I think credit should be given where credit is due and I must say, my customer service experience with Amazon has been top notch. They do have a community of followers you can tap into for threads and so on, and they do have very good succinct information very easy to find and follow, however I have also found that I love the way you can book a phone call instead of waiting and listening to terrible music, or worse, ads! I usually get a call back well within the half hour and all the folks I have talked to have been fun and knowledgeable. Sure one was totally off with the whole page count thing (I was correct the first time and never should have second guessed myself!!! Extra pages were not needed! Oh well, what is done, is done!!!).

When compared to so many other places which leave some obscure contact info hidden in layers at the bottom of a page and expect you to spend ten hours reading other folk's threads to get info, Amazon has the decency to actually give you a live person to talk to! At least on the call back.

So as far as I can tell, right now Amazon is my favourite site to use to upload books, the customer service at Draft2 Digital is a close second which is developing a pretty solid marketing platform.  Blurb is a nightmare...they want edges on books down to the third decimal and my Affinity programs round them so because of this, I can't even upload a simple PDF, it always comes out incorrect and I am NOT getting involved with Adobe whom they are affiliated with or use their own program. Add to this the random way they have things concerning sizes and page count, and the previewer is useless. Nope. It used to be so easy, I have a proof from them however something has happened. Probably starting getting kickbacks for selling or promoting the softwares I mentioned, either way, not worth it.

LuLu is fine for folks who want a few copies for personal use however quite pricey. And as I said, some sites help you do it all and are like a publisher, editor, distributor, press, etc. Only problem is, they cost you. I met one woman who had her book about her dog done which was cute but it cost her thousands of dollars! Nope, not happening!

I love the fact you can now do it yourself in all areas...and yes, editing IS a pain and yes you have to edit, edit, edit however that is just the way she goes! I don't know if I want to look at my first series set when I get the books, because I fear what I may find!!!! I am just too picky and there is so much that can glitch up even during the making of the PDF!

I figure if someone else can do it, then so can I...and slowly but surely, when I have time, I do! One day I might be able to give up my day job, however that isn't happening yet!!!

Hang in there, it does get easier!

I have only recently started to think about other book formats and places to get them done. This is mainly due to the fact my current children's book series is 2 page format with the type over the images. So what do do?

I haven't yet done the actual upload to Draft 2 Digital  because like Ingram, they insist on a date for publishing and that means your committed and I don't know if they are like Ingram Sparks who will upload even when you don't have your account of payment settings finished.

There is the issue of the taxes for Canadians. We have a tax treaty with the US and it has to be in place or you will be deducted for US taxes also...needless to say, I want that all in place this time before I mess around with any upload.

I gave it some thought since Draft 2 Digital will convert your book to e book as long as it is in a document file such as Word. And you can have images, be warned however, if you upload say, on Amazon, they charge 30cents  per MB for the upload so you want the images to be a decent quality but not so decent that the e book costs a fortune!

From the reading I have been doing. The cover for Draft 2 Digital is 1600 pixels wide, while Amazon is 2000. I have found depending on the dpi which I can leave at 300, and the way the book cover was created, it can still look pretty decent.

I have converted all my images to 1400- 1800 - 2000 pixels wide and will see how much this will cost me in the end...and if the images will work. This is why I do not like having to be committed to a publishing date, who knows? With all those images which must be INSERTED AND NOT COPIED AND PASTED!!! (I put a shortcut in my ruler for it and a few other things that makes it so much faster!!!). Be aware however I have never known Word to be fixed with their text styles. I create them and then they can randomly change when re-opened which is why I seldom close them while I work on them, only save!

So I have yet to take the plunge! I think I want to set it up as close to the format of the page as possible so I can be sure the images show up with the correct text! Why oh why did I have to start with something so difficult!!! My murder mysteries are going to be a walk in the park after this!!!!

Digital 2 Digital has many distribution features and it seems to be a really down to earth and practical way to publish. I think it is still 10% of your sales which I like as opposed to upload fees and all sorts of nonsense. To me, it means they want to sell more so they make more which I am more comfortable with.

I expect to be using at least three different methods to do my books. I like Amazon. The customer service is great. Blurb had no print previewer and had all these complicated ideas about how many pages you needed that was so much a pain. It does use Ingram Sparks for distribution however I just found it too much of a pain to get the MB's and the pages right! Ingram Sparks is improving their customer service. I think they has more popularity in the beginning than they expected and were not prepared for the interest. I think it still have the least user friendly dashboard I have ever seen however I think they will get the bugs worked out and their customer service improved eventually.

I am still on the fence about Draft 2 Digital but I have a good feeling about it. Time will tell. I will keep you posted. My first attempt will be started soon!

There are so many smaller print houses out there now that one needs to be very careful. It seems like everyone is on the band wagon now to make books and that is great but also not great because there are many I have found who don't even know as much as little ole me...mind you I learned the HARD WAY! lol

Good luck and keep on writing!

