Putting Your Masterpiece into Print Production
March 15, 2012
CreateSpace is an Amazon affiliate you'll definitely want to check out if you're ready to see your book in print. Membership is free and so is the process of preparing and submiting your book for print publication. Once you've uploaded your formatted manuscript to their site, and passed their review of your material and formatting, you'll purchase a 'Proof' copy (cost will vary depending on size of your book and the shipping times you determine. My copy of MISREAD cost $8.43.) Once you've approved your 'Proof' copy, your book goes into production and you're free to use their e-store and Amazon.com to market your book. ...You'll even get a free ISBN # from them, for use on their sites. The CreateSpace team makes the process as simple and straight forward as possible so you can get on with the business of writing.
For many years, I've published print copies of my four novels right in my own home. I formatted each of my books to fit on standard industry-sized (for paperback novel) paper, printed out the book, took it to Kinko's/FedEx and had them trimmed to my specifications, then bound and put my cover on each copy I sold. It has been great fun to have such control over the quality and appearance of my novels and I learned a great deal, however, in order to meet demand (present and projected future, that is) I must find a suitable alternative print publisher. So, I'm going with CreateSpace.
At this point, I'm waiting to receive my 'Proof' copy of MISREAD. When I get it, later this month, I'll go over it with a fine-toothed comb and make sure it exceeds my expectations (a formidible task for the CreateSpace team). Once I've approved any changes that might need to be made, the burden (and fun) of publishing my novels will fall to them. In the meantime, since I've so recently worked with their system, I thought some of you might find it helpful to hear a little about the process. My hope is that you'll see real potential for your future writing and become even more excited about this great opportunity.
To Prepare Your Manuscript for submission:
1) Create a copy of your manuscript file and save it under a new name and open the document copy.
2) Click 'Select All', then open your 'Paper size' and select the paper size (if it's an option) to 5" X 8" paper, then select 'Page Layout'.
3) Following the guidelines for the specific book size you wish to publish your book in (I'll be using 5" X 8"), set your margins: 'Gutter' at .75", Top: at least .25", Bottom: at least .25", Left: at least .25, and Right: at least .25".
* You will notice all of your writing shift around to fit the size of the paper (5" X 8" in this case).
4) While 'Select All' is on, you can also change your font and size of text to suit your requirements. Usually, the less elaborate a font you choose, the cleaner the resulting book will be. Also, the size of the font should be of readable size - 10, 11, or 12. (I chose 12.)
5) Next, embed your Fonts. ...This means nothing more than set your PDF printing program's print settings to save (embed) the fonts you used to create your manuscript. I'm using Windows 7, so all I had to do was open the 'Printers' settings and select the option to embed.
5) Now, scroll through your manuscript and make sure that the beginning of each chapter falls on an odd numbered page. (Chapter 1 - page 15, Chapter 2 - page 33, Chapter 3 - page 57, etc.).
6) Run 'Spelling and Grammar Check' feature - even if you just know it's already error free. It never hurts to be extra safe. ;)
7) Select the 'Save As' option in your program and choose 'PDF'.
8) Go to CreateSpace and follow the prompts to open your free account and upload your file.
9) Preview your manuscript in their super-cool previewer program and make suggested corrections, if any are recommended, and resubmit changes.
* The CreateSpace previewer will plunk your manuscript right onto a wicked-looking virtual book so you can see exactly how it's going to look in real life! This should get you super excited, but try to stay calm and remain focused on the right-hand column, where you'll see a list of issues the program has detected. Flip through your whole book with a critical eye. If you see anything you're not happy with, make changes in your document and hit the button to submit a different file.
10) Follow the prompts on their site to complete your book cover - also a super-cool and easy process - and you're golden. CreateSpace will put your book into a review process where they'll check to ensure that you haven't overlooked any gaffe that would obviously cause your book to look less than perfect in the hands of a fan, then offer you the opportunity to order your 'Proof' copy and see if their work meets your expectations. If you approve, let them know and they'll put your book into production. How awesome is that?!
The process, as you can see, is simple and straight forward. And, as always, there's abundant help available should you need it - for free, both online, here with me, or for a fee on their site. It's up to you to decide how you want to present your work to the world, use your creative genius to publish the book you've always dreamed of holding in your hot little hands!
Best of Luck,
Amy K. Jones
Copyright 2012
UPDATE MARCH 21, 2012
I received my 'Proof' of MISREAD this afternoon and I like it - a lot! CreateSpace got the copy to me well within the time frame they projected, wrapped securely for shipping, and it arrived looking great. They used laminated paper for a super durable, glossy, cover and the binding is sturdy and clean.
So what did I do first? I tried to destroy it!
It wasn't easy, but I made myself tug and yank at the pages, the front cover and the back cover the way a three-year-old would if he got ahold of the book when his parents weren't looking. (I didn't want to mess up the pretty book, but I had to know whether their printer does good quality book binding.) The result? It looks great still - I'm delighted!
After I finished trying to destroy the book, I sat down and had a long look at the interior of the book, noting the placement of chapter headings - which, in my uploaded file, had been out of line with each other - and corrected my file. Next, I addressed some alignment issues with the text (also in my file) and moved the page numbers a smidge. These were minor issues, but the changes were important to me; I want people to be able to focus on the story, not the production/formatting of the book. And finally, when I was satisfied that there were no glaring issues with the formatting to distract a reader from the story, I moved on to examine the size of the print (size 12): Distracted readers (those watching a clock, a child, or a passing boat on the horizon), must be able to keep track of where they are on the page, without a lot of back-reading. I'm satisfied that readers will not have any difficulty concentrating on MISREAD.
Now, it seems CreateSpace has made a sweet new option available for their proofing process - they've added an option that allows one to approve the 'Proof' on-line, for free. This means, once I've uploaded my adjusted file, I'll be able to either order another hard copy of MISREAD to see the changes I've made to my file, or verrify the changes online, in their viewer. I recommend spending the money to get a hard copy 'Proof' of any book prior to publication - it will, afterall, travel the world with your name emblazoned on the cover, so you should want to know that it's representing you well. This new proofing option is fantastic, though, for verrifying subsequent changes one might make to their book. Using both options is highly recommended, by CreateSpace, and I whole-heartedly agree. If you've spent the years I've spent on each of my books, making sure they're just right before you offer them to the public, you'll want to take every opportunity offered to ensure that it's perfect before you ask anyone to put their hard-earned cash into it.
* I did manage to screw up the process and needed to contact support with a question. How did I manage to do this? Well, I hit the wrong button on the 'submit changes' page, causing the original file to be re-reviewed. I quickly sent a message to CreateSpace, asking how to correct this problem, then hit the 'Call Me' button - because I'm hyper - ha. My phone started ringing the instant I provided my number and Sarah, a CreateSpace Guru, quickly explained that the review process could not be interrupted. She told me I'd have to wait until the re-review process completed, and I received my email of approval, then I could submit my changed file for review. Sarah was very nice, the phone call was prompt and took less than a minute to complete, and I hung up satisfied that should I run into any issues in the future, getting help from the CreateSpace team will be a breeze.
In a few days, I'll update you all on the progress I've made. In the meantime, if you're feeling anxious about getting your story into print, just remember how scared you were when you first learned to ride a bicycle and how liberated and happy you felt when you'd made yourself get on that potentially ego-bruising contraption and learn how to keep it upright and rolling. It really is okay to be scared, but go on and do it anyway.
Best of luck,
Amy K. Jones
** Update: March 27, 2012
Early (really, really early) this morning, I approved the second proof of MISREAD for publication through CreateSpace. Because the changes I made to my manuscript file were very minor, I chose to approve the changes after examining it carefully in CreatSpace's new online viewer. The paperback version of MISREAD is now available on the CreateSpace website and within twenty-four hours, or so, it will be available (and linked to the ebook version) on Amazon.com. Here's a sneak peek at the book:
MISREAD:
Publication Date: Mar 17 2007
ISBN/EAN13: 1475035098 / 9781475035094
Page Count: 334
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 5" x 8"
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Fiction /
Mystery & Detective / General
ISBN/EAN13: 1475035098 / 9781475035094
Page Count: 334
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 5" x 8"
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Fiction /
Mystery & Detective / General