Views from Sandhausen available NOW

Views from Sandhausen cover

 The Book is Here! The Book is here!!!

Amazon has offered our eBook for Kindle here.  We will be activating on several other  sites over the next few days.  I will report to you when that happens.  My work is done, awaiting theirs! (You would have thought that, with all the BUZZ, they would have been Waiting for my files!

Print versions will be available during the first quarter of 2011.  Here is the link:  Kindle Edition

What comes after “I Think I’ll Write a Book”?

The typeset Views from Sandhausen is back!  Over the weekend Walt at Five Rainbows sent back the PDF of our Views from Sandhausen manuscript.  Finally, I have the entire manuscript in my hands!!!   It looks terrific!  I wanted him to format the pages such that they would suggest their email genesis.  He did a wonderful job in that effort; technically Brilliant!  The PDF is 302 pages long including front and back matter, and the reader page count is 286.  Now the Important work begins!

The next stage is for me to review the manuscript for the last time.  It is vital that any typos or mistakes are picked-up and corrected.  Between me, Matt Jacob, and Walt Shiel, this manuscript has been read more than a dozen times, both electronically and on paper – in the singular quest to discover and correct errors. I even read the manuscript backwards as this is the most successful means of discovering typos that generally are not picked up by any other means.  Of course, I printed it out from the final PDF and the first thing that I saw was an error!  RATS!!.  This discovery was not exactly confidence inspiring.

I spent the weekend learning online.  One of the best articles that I found was written by Joel Friedlander on his incredibly important blog, “The Book Designer”.  I have taken the liberty to paste a bit below (the full post can be found by following the link):

The Hidden Difference between Self-Publishers

…. Why education? When you sat down to write your book you probably knew nothing about publishing, distribution, marketing, promotion and sales.

You may not have even intended to publish the book yourself, but had thought of getting a contract from a traditional publisher (or in my case, using the Publish on Demand (POD) model).

At some point in the journey from writer to self-published author, everyone has to come to the realization that they are starting a publishing business.

 I am making a BIG deal of this because it should be the automatic second thought that all people have, right after “I Think I’ll Write a Book”

Unfortunately, this is not the case and today’s subject attempts to make a small contribution in that effort.  Given the potential loss of control of your book, and the horrible beating that you take from the POD publisher and the difficulty of getting your work out into the common market via traditional means, going your own way is implicit, just as writing your story was.

I’ve accomplished my mission for today – getting this word out.  For any of you that honor me by reading this rant, please tweet it out to a larger audience.  Secondly, retweet until Twitter comes to its knees.  IF aspiring writers out there are not ready to become their own publisher, they choose from many evils.  Is there good news?  Set yourself up as a micro-publisher.  It is not difficult and you have already climbed the mountain of learning.

Now, back to my proofreading!

Cliff

Views from Sandhausen, Chapter One

While in the process of writing a Christmas note to all of our overseas friends, it occurred to me that I have a proof of Chapter One from Views from Sandhausen.  It is mine and is in its final format. Why not put it on the FlaAuthor.WordPress.com blog.  Without further adieu, here is Chapter One. Chapter_1.

Additionally, I have my 2010 Christmas letter completed, and sent out to all of my domestic friends and family.  I sent it to our overseas friends, in the above mentioned note.  Here it is for anyone that I have missed.  Christmas 2010 Letter

On the book front, the research and learning continues.  I learn so much from my online friends and fellow author bloggers.  For really worthwhile information that has the potential to impact and improve my personal efforts, I capture the information and convert it into a MS Word document.  I just did a search; I’ve written 742 of those documents this year!

Today is sunny and cool, currently 65 degrees in the Lanai.  We have been below freezing for the last three nights and the terrorist on TV tells it is about to get colder.  God, I hate winter!  I’ve been dealing with my sinuses for the last month.  It can’t be pine pollen; my usual nemesis.  Perhaps the cold will chase the culprit away.

For me, Christmas is nearly finished.  I can’t afford to do any more shopping; I do have a little wrapping to do.  The cards are out, and I only have to re-send one due to a bad address.  Now I’m waiting to “feel the Love”, whilst listening to Dave Brubeck and his wonderful piece, Take Five.

Well, time to get back to work; even on a Sunday I put in at least eight hours.  Erik is off on a business trip this coming week; that should give me more time to really dig in.

Love each other and stay warm!

Cliff

What Fun!

FlaAuthor Publishing, LLC Logo

 Yesterday I applied for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) for FlaAuthor Publishing, LLC.  This is starting to be a process that I understand and can do by heart.  Having built Stingray Consulting, and I-Store Marketing, I’m on familiar

ground.  My error with those two ill-fated businesses was starting them against the background of the worst business downturn since the Great Depression.  Lesson Learned.

Next step was to apply for my Library of Congress number for Views from Sandhausen, fulfilling my promise to myself.  That being, ensure that my Lynn would be memorialized, as an author, in the Library of Congress (LOC) – forever.  The process takes a week or so but feedback is encouraging: “Your Electronic PreAssigned Control Number (EPCN) application for a Library of Congress control number for Title: “Views from Sandhausen” ISBN:  “9780983128304″, was successfully transmitted to the Library of Congress.  That is the first step to having your book included in the LOC.

The last item of business for yesterday was to open an account with Lightning Source (LS).  LS is the premier print house in the Publishing business, and comes highly recommended by everyone, including the guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz!

LS is not just a big warehouse full of rolls of paper and a few machines the size of your house.  It is part of the Ingram Content Group.  The following is from their ‘About Us’ section of their website:  “Ingram Book Company is the largest book wholesale distributor in the world, offering immediate access to more than two million titles. Through our speed, breadth of titles, and operational excellence, we are the preferred wholesale provider for more than 71,000 retail and library customers globally.”

So, by partnering with Five Rainbows and their direct access to Lightning Source, and their direct connection to the Ingram Book Company, we have essentially forged a seamless link to designing, printing, and generating eBooks in multiple formats.  Further, with Ingram’s incredible distribution reach in to the majority of premier distribution channels to sell Views from Sandhausen.

Lastly for today, I enthusiastic approved Walt Shiel’s wonderful book design and he is busy typesetting and formatting the balance of the book.

We are, indeed, having Fun!

Cliff

Back on Track

 

Bridge to Success

Today and yesterday were good days to be a part of the Views from Sandhausen project!  Walt Shiel (at Five Rainbows Services) and  I have agreed to a contract, signed same, and he starts with the cover design on Monday.  He also starts mentoring this simple soul to ensure that I don’t make any rookie mistakes.  I liken it to not falling off the rickety bridge to success.   

 He is charging me about the same that I would have paid AuthorHouse, but I OWN everything and I have infinite flexibility, in terms of what I do in the future.  Lastly, the conventional wisdom is that I will have a product that is of significantly higher quality and richness!

The, first stage is to design the cover, spine, and back cover.  I really live in the sticks; I had to journey 43 miles to get to a bookstore!  Wow.  No wonder Amazon and Walmart rule the world!  I spent about three hours at two different stores, looking at all aspects of a book’s design; the output was a number of photos that I took on my iPhone, and transmitted to Walt.  Along with the original design work I did, and the ideas Becky (PIP: A Very Special Little Caterpillar) suggested, I think he has some sense of direction.  By the way, PIP is doing extremely well and is producing rave reviews, in its second week of availability!  Walt intends to read Views the book as well (maybe I can get a book review?).  I just KNOW this is going to be great.

I believe that I have a weekend off!  I’ll be working my way through my Guide to Self-Publishing and I have a date tomorrow for lunch!  One can only hope that brighter days are ahead of me.

A Very Happy Sweetest Day to all of you out there.  I’ve send out greetings to those that matter to me (Ladies Only) and trust that all of you men will take your special someone out!  There will be more later next week!

Cliff