Learn From My Paperback Publishing Mistakes!

I have recently been working on getting Dusted published in paperback through Createspace. Originally the plan was to just take the Kindle version and slap it on some pages for my brother to lightly proofread. I really wish I had someone to grab me by my shoulders and scream "WAAAAAIT!" before I pressed that final button to send it on its way.



Too late, lol

So here is a list of things that I wished I had known before even making proof copies.

Make Sure You Have the Correct Version

This was my first idiot mistake. I keep old versions of Dusted for various reasons and had accidentally chosen the wrong one. I wouldn't have noticed there was a mistake if I hadn't read the first chapter. Only a single sentence tipped me off and, after a closer look, I realized my mistake. That set back the entire process by about two weeks (and almost ten dollars) as I rounded up the original copy, resubmitted it, and waited for the book to get here.

Don't Be Afraid of Marking Up your Copy

Writing in books is major taboo for me. Even my school textbooks were sacred, having been devoid of pen, pencil, or highlighter marks. The same goes for my brother. So, in order to get him comfortable with the idea of marking it up, I did the first chapter as an example. I ended up proofreading the entire thing myself in addition to my brother. I adapted quickly and, before I knew it, I was writing snarky comments about my own goofs and doodling on the margins.

No You Can't Just Slap the Kindle Version on Paper

It took me a while to figure out all of the nuances of Createspace and even then there were a lot of little details. Primary among them were headers and footers, which I fussed with the most. After that was justifying the text. Justifying is a bit different than being just left-aligned. This paragraph, for example, is the only justified one in this entire post. Justified is what all books do. When I was proofreading Dusted the paragraphs were making me crazy as I couldn't quite figure out, only when I had nearly reached the end did I figure out what it was. For those of you unfamiliar with paragraph formats (as well as various visual examples) you can check it out on Wikipedia here.

Also, something else important to note is the difference between straight and curly quotes.

It was something that I wasn't even aware of at the time and had completely missed in Dusted, and so it had a mix of the two, sometimes within a single sentence. To learn more (as well as fix it) read this.

It's Going to be Expensive

This is the only one that I really expected. In fact, it was looking at my account balance that I said to myself "It's time."

It's time to buy mah self a fancy new cardboard box.

The price will vary depending on the size of the book you want to publish. My total has been $46.55 over the course of 3 months and that's without it being finished. This has been entirely in the name of editing (of course, if you subtracted my mistake it would have been much cheaper.)


Shipping Will Take Forever

I've gotten a bit spoiled regarding shipping thanks to Amazon's speedy methods, so anything that takes more than a week makes me twitchy. My last order of proof copies, for example, took 8 days.

Your Book Going to be Bigger (and Smaller) Than You Thought

First, I mentally cringe when people announce "I've written X number of pages on my manuscript!" because Microsoft Word is not an indicator of how many pages it's really going to be. Microsoft word has tons of information per page because it's a file in a computer. This is why I use word count instead of pages. Microsoft Word Dusted has 134 pages. Paperback Dusted has 316 pages, which is more than double the amount Word is telling me. So, if you rely on page count, you are selling yourself short. Throw that method away and use word count from now on.

But I digress, I was planning to talk about literal book sizes.

I was lucky that my brother happened to own some books by an author who published through Createspace. Because of him I was able to do some measuring.

Yes, measuring. The whole time I've been working with Createspace I've kept a ruler handy. They have multiple different sizes to choose from. I chose two different sizes: their smallest recommended size and their largest recommended size.

Originally I chose the largest recommended (6"x9") because that was the same one as the Createspace book I had seen before. This was the wrong version one, my Oops Book. Part of the problem with it was that it was double-spaced, making it artificially larger with a page count of 387. The correct version, while having a higher word count, was technically smaller by being single-spaced.

As a result my page count for a 6"x9" was, I believe, somewhere just under two hundred pages.

Meanwhile, the smallest recommended size of 5"x8" would have 316 pages.

While I haven't figured out the exact math, I know Createspace charges per page. At this point I had an option: Do I choose the cheaper, larger, and thinner 6"x9" or do I go with the slightly more costly, smaller, and thicker 5"x8"?

Ultimately I chose the smaller one for psychological reasons. While it only costs about a dollar more to publish you feel like you're getting more. A small fat book feels like it has more story and more bang for your buck than a large thin one, thus leading to the possibility of more sales.

Like this, but with pages.

Would one more inch of height and width make that much of a difference? Here is a picture of the two I have. I meant to have them lined up, but I must have bumped the top one a bit before taking the picture.

In case you are curious, Dusted currently clocks in at 75,800 words and, with a 5"x8" size, is 2.2cm thick (book thickness is the most unpredicable factor.)

Also, while I was taking pictures I decided on one more. Another option Createspace has for pages is White or Cream. For the Oops Book I ordered white, but decided to try cream for the next ones. White feels too harsh on my eyes, but it's more of a personal preference. Here's the difference:

And now all you can think about are mashed potatoes and egg rolls.

Buy More Copies Than You Think You Want or Need

My brother and I shared a copy between us, though it was a pain and I wish we'd each had our own copies. My original plan was 1 proof copy, which was the goof up one. My second attempt I ordered 2 proofs, the plan being one to sit pretty on my shelf and the other to get marked up. Instead my brother gave my "sitting pretty" copy to a coworker (with my permission of course). My third time, after extensive edits, I ordered 4 copies.

I think a good rule is to think of everyone you are going to give a copy to proof read (this includes yourself!), an optional "sit pretty" if you so desire, and then always add +1 copy for whatever may come up.

Giving out that proof copy to a few select people has the added advantage that there are more people who would be willing to beta read my next manuscript.




So, with all of these problems, how is it really worth it? Here are a couple of reasons

People Are More Likely to Proofread Your Book

Only three people ever proofread Dusted three years ago before it was published on Kindle:  Me, my dad, and a nice woman by the name of Stephanie. Stephanie, however, was paid for her work and provided with copy of Dusted that was printed out using my home printer. Not exactly ideal.

With plans of a paperback proof copy I suddenly have lots of people who are willing to beta read who wouldn't before. My mother is going to proofread it, you guys. This is huge.

!!!???

People Are More Likely To Buy Your Book

The following conversation has happened so often that I have lost track of how many times exactly.

"I have a book published!"
"Cool! Where can I buy it?"
"It's on Amazon for Kindle."
"Oh, darn. I don't have a Kindle."

I do explain Kindle for PC to them but let's be honest here, no one really wants to sit at their computer and read a book. It's been those times that I have actually felt myself lose a sale. Most of all, it's the local people, the friends/family/coworkers, that would be spreading the word of my book. So not only do I lose their sale, I lose the potential of more sales. It was a few months ago that I'd finally had enough and decided I actually needed to expand into the paperback market if I was going to sell myself as a local author.

It's Just Awesome

It's a giddy thrill to be holding an actual copy of something I wrote. To run my hands over the cover, the spine. I can flip through pages at random and read familiar scenes. It's something tangible I can hold and say to myself "I made this!"

There's nothing else like it.

Meh, it's not the same.