An Impromptu Irish Dancing Flash Mob, perhaps?
We meet again... Subtitle.
I wasn’t going to write a newsletter today. It was going to be a sparse May heralding only two newsletters. But I’ve just put my book forward for pre-order and I feel inclined to talk about how I’ve spent the past two weeks.
Since I last checked in with everyone, my proofs came! I thought I’d cry but I just smiled. Not a bad thing at all but I’m just a waif. I cry at anything. I can cry on cue and the lack of tears for, possibly the most important thing in my life now is… kinda weird. Still, I’m not complaining. Since receiving them, they’ve been perched on my desk in front of me. My resting bitch face hasn’t cracked much so I still look lost or sad, generally… But I feel happy. I have since receiving them.
They were made kinda quick. I think from uploading the files to getting it, it was about 5 days. The anticipation was through the roof and I got really emotional before they arrived, just at the idea that I’d gotten this far.
The paperback and large print came a day before the hardback. I made the decision to just wait and open all three at once. The one day I spent with an unopened package was intimidating more than anything. An unfortunate moment to linger on whether I’d done it all right. Short-lived, thankfully.
Upon opening them, I just smiled. I made an unboxing video on my socials (@andyshouldbewriting on Instagram predominantly) and it was just weird. I say it in the video and I’ve probably told people already but… It’s not even seeing the cover that’s the weird part. It’s seeing the thickness of it and opening it on any page only to recognise it. That’s the fucking cool part! Like, I wrote that! Andy words! Why there must be tens of them… maybe twenties!
When you turn the camera off you obviously go in on them and see what you need to do to make them 100%. Thankfully, my issues were small and fixed that same night.
The first was that IngramSpark told me the book started on the right. Any normal human person would be like “duh” and leave it. I also KNOW that a book’s first page starts on the right because I have eyes. The problem is, Andy has the Andy brain which translated this as meaning “Oh you need to put a page before that to make the PDF spread start on the right”. So all the pages are one back from what they should be. I deleted the one page (ffs).
The second thing was that the text was REALLY inset into the book. As in, you’d have to open it a lil too far to read it. So I bumped all the text to the left and right respectively. There is more room.
I’ve ordered a further proof so, hopefully, I’ll still be the owner of the first ‘not wonky’ copy. In terms of issues I could’ve had, I got cut some well earned slack.
Past this, I’ve been setting up the book for pre-order. This is where it got annoying…
So I thought I was ready (naïve and WEAK). It turns out that my eBook file didn’t format correctly when it came to putting it into Kindle Create. Kindle Create is something I didn’t know existed but it basically lets you format your book into an eBook. Super easy so I really could’ve formatted eBook outside of Adobe InDesign. But what is a first book if not to be on fire, screaming? We learn and sequel will be easy RIGHT???
A lot of my pressure came from the fact I was adamant to upload my book to Reedsy Discovery. I got my non-binary finery of an editor to cast a literal queer eye over my work in 2022. So Reedsy Discovery was a must. It’s basically putting it up on a GoodReads style platform for some people to read and review early and then, on launch, be available to those subscribed. It’s great for exposure and word of mouth is predominantly how this monster will travel. I’m literally so proud of this so sharing it for free to the right avenues of the internet isn’t daunting to me.
The problem is that you ideally need to upload your book 5 weeks before your launch date. I basically finished work last Saturday and the calendar told me I have a day to finish formatting an Epub file. I’d started it but let it be known, I formatted from chapter 10 to chapter 26 of my eBook in a fucking day! Sunday 19th May bitch! Which is also the day Anne Boleyn was executed. So yeah, I stan a relatable queen because DECAPITATE ME PLEASE!
I did it though! Cross eyed and gay, we flourish. With twenty minutes to spare, I threw an Epub file and a PDF to Reedsy Discovery. I felt like the old woman from Titanic. I felt like Anne Boleyn. I felt like… JoJo Siwa’s dancing, bitch!
Today (Monday 20th) I put the book up for pre-order. So this week, metadata will be dancing the dance of life, hopefully appearing on Amazon at least for Friday’s pre-order day. I’ve heard that Ingram can take up to SIX weeks to send the meta data to ALL stores so I’ll just see how that goes. But I assume people will predominantly buy from evil Amazon anyway (it’s just another learnt thing for sequel. Do it all month earlier than what I’m doing now).
The last thing that I did was set up a paperback for Amazon. So now we go into what I learnt about the market and how bookshops work.
IngramSpark offers a huge array of print sizes and designs but also own Ingram Group Catalogue. Which Amazon and booksellers alike order from. So that’s why they were my first choice. Amazon also has shit options for hardcovers. I love my case laminate because Ingram offered this creative kid a chance to DESIGN a cover rather than throw one together.
The problem arises when you realise that, if you don’t publish with Amazon, predominantly, you lose a lot of their perks. In book world, Amazon is a necessary evil (sad face) but also the nemesis of online and physical bookshops. They’re huge competition. So bookshops won’t order your book from Amazon and give them sales. They use Ingram Group Catalogue. You have to do it in a way where, if they order from Ingram they get all copies but you can still get Amazon perks.
So I watched the white people on YouTube tell me how to get the best of both. Get that reach that Ingram offers alongside the perks of Amazon.
Today I made a draft of a paperback for Amazon. I’ve left it as a draft so Amazon is only really putting my Kindle version up for pre-order. IngramSpark is live and will send their data to Amazon. So on the outside, pre-orders will appear the same everywhere. It’s just that, at launch, I’ll publish my Amazon paperback which will unseat the Ingram paperback.
This means, I’ll begin publishing my paperback and kindle versions solely through Amazon and get their perks, but any hardbacks bought through Amazon will be fulfilled by Ingram.
Also if bookshops buy from Ingram, my paperback is still available from their catalogue. It just won’t come from Amazon. Everyone wins.
SEE I’M CLEVER! My baby deserves this effort and it’s a small thing authors can do for both wide distribution and Amazon perks.
So that’s been my Monday.
Considering this is my first book launch and, much like writing, editing, formatting, cover design and Epub, I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing… Marketing is okay. I have my glitchy lil Insta videos full of tongue in cheek and colour. I have the pre-orders pending in a base form, at least. I’ve utilised the information I’ve learnt all those years ago. And, throughout my brain hasn’t actually been eating me alive. I think cos I can edit my files up to about just under a week before launch, I’ve attained Nirvana. I’m just so happy I have my wonky proofs. Actually no, they’re hardly even wonky! The cover is great, the story is storying. I did good!
I think that people don’t understand how much actual (unpaid) work you end up doing for self-publishing. I’m literally working weekends and then any time off is consumed by book. I thought it was all I thought about before but now… It’s just mad. It’s not even that I feel the pressure. I’m amazed that I’m gonna meet my pre-order date and the launch date. I’m sure many people aware of my shite time-keeping skills are amazed too.
A lot of the work is just making sure you do everything in the right order and in the right way. There are a lot of potential mistakes to be made so you need to focus (lol). IngramSpark must hate me cos I’ve amended my print files and covers SO much. But I just want it to be as near to perfect as I can do.
If you’ve made it this far through this post, you’re a blessing. Believe it or not, there’s still work to do (website and early reviews)… But that’s for payday. Until then, I’m gonna play Crackdown 1 because I’ve had it on my xbox one x for ages and I hate the console. I have precious 360 memories of playing Fable 2, Crackdown and Viva Pinata. I’m gonna revive those memories because I think I’ve earnt the headspace, don’t you?
Peace!
-Andy (: