MY STUDY HALL BEGINS
August 3, 2008 by admin
While my blogsite and my book manuscript are out of my hands and being worked on by the experts, I have decided to fill my time reading up on the subject of Print On Demand Publishing and becoming expert before decisions must be made about the actual publication. So, Amazon.com is shipping five books ordered the other day, and I have borrowed one from the library to begin my reading.
This one is Dan Poynter’s “Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book.” He is considered an expert in the field and this is the fifteenth printing of this popular book. He seems to cover the waterfront of this new form of freedom from the very selective control of the large publishing houses which used to dominate our literary world.
I’m on the library’s waiting list for “Book Design & Production” by Pete Masterson, and my Amazon.com order is for:
1. “The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing” by Tom and Marilyn Ross
2. “Print On Demand Book Publishing” by Morris Rosenthal
3. “How To Self-Publish Your Book With Booksurge for $99” by Edwin Scroggins
4. “The Fine Print of Self-Publishing” by Mark Levine
5. “Aiming At Amazon” by Aaron Shepard
So, I have a whole lot of studying to do before I feel qualified to select a printer and make the decisions surrounding design, contracts, pricing, and marketing. The above list doesn’t exhaust the titles on the subject and every time I go on Amazon.com, I find more that I would like to order and read. Every one of the authors of such books have gone through their own adventures with print-on-demand; some seem to have been in on this fairly recent brand of publishing since its inception, and they are happy to share their trial and error secrets. So, I’m sure that there are hours of very virtuous study ahead for me, but I hope I’ll glean a feel for the whole business.
I’ve already learned a few disturbing points: Times New Roman font (which is the one I always use. You’re looking at it) is not the one to write your manuscript in. Too close together. Whoops! I’ll have to change my manuscript to one called Georgia for a better look. Also, don’t put two spaces at the end of each sentence….only one! It leaves white holes in the book print! I must retrain my thumbs, but how do I remove them from an existing manuscript. I think there’s a search & change function. Hope so. How would I know these things without all this cramming?
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