I said in my last blog I was royally frustrated because I take things so literally that I didn't even stop and think about what page count really means.

Well, turns out it is a rookie mistake many folks who are new to Indie Publishing make. I learned many folks don't even bother with page numbers anymore.

I was talking to customer support on Amazon and they said besides their page count minimum, they will automatically update the page count for the book. Why they put 40 when it was 20, is beyond me other than they just accepted my metadata!  Oops!

So after much research and deliberating on how to fix this mess and how much more work I wanted to put into these books (I have other irons in the fire!), I decided that I will keep to the traditional divided by 8 approach from the old days when print presses were attempting to get as much out of pone piece of paper as they could. I am going to do four more pages making the book 24 pages. It is a children's book and I don't want it turning into an encyclopedia! I also noticed many children's books that are best sellers are only 24 pages and not the traditional 32 pages.

Also by keeping the new pages below ten percent, I don't have to make it a revised edition and get a new ISBN!!!

It takes 72 hours to get things straightened out on their end so once I am ready, I will get this all sorted. It turns out I had extra pages but didn't include them because I thought it was too many! Man, was I wrong!

If I am going to do something, I am going to do it right. Soon I will be returning to work, however while I have this little time off, I intend to take advantage of it.

I also realized NEVER START LEARNING TO DO A BOOK WITH TWO PAGE SPREADS!!!! It doesn't work so well for when you want to make an ebook! lol The digital books are one page formats.

Soooo, to get that happening I had to copy all the text and put it into a word document which I shall used for Digital 2Design which is what I am working on next. I will let you know how that goes in another blog.

Oh yes, a word on ISBNs here in Canada. I inquired and you need a new ISBN for whatever format you use so a Mobi or a other digital style will all have their own ISBN.
 
So here is one of the pages I will be inserting:

I shall be including some cool fun facts about the snowy white owl. Hope you don't make my mistakes!

I named this blog Ramble Writings because it is about the journey through the learning to be an Indie Publisher process. It is also a reminder of how to NOT make the mistakes I have and continue to make since I seem to have a gift for making therm!  The latest if a really big one however knowing my way of thinking, isn't surprising. After talking to someone on Amazon Kindle Direct (great customer support by the way!!!), I learned I am at least, not alone in this really OBVIOUS mistake once you think about it.

You see, I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PAGES! NOT EVEN FOR A PICTURE BOOK!!!! Being me, I take things quite literally and I went by the page count in the publishing program I use and also the upload process since in both cases, THEY WANT TO COUNT BACK AND FRONTS AS PAGES...THEY DON'T WANT FACING PAGES.

When you read the count from that, it appears I have more than enough pages! When however, you physically hold the book and count the pages, well, dahh, it is half!!!

So now what? Two choices, give up or make a revised edition (again!!!) and insert more pages. I am really glad now that now not many folks bought a bloody copy! How ironic though I find this error AFTER I start marketing the thing!!!!!

Needless to say, it is frustrating and discouraging to make such a rookie mistake. I just feel bad for the few folks who did buy the book since it isn't what it was advertised as!

First thing I did was immediately change the content write up and remove the number of pages it has since it isn't accurate. Second thing I did was call Amazon and ask what to do after I confirmed there was this error.

So what did I learn?

If I only needed to add a few pages. then I would not need to get another ISBN and make revisions. If however it is over 10% of the book, then I will need a new ISBN. Fortunately, I am Canadian and I can get ISBN's without paying and just make the current ISBN I use inactive! Whew since other folks I know, in other countries have to pay.

So What am I going to do? Well, I can't make the book inactive once it is out there in circulation although I am going to find out if it is possible.  I won't however, I have already started creating new images and will make a proper copy! One with enough bloody pages!

The colouring book, I am not sure of. It already is a side venture I hadn't intended. Adding a few pages to match the extra images is possible...although not sure I will however.

The primary purpose of the children's books originally was to get practice and get prepared for my murder mysteries. This really came before this little series which sort of took on a life of it's own.  I think that is going to have to return to my primary purpose once I get the revised book out there. These children's books are a ton of work and frankly, are nothing but a labour of love, without more than pennies for profit.

And frankly starting to feel more like work than fun! THAT was never my intention! I have spent a ton of time and energy on them. Fortunately, not so much in money, that is the nice thing about Publishing on Demand!!!

So my apologies to anyone who bought a book. It is the second major glitch and hopefully it will be the last!

For anyone else out there feeling discouraged, keep on keeping on! After all, it isn't like you HAVE TO do it! I do it because I love doing it. I love holding the results in my hands (even if it is too thin!). Keep plugging away and on the upside, you have me to make all the mistakes for you!!!!

      A dilemma for most of us artists these days is that we want to create, however don't have the means to do so because we can't buy the tool, materials, etc  even though we have the time. So we go to work at regular jobs and then we don't have the energy or the time to create. Oh to have all the planets in alignment! To have both!
       Well, low