal District Nursing Service nurses we work with he is in hospital with two broken legs. Greg, my offsider, left work early to visit him.

Where the grumble comes in is that poor Joe has a previous acquired brain injury (ABI) from a car accident some years ago (one of his parents was driving). Because of the ABI Joe is unable to properly look after himself so he has ended up homeless. I find it endlessly frustrating that there are not enough resources devoted to assisting people like Joe keep their lives together.

Joe is usually confused and I have witnessed him crossing roads with very little idea of how dangerous cars are. That he is left essentially to fend for himself makes me very angry. Government services for the Joes in this state are woefully underfunded.

Joe is in hospital following a serious accident on a street he should probably never have been on. As for the driver who hit him heaven knows what sort of trauma he or she is going through, I am pretty sure Joe would have walked straight out in front of the car. That person is also potentially paying for our negligence as a society.

Now a Random photo from 2007.
The grey kind of reflects my mood tonight.I took this on the rear deck of a Manly Ferry pulling out of Sydney one evening, I think the sky looked just amazing.

Formatting

On my to do list, I managed to leave off buying an ISBN. It was on my mental to do list but somehow slipped off the typed version. A big thank you to Mary of The Woo Woo Journal Teacup Journal for reminding me of that little oversight. Mary thank you also for your fantastic comment on my last post. Advice like register your business name before you set about organising your ISBN should be straight forward, but is in reality easily overlooked.

Mary’s blog has a great deal of information on self publishing. It is well worth checking out on that basis alone. Mary does not limit herself to that single topic but posts on a wide range of interesting subjects.

One thing I have begun while I wait on little delights like business name registration, is working on layout. The joys of consistent formatting beckon.

As part of this process I have been looking at how to lay out my chapter headings. I like crisp and simple.

For example this is from Beevor’s D-Day.
I’m not sure about this style though. I don’t think the italics quite work and there seems to be too much blank space between the heading and the first paragraph.

Paula Simons, The Girl in Times Square
I think the simple use of a larger version of the text font works. Also there is less stark white.

Kate Grenville has gone for the super simple in The Idea of Perfection. Just the chapter number. I quite like this but need chapter titles as well.

So maybe a mix.
Chosen at random the top of page 10 of Veiled in Shadows.

Now because this has been such dry colourless post.
It's Summer and many of the Eucalyptus trees are flowering, this one is a pink or red flowering gum probably Corymbia ficifolia.

Well Here I Go.

I have finally decided to stop procrastinating.

Procrastinate me? I’d be ambivalent about procrastinating except I just can’t make up my mind.

I have been tossing up for some time the question of “to self-publish or not to self-publish” well I’ve finally made a decision. I think.

No, seriously, I have been leaning towards the self-publishing side of things for some time now and I am pretty much ready to take the leap.

Except of course the whole thing is not very like a leap. It is more like planning for an expedition than jumping off anything.

So what do I need to do before I go for it?

Here is my list so far:
Work out which POD service to use. Christy Pinheiro uses CreateSpace, her partner in crime Nick Russell uses LightningSource. There are of course others as well (Like Lulu).

Revise the layout of the Manuscript so it is suitable for publishing. In terms of editing I am pretty much happy that the MS is ready to go, thanks to the efforts of a couple of others.

Format said manuscript so it looks like a professional book.

Register a business name. Then I can be a “publisher”.

Register a domain name.

Register with a Web hosting company.

Commission or self-design a web site.

Decide on a marketing strategy for myself and the book. I promise I WILL NOT start spamming people to promote the book when I get to that stage.

Pay for a commercial licence for the art I have used for my cover. (I have a non commercial licence which allows me to reuse the image on the web etc).

While on the cover I need to rewrite the blurb (I HATE trying to condense 100,000+ words into a couple of paragraphs).

Hmm, this list seems to get longer all the time, I am sure there is a heap more but I’ll start with this lot.

So what do you think? Have I missed anything glaringly obvious (so far at least). Any suggestions? To be honest this is a bit scary and I would appreciate any comments.

Now a random photo. This timber slab shack is the remains of a pioneer farm in The Australian Alps at Namadgi National Park.

Self Publishing: a Review.

A while ago I mentioned I received a copy of The Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit! by Christy Pinheiro of The Publishing Maven

This book has raised all sorts of issues for me. I am more than sick of the grind of trying to get my work published using the “traditional” method. I have wondered about self publishing before. I have also put a modicum of effort into researching the possibility of self publishing through Lulu and BookSurge. I have even looked at Lightning Source

Christy’s book injects Amazon’s CreateSpace into the mix. The cost per copy with Create Space seems much more reasonable than Lulu. Also you gain the benefit of automatic listing with Amazon.

With self publishing marketing seems to be pretty much up to an author’s ability to push themselves. But then again it seems that most “orthodox” publishers seem to leave most of the marketing up to authors these days.

I’ve had my manuscript copyedited a couple of times. I’ve also produced an OK cover for the fun of it.

So in theory I could put it all together as a self published book in a fairly short period of time. Marketing would remain my biggest problem.
Damn it would be nice if it was all easy!

Anyway I have put up a review of Christy’s book on Amazon and include it below:

Title: The Step-By-Step Guide to Self-Publishing For Profit!
Author: C. Pinheiro (co-authored with Nick Russell)
ISBN: 978-0982266007
Publisher: Pineapple Publications

Christy Pinheiro and her co-author Nick Russell have produced a very handy guide to beginning a self publishing business. As the title suggests, the book outlines a series of steps to establish a profitable publishing business. The book works as a practical guide for beginners in the industry.

The book can be roughly broken into three sections, each covering a different aspect of self publishing. The first few chapters cover the basics such as: avoiding vanity publishers; the rudiments of establishing a business; and preparing the best possible manuscript by using services like copy editors. The next section deals with: the specifics of publishing using Amazon’s CreateSpace; it also briefly looks at other services such as Lulu.com. Nick Russell apparently uses Ingram’s Lighting Source for the majority of his own business. The third section deals with marketing a self published book and developing an income using the internet. Potentially the most valuable section of the book, it looks at various strategies. A myriad of examples are given including: using Amazon’s features; seeking book reviews; promotion using blogging; establishing a promotional website; and generating income using Google’s AdWords and Amazon’s affiliate program.

From a personal perspective, I found Christy’s book informative and helpful. This book has restimulated my interest in exploring self publishing, despite the fact that Christy specifically suggests self publishing works best for non-fiction. The only section of the book that had no direct relevance to me (as an Aussie) was some technical material on registering a business in the US and record keeping for US tax purposes.

Finally as this book produced by POD, a brief word about the book’s physical characteristics is worthwhile. I was impressed by the overall quality of the book. The paper is of good quality. The printing is excellent throughout with no technical errors or problems such as bleed. The cover is full colour and printed to a standard equivalent to any retail book. The only slight quibble I would voice is that the cardstock used in the cover would benefit from being a slightly heavier weight.

P.S.
Christy has just posted that BookSurge and CreateSpace have been merged by Amazon.

And finally.
A male King Parrot I snapped him up near Badger Creek a few weeks ago. A lot of Australian parrots are fairly easy to photograph, they seem to be curious about what you are doing.

This guy was so relaxed about my presence he took some time out to preen before flying off.

A Slow Weekend

Well I had a boring weekend in comparison to usual. As you have gathered we spend a fair bit of our free time shooting around the back blocks and having a squiz at the local scenery.

This past weekend we didn’t. Unfortunately two things kept us relatively close to home:

• First looking for a new house. We are currently renting and our landlord has given us notice to vacate. So we went looking at houses to rent on Saturday. (We have owned before but are still tied up in knots with some property interstate and will not buy until we finally sell there).

• Also Deb has a conference in Canberra this week. She decided to drive (about 8 hours) rather than fly and so she left on Sunday. She could have flown but: you have to allow an hour and a half to get to the airport from here (it is in actual fact nothing like that time but traffic can be unpredictable); then the airlines insist you are there absurdly early to clear the new security hurdles (at least an hour before the flight); the flight takes an a bit over an hour; then you have to muck around getting a hire car at the other end; to clinch it all Deb hates flying; so she drove.
  

I could have poked around doing something, looking for something to photograph. But the weather was terrible so I stayed in and read:


I posted about buying Beevor’s book back in August but haven’t picked it up till now. So far I am enjoying it. Methinks I should post my first ever book review when I ever get round to finishing it.


On the subject of reviews I did finish Troop Leader a while ago, maybe I should review that?

Anyone interested in reviews of military history and military biography?

I know I would be. My current novel Veiled in Shadows, is set in WWII. The sequel (companion?) which I am working on begins in the war and extends into the early years of the cold war. I am quite pedantic about my research. I have to know everything I can about a historical situation in which my characters may find themselves. That includes trivialities down to what kind of footwear they might have had. So reviews of useful books like this would suit me, but what about anyone else?

The strange thing is almost none of this detail directly appears in the books. Yet I find it helps with colour if I can have my characters speak with confidence about things they would have known about, as a matter of course. I want them to step into scenes I know are as accurate as I can make them.

Hmm, I really am rambling today, just a moment more and I’ll let you go.

The final edit of Veiled in Shadows is almost complete. I have all but completed the changes to the manuscript that Cheryl suggested. Perhaps two hours work will see it completed.

Yay!

So, lest I ramble you to death, goodnight.

Bay of Islands and Martyr's Bay (Or Uncle Harry rides again)

Deb and I slept in at Warnambool, after all it was the weekend and sleeping in is not something I often get to do in my line of work. It was after 10:00 before we were properly on the road again.

From Warnambool it is about 10 km back toward Melbourne before you reach the western end of the Great Ocean Road. The first section of road runs through very lush (by Australian standards) countryside, mainly dairy farms. For this first section you have no glimpse of the coast. Then suddenly as you come around a corner you catch sight of the ocean framed by a bay of very rugged cliffs.A little further and the road reaches the coast at the Bay of Islands. Words are not sufficient to describe the beauty of this spot. Even photographs only give a hint. The coastline here is sheer limestone cliffs carved into surreal shapes by the weather off the Southern Ocean, south of this coast there is nothing but waves all the way to Antarctica.
We spent some time here walking along paths that led to various lookouts. There was a strong wind blowing, so strong it was hard to hold the camera steady enough. With the wind clouds flitted across the sky continually changing the light and the colours of the ocean and the land.
The bay is filled with limestone stacks and islets of varying sizes and shapes, all shaped and tormented by the sea and wind.
The ocean batters, cuts and undercuts the soft stone.
This stack is so undermined it looks as if it is ready to topple.
This stack has an arch cut through its base.

Despite the rugged terrain this is apparently a reasonably popular launching place. This very steep boat ramp virtually runs down the cliff to the bay. There were obviously no boats out today but judging by the size of the car park it must get busy here sometimes.
I followed the ramp to the bottom and took a few photos looking up at the cliffs.

Back in the car, a few minutes drive east you arrive at Martyrs Bay. How the bay was given its name is not documented, but the local folklore is that in pioneering days the men from the local aboriginal tribe were murdered by being driven over the cliffs near here. There are local legends of this sort in many places around the Australia. Unfortunately, given the nature of European settlement and documented massacres in other areas, it seems likely some of these stories are true.
Despite a possibly bloody history this is also a spectacularly beautiful spot, the contrasting colours of the water, limestone and sky taking my breath away.

The wind continued to blow a gale causing the ocean to get rougher and rougher, although the day was still gloriously sunny.
Once again Uncle Harry has reached the end of his tether and will have to sign off to the evening.

Meanwhile Al needs to get back to editing his manuscript:

Next: A nursery rhyme and a few dark and mysterious caverns.

A taste: