I thought I would bring this up, because it is a complex issue and I have made a point of getting Udemy courses on how to deal with Ingram Sparks and the whole paperwork thing was totally ignored!

To tell you the truth, it has all become even more complex than when I uploaded a few years ago on CreateSpace. It used to be you needed a tax number and so I called the IRS and had sent out my EIN number, then they made it easier for Canadians because you could use your Social Insurance Number.  So great, this is much easier. I don't want to pay taxes twice (in Canada and the US) and so I can just let them know I want to use the whole tax treaty we have.

Well, just received news, NEW HITCH...now you have to have a GST number. I have been trying to find out IF I have that number, I have to remit GST however it used to be anything above $30,000 you had to remit, however for online businesses, I think now I was reading that didn't count. Oh joy, oh bliss, what happiness! I used to have a business and GST/HST remittance was a pain in the ass. Not because I didn't do it or do it right, but they would loose what I sent in (always even before time!) and then threaten me and yes, if you don't submit, even if you have zero to claim, you shall get fined, and it is no just a few dollars. So many people I know who have small businesses and are struggling, spend a good portion of the time they should be putting into advertising and making their business work, into filing GST either quarterly (a total pain!) or annually and HST also sometimes. For an online business, what are you going to claim, the table top space for your computer? It is about finding ways to make sure no one makes any money they don't know about. Sigh.

There is the paper work for each state in the US (and likely Canada however I think that is different if you sell in Canada, something else to think about!) if you plan on selling in Brick and Mortar shops to deal with ( a few don't - yahoo!) and there is tons of info and forms to wade through. I am hoping, since I haven't done them all ( well I did, but they seem to have disappeared when uploaded) and if you did them before 2014 for Ingram Sparks, better check, you likely have to do them again.

I was told and read when you do upload and start getting money (have to keep records for 6 years), then screenshot your bank statements, that is the most reliable, of what goes into your account and have an account of course, just for this.  You can use Paypal, however TWICE I have had money go missing, they are NOT what they are cracked up to be! Be Aware, just get a bank account and avoid Paypal if you can. There is a reason they are in the news where folks can't access their account and so on. 

I am currently in another country, and I am not going to lie, so I am not going to apply for anything until back in Canada which is when I will likely do my taxes although the rules for that and residency is different and not as complex. Which means I won't be uploading to sell, have to make revisions and a few more books anyhow, I can wait.

So do your paperwork. On the dashboard, under your account on the right hand side, there is a drop-down menu. One of them says "paperwork" and another says "tax info.". The upload paperwork I have found, how to download, well let's say, that has not happened yet. I have emailed back and forth with someone who keeps telling me to come back, and I have yet to find it so good luck. I can't do much without the GST number so screw it, I am going to finish two children's books while here at least and deal with it back in Canada all at once.

So do the tax info before you think about uploading, don't put the cart before the horse or you will regret it later when you have taxes for BOTH Canada and US coming out of your payment. Good luck!

I hadn't intended to do this right now, however like everything that has simply fallen into place concerning this writing journey, I have come upon another book that is something I wish I had found in the beginning.  This is not a review, I am not going to pick it apart, I am going to say however, it is worth the money! "How to Publish A Children's Picture Book,2nd Ed -The Easy and Inexpensive Way to Create a Book and eBook for Non-Designers by Eve Heidi".  You can find it on Amazon. She is American ,I believe, however she makes some very valid points and gives helpful advice!

This book has so many sound pieces of advice and the way she explains things is so simple, it has clarified a number of things I have been working to really understand for a long time! 

One thing I would recommend though, is save yourself some headaches and pay under $100.00 and OWN your own publishing software from Affinity called Affinity Publishing. After dealing with Adobe InDesign and other programs, it is definitely worth the money! If you think you can use Word, you are incorrect. It is not accepted by Ingram Sparks with good reason. It is too unstable.

I will go over what you need to do for uploading, but there is time. First, I recommend reading this book if you are considering publishing a Children's book or any book for that matter. It is a great place to start. I downloaded it for ten dollars!

I have been a little ill (ok, a lot!), but am getting better!  Take care.

 So the pros and cons of Ingram Sparks has become clear. I have done a good deal or reading and research, I have uploaded and had a proof done on CreateSpace when it existed and I will explain why I have stuck with Ingram Sparks in spite of the difficulties I have had.

Cost wise, it is more, no doubt about it however there are promo codes out there to help with this so we will let this pass.

The actual print quality is very good and there are many choices in terms of trim sizes (size of the book) and paper weights, etc. And it does have ONE landscape size book however you have to use above standard colour printing and it is 11.5 x 8 or something like this. Just is easier to design you images for two page spread even though you have to use single pages when creating the PDF for upload. I went over this in other blogs.

So that is an issue, it is a very particular upload process, but when I started, I knew nothing, now I know more and it is fine. Not a problem  but there is more than just the uploading of PDFs and having them approved.

There is also filing in all the information. This is where many people get frustrated and some move over to LuLu or other POD sites. The interface is OLD which means IT TIMES OUT, and you have to do it all over again. Involved in this is the BISAC codes which are damn near impossible to figure out there! I went and got the codes from another site, and put them in so THEN they found them! 

On a little side note about these codes.  Many people think that it is better to have  BROAD code so that it is easier to get picked up. Do not confuse these codes with key words!  Key words are words that many people may use when surfing looking for a book like yours. The better the key words are, the more likely they will be found. You can google key word tools and such and find both free as well as paid for tools which also include search engine stats, etc. From what I understand of BISAC codes, it is a little different. When you go to a library, there is either the Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal system. This tells you exactly where to put it on the shelf, well the BISAC system and a few newer methods are the same for bookstore owners and people looking for books. So, the more specific you can be within reason and truly applicable to your book (and not just a few pages of your story!), then the better. It makes everyone else's life so much easier, it means it has it's own nice little place and let's face it, do you want to be on a shelf with 200 other books or would you rather be in a section with maybe 20 (depending on the size of the store of course!). Have two or three for fall backs but don't go nuts! Unlike keywords, you don't need tons!

On another side note, you will have both and short and long description with metadata with it.  Don't be intimidated by the word metadata, all it is, is the particulars of the book! So page count, audience, colour pages or not, that sort of thing, in another blog I will go into more detail, but for now, just be aware, these are all questions before you even get to the upload of your book! 

However it is all info that CAN BE EDITED. So, fill in as best you can (before it times out!), and get it uploaded!

There are other things you will have to consider, such as your bar code and whether you want price with it or not, as well as something as simple as how much it will cost to create and ship the book and what you will get out of it. Many say they don't want the price in the bar code, however from what I have been reading, it is not a bad thing! Still how that would work for other countries! The price I have with the bar code is USD. I suppose other stores and places would convert and just put a sticker on it.

Oh and a word or advice, if you are not Canadian you have to pay for your ISBN number, DO IT! It is worth it in the end. If you take the code offered by Amazon, etc, then what it is saying is it is their book. You don't want that! What if you want to sell it somewhere else? It is like buying your Domain name from many of these website providers, well, it means in many cases you cannot take that name and build a website somewhere else! Spend a few bucks and cover yourself. And while I am at it, for Search Engine Optimization, buy long term, they like that more.

In previous blogs I talked about having to make changes so that the book is affordable. I didn't want a book no one could afford to buy! If you are reading this, then you are thinking of whether you want to do it all yourself or not! If you decide yes, then congratulations, you are in the publishing business! There is a huge learning curve and I will go over this in another blog.

The good news is, Ingram Sparks has TONS of helpful download material. I do wish they had made it less Blah, blah, blah, and more cut and dry, however in my next blog I will write up the steps to getting up in for the first proof!

My advice to anyone wanting to self publish IF they have the mental fortitude and need for control (no I am not a control freak, ok, maybe a little!), then take baby steps however read enough to be thinking ahead as you create your book especially for children, unless you just have a compelling need to do it, then like me, just do it and screw whether it sells or not! 

This brings me to the REAL reason I have gone through the painful process of learning all I can about search engine optimization, etc. And that is because  I don't want to spend all my time cultivating an online presence or any of this! I want to write and create! Ingram Sparks is not only a printer, they are a GLOBAL DISTRIBUTOR! They have been in the biz for over 40 years I believe, and it is family based which is nice. They have at least three print facilities world wide and right from the get go, you have the option to set prices and sell BOTH ON LINE AND IN BRICK N MORTAL STORES. With Amazon, you don't get much more than Amazon, however with Ingram Sparks, you get Amazon and so much more. 

So, it is taking time, there things I cannot avoid forever such as the tax exempt forms for different states in the US as well as others for the Tax treaty Canada has with the US, however once it is all figured out in place, then I have no doubt I will be able to just upload and upload and upload as many books as I want.

The other thing is for Canadians, you can have the sales sent every thirty days to your bank account. No big deal, no waiting until you have $100.00 in sales and frankly, I don't trust Amazon any longer. Been reading too many forums where people KNOW books were purchased, but no money ever came their way. It requires a certain degree of trust, because frankly what proof to you have of what is selling and where? I feel a whole lot better with Ingram Sparks than I do Amazon.

And yes, there is perks for Ingram, and you have to have discounts for bookstores or they won't take your book, but that is just the way she goes, if you think you will get rich quick with all the books already being mass produced by people popping out inferior quality half ass books by the dozes, then think again. The industry is changing all the time.  For a while all real money came from ebooks, but now folks are going back to reading something they can see and hold in their hands. There is no "magic formula" on how to do this. There is no rules to make it work, you just have to do it, and let it go.

When I look at how much I knew, and how much I now know, it is like wow! I have been plugging away at this for two years now, reading and listening to Udemy courses (trying not to fall asleep), and MAKING EVERY CONCEIVABLE MISTAKE OUT THERE! However, in spite of what still needs to be done and learned, I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

By the way, one thing I would NOT recommend, is reading too much from a bunch of sources. I wasted a great deal of time because I really didn't get the bigger picture and now that I have done uploads and gone through the process of ordering, THIS is the time I should have waited for to do the readings. There is so much information out there, it can be daunting! So be kind to yourself and do just what you need to do to get a proof, THEN work on the on line presence and all that.

And another side note, I could have been looking at a proof of my book right now, but even though I stayed up til four am while sick to get it uploaded in time to be brought back in someone's luggage to Ecuador (can't trust customs or the post!), well, that old interface I was talking about? And my poor internet, it LOOKED like it went through but it didn't!  So just today I uploaded again and it will be at least a month before I can see the proof! OH JOY, OH BLISS!

I just ordered my first proof on my children's book "Lake of the Spirit Bear". If you have been reading my recent blogs then you know that the book went through several "evolutions" as I learned this and that. I actually thought the book was ready over a week ago however I didn't like the cost of it and thought it was too high which is a problem of the POD process and colour. As an author, I have a vision, as an illustrator I have a vision, and as a publisher I have to merry everything together in a way that is practical. I may have the book I want, however if no one can afford to read it, then it really isn't working!

So it may seem like it was more a matter of compromise which to some extent is true, at the same time however, this process ironically has brought me back to the size and little book idea I began with!

Originally the book was meant to have images on one large landscape page. I did the images thinking because it SAYS 6 x 9 it would MEAN 6 x 9...that would be landscape right? WRONG! It wasn't this at all, it was PORTRAIT.  

So then I went looking for landscape, and finally the last size just added was 11 x 18.5 or something like this. I really had envisioned a smaller size book but thought, what the hell I don't want to do over these images. I cropped them and did them all to fit thinking ok, at least they are still large enough that I can use a large enough font to do the white on black as well as the black on white text because they don't like any smaller text done in anything but black!

THEN after all that, with arrangements and changes made still having one side with text on a blank master (with a ink drawing border), and colour images on the other side, I take my computer somewhere that had decent internet all the time, and found out when calculated ( oh yes, it appeared the calculator didn't work because the error message kept saying postal code, but when I FINALLY started scrolling up, found I had missed a box! sigh!), THAT THE PRICE WAS WAY TOO HIGH! 

I really only had toyed with backgrounds for the text to keep it all black and I just had to sit with it. Finally, it occurred to me, DAHH! why not do the image over two pages! This meant back to the layout because SPREADS have to be SINGLE when uploaded!

The only way I could figure to do it, is to do two page spreads so the spread is side by side and I can see the bleed and how they align, and make sure the text and images are not in the centre of the page...that would be terrible! 

SOOOO all the images had to be checked and anything with a main subject had to be moved to one side!  Painful but not impossible but fInally it was done!

After that it was a matter of figuring out how I wanted to do text boxes. By this time I was just wanting it DONE!  So all the boxes were white but they over-shadowed the images too much so I played with the opacity...which is what I decided on.

Then I watched videos on what a text base line is because the text was all messed up. and wouldn't line up with the other page (HinT- zoom in until the lines how up!). 

After that it was a matter of creating guides and working within those guides, putting in the text making sure it was NOT tab indented, and proofing text again. A few times text had to be eliminated and one time a compromise on indent had to be made to keep the text...I wanted a decent size font (16) since I hate books I cannot read because they are too small!  Also the font, is the same font I always use so that was easy and that was that!

Then when it was all done (I hate it of course, I am too critical and always am!), everything had to be converted to One page spreads.  OF COURSE I copied and when I did it, I noticed all the bleeds were off! So then ALL the text and everything had to re-checked and fixed. Oh joy!

Finally ready for the PDF. At first I could not see how to change it (having also made sure nothing is in the wrong colour profile - CMYK is what you need (think that is in the right order!). It took several PDFs before I got the alignment on one bloody page which was off right, and make sure the number of pages allowed the layout to have the copyright on the correct side. 

A mistake I had made in the past is that I save the ones that were wrong. I do NOT do that now! I save nothing and have a specific folder just for those two files...cover and interior...I learn from my mistakes. I shall have a ton of space to free up soon on this computer!

When it was all said and done, the book was 7.5 x 9.25 (which is more in keeping with what I had intended originally,) the price for full colour is decent (a little over ten dollars USD and under 15.00 CAD if the dollar holds there), and a few of the images got to be done with the text NOT in a text box as I originally intended.

So NOW, the proof has been ordered and hopefully with a rush on the printing, the person I am sending it to can mule it back to me by the end of the month! THAT will be exciting! TO actually HOLD it. I know there will be issues and things that need fixing, however my greatest concern is the gutter and bleed and if text box is far enough from the centre. It is not a traditional 32 pages, it is 38, however I thought, screw it, I made all these sacrifices for POD, I don't need to loose pages and images just to be totally traditional. There is a great deal about it that is not quite traditional anyhow.

So that is the process of my first children's book, hopefully, I hope this can keep you from making my mistakes...mind you, there are always more! lol, but it is all part of learning something new!

I was just watching an interview with a few independent film makers and it struck me that INDIE writers and other medium artists have much in common.  Link below

In this video they talked about how they had to struggle to make the film happen.  I started this little story about a little lake back in 2012. I sent it out to a publisher that kept it so long, I had forgotten about it. I received a lovely and encouraging letter back giving me suggestions on how to proceed A YEAR LATER ALMOST. For my first attempt with this story, I was very impressed. All said and done though, they decided to change the focus of their next publishings. That is how it works in their world, They have so much money to work with, and can take only so many books and they do their best to be sure it is a book for that market at that time. You are not competing with just the other authors, you are also competing with algorithms and analytics and so on. They want to make every book count because many of the publishers are feeling the punch from ebooks (a trend that has gone up and then down again recently). It is likely why, they expect any new author to have a good following before they will consider publishing your books.

So I wrote this book in 2012 and it will be out in 2020. That is 8 years in the making, but you know what? From what I understand from independent film makers, it is the same for them. When you do it yourself, it doesn't just happen over night!

For me, I wrote the book, learned a new program to edit the photos, and another program to format it, THEN I decided I didn't like the photos and would illustrate it. When I finally had it edited enough to make the words fit the pages, I realized the word count was wrong, so that meant changing the story line again, from there, I finally get the images the way I wanted them, and when I looked at the format, price-wise, it was too high SOOOO back to the drawing board again. I was able to reformat to get the size acceptable with an acceptable price with a TINY margin of profit, only to realize I was going to have to make some compromises with the images because I could not use the font size they requested to do the white on black! This is the nature of the beast when you work independently. It is ALL on you.

Has it been worth it? For anyone who has a vision, and makes it happen, no matter how long they plod along, or how successful it is, I think they will always have the same answer...YES! (Listen to what Cher has to say when she started acting and when to the first screening of a movie she was in!).

To do what you set out to do, no matter what obstacles are in your way, but to still persevere and make it happen, well, that is when one knows the satisfaction of success!

I know this is my FIRST published book and I am making TONS of mistakes, however when I look back at where I was and what I knew about any of this 8 years ago, well, I am satisfied plus there is still SOOO much more to learn which is fun! Nothing boring about this process. It is huge and it takes time and yes, it can mean sacrifices, however don't the more satisfying and worthwhile things in life come with more challenges? Isn't that just the nature of the beast? If you have always wanted to write a book and illustrate it, or co author or whatever, THEN DO IT!

​Nothing to stop you these days but yourself. Even if it is one hour a day until it is done in 50 years, you are still following your passion and making it happen and what better way to feed your soul?

Anyone who has ever first uploaded a PDF to Ingram Sparks or any other site may tell you, it is not as easy as you think to get it approved successfully.

My first ventures for proofs were with CreateSpace and InDesign. I had to use indesign because the coding with Word was so difficult and inconsistent, that it drove me nuts!

So then I tried In Design, and I had to buy a book to figure it out, it had pain in the butt glitches and again, my nerves said no! I kept uploading and by the time I was done, I was so exhausted and confused I couldn't remember which was the last one I uploaded. I ended up at one point, getting a proof of an older proof! So I chucked that all in!

FINALLY I have found the publishing format for me with Affinity Publisher. I cannot not say enough goo about it. It is simple, concise, does the job, has many of the same bells and whistles as In Design and no rental, just buy it outright. The most important thing however, is because of its simplicity, and the fact that it is new, there is tons of help on line to answer any questions you many have.

One of the things I learned the HARD WAY was what PDF format to use for upload. And now I know it works. It is PDF/X-3:2003.  Why this older format I do not know, all I know is it works. It may change colours slightly I read somewhere however so far, so good.

A few other things to remember with PDF: Ingram Sparks wants single spread layouts which means you don't click the little "facing pages" box.  Of course if you are doing two page spreads like I was, then you do it this way, then convert it back to single and check all margins and bleed lines as well as make sure everything is embedded or linked by going to your "resource manager."

OH YES, another mistake I made: NEVER MOVE YOU IMAGES ONCE THEY ARE LINKED (WHICH MAKES THE FILE SMALLER TO DEAL WITH WHEN WORKING IT ALL OUT), OTHERWISE IT IS A PAIN SHOWING THE PUBLISHING PROGRAM WHERE THEY WENT!  Mistakes?  Yup, I think I have made them all!

Lastly, make sure your images are CMYK/8 at least. They NEED to be CMYK! And as mentioned in an earlier blog, whether it is black and white or colour, it will ALL get printed as colour!  When I do my murder mystery, THOSE will be done in grey scale which will change the price completely.

Well, not feeling great, but wanted to post this for myself as well as anyone reading who may want one day to print their own book. It is not as hard as it seems, especially if you can persevere through the learning curve!

The point of this little book was to learn from my mistakes BEFORE I put out the murder mystery series.  And YUP, it has been a challenging uphill learning curve indeed!

The latest thing is I found out I have to TRICK the Ingram Sparks book calculator into thinking I am in another place to get it to acknowledge the postal code...so I put the VPN address for USA and it worked. It was either that, or the WIFI signal is better since I had to come into Vilacabama to do it!  Either way, FINALLY I was able to find out how much it would cost to do this project.  As it turned out, it was even more than I expected. I cannot charge $20.00 USD for a children's book especially when it is Canadian!

So what to do, what to do.  Well, I have decided to change the formatting completely which is one of the reasons I like being an INDIE writer and publisher. I can do exactly what I want in so many ways and don't have to wait for anyone else! One of the PERKS of doing all the work yourself.

Instead of a 11 X 8.5 LANDSCAPE BOOK it shall be a 5.5 x 8.5 PORTRAIT BOOK!  How am I doing this? By scrapping the ink drawing on the left page and making the drawing part of a 2 page spread.  In other words the picture will be over two pages.

So, I have decided NOTHING about this book is going to be the norm. Even though it is not a TRADITIONAL number of pages for a spread, as long as it is in multiples of 2, it is ok, so I am doing a 36 page book!  My next children's book will have a traditional layout and I will go over spreads and layouts and number of pages, etc then. (aren't you lucky, I have had to do all the research and it is all here INCLUDING my mistakes on what NOT to do!).

So, also the book cover is NOT traditional and I have done this for a number of reasons I will explain below.

Firstly, everyone including my retired graphic illustrator friend will tell you to look at other books and do what they are doing!  I had a design done for my murder mystery cover and had to take it back to the beginning and make it match what everyone else does for a book cover.  That means no fancy effects to the fonts, straight forward lay outs that are traditional, etc.

WEEEELLLLL, Nope, not doing that for this one!  Even though it is written for children, it isn't JUST written for children.  It was written with 2 groups of readers in mind (they say always think of your audience).

I am a trained TA who has worked with children all my life and I have learned a few things, including from raising my own son.

First thing I learned is I don't want to just read fairy tales and books that have nice rhymes and silly pictures in them.  With my son, it didn't even OCCURR to me to read him a story!  I read to him scientific style books about fish and dinosaurs and things of this nature from the time he was born!  He didn't know what a fairy tale was until he was about ten!  

I did this because it just seems normal to me and it turns out, it was a GOOD thing. There have been studies done that show children who are read to this sort of content from an early age, DEVELOP A GREATER ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND INTERPRET TEXT LATER ON IN LIFE.  I suppose it makes sense, since they learn to read and learn ALL about the story and not just word for word.

Another reason I am putting on this cover, is because I have worked with many high school grade kids who have learning issues.  These kids want to fit in, but they cannot read the content of chapter books of their age group and who wants to carry around homework reading a book with a bright cartoonish type cover on it at age 16?!?! I wouldn't!  So this book is also for this group of students.

Lastly I have worked with a good many GIFTED in reading children who are sort of stuck. The content of books that are supposed to be their age level is boring and just not challenging enough.  I have found these kids have a hunger for facts and knowledge but are often over looked with mainstream books!  So this book is full of cute BUT interesting FACTS.  Things, I know a good many children, would love to have had to read when they were younger!  

I have NEVER underestimated or had low expectations my students. I didn't always listen to what a psychologist or other person who had evaluated them had to say.  I noticed quite often there was so little time or money in the system, the assessment questionnaire was something so generic it reminded me of a placemat at a Chinese restaurant!  Could be anyone when it got right down to it!  So, especially when I was subbing, I let the children show me what they could do, not a one hour evaluation done five years previously with no follow up and not concept that the child might GROW! And for the record, many times the child didn't let me down and showed great progress and surprises!  Many times I found the children who had behavioural issues were BORED and were looking for a different sort of stimulation.

These are the reasons why my cover is UNUSUAL...because it is for children that are UNUSUAL; not special needs or "different".  Just children that walk to the beat of their own drum.  The words are a mix of easy and not so easy but I think this is ok.  Children are like sponges, they will add it to their vocabulary...especially now with Youtube and other site on line that expose these coming generations to so much more than Tom and Jane or Jack and Jill!

The book will end up costing approx. $10.95 USD now and I still get a little profit.  Not huge but better than nothing!  I will write about profits for an POD writer another time.
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