In the end, I got my novel prepared for self-publication by fudging.
The inside of each page is called the gutter, the extra space needed to adapt for the binding. I kept trying to get my program to make that very important adjustment, but got nowhere. I am certainly NOT computerate literate. I finally started to wonder why I needed a program when it was just a matter of adapting the page. I could do that manually. That's what I did.
The pages started to make sense until I tried to do headers and footers. Those spaces threw off every page. OK, maybe I could work around those, too.
First I looked at the headers. That would be where I could put the name of the book in small gray print, repeated over and over, page after page. It makes the book look more elegant but my book is a trashy romance, not a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. I decided to dispense with the headers. The pages started to look better.
Next I looked at the footers. This would be where I would put the page numbers. That would be essential, but every time I tried to add them, the numbers showed up everywhere and that meant on the title, acknowledgement and dedication pages, where you don't want them.
After working on the problem for almost two hours, I re-read the handout page from Karen McQuestion, the mystery author who originally taught the Fox Valley Technical College course on self-publishing I took a couple of years ago. She had the same problem and she solved it by manually typing the numbers on each and every page. That's what I did. It took almost hour to do that, since I had to adjust the document as I went. But finally, it was done.
I entered the document on the Create Page web page, added the cover I designed two days ago, and worked out how much the book should sell for ($11.99) and what the royalties would be. At about 4:15 I hit the button to complete the project.
The next step is to wait for approval from Create Page. When I get that, I will order a proof copy which should arrive in a week. If it looks good to me, I'll order twenty copies of the book and add it to my account at Amazon.com.
If everything goes smoothly, I'll have a romance novel book signing with two other authors on February 16 when I get back from Mississippi. I'll also teach two workshops for Fox Valley Technical College on writing a short story blog and turning stories into self-published books.
After that I'll start work on putting my short stories about love into yet another collection.
The inside of each page is called the gutter, the extra space needed to adapt for the binding. I kept trying to get my program to make that very important adjustment, but got nowhere. I am certainly NOT computerate literate. I finally started to wonder why I needed a program when it was just a matter of adapting the page. I could do that manually. That's what I did.
The pages started to make sense until I tried to do headers and footers. Those spaces threw off every page. OK, maybe I could work around those, too.
First I looked at the headers. That would be where I could put the name of the book in small gray print, repeated over and over, page after page. It makes the book look more elegant but my book is a trashy romance, not a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. I decided to dispense with the headers. The pages started to look better.
Next I looked at the footers. This would be where I would put the page numbers. That would be essential, but every time I tried to add them, the numbers showed up everywhere and that meant on the title, acknowledgement and dedication pages, where you don't want them.
After working on the problem for almost two hours, I re-read the handout page from Karen McQuestion, the mystery author who originally taught the Fox Valley Technical College course on self-publishing I took a couple of years ago. She had the same problem and she solved it by manually typing the numbers on each and every page. That's what I did. It took almost hour to do that, since I had to adjust the document as I went. But finally, it was done.
I entered the document on the Create Page web page, added the cover I designed two days ago, and worked out how much the book should sell for ($11.99) and what the royalties would be. At about 4:15 I hit the button to complete the project.
The next step is to wait for approval from Create Page. When I get that, I will order a proof copy which should arrive in a week. If it looks good to me, I'll order twenty copies of the book and add it to my account at Amazon.com.
If everything goes smoothly, I'll have a romance novel book signing with two other authors on February 16 when I get back from Mississippi. I'll also teach two workshops for Fox Valley Technical College on writing a short story blog and turning stories into self-published books.
After that I'll start work on putting my short stories about love into yet another collection.
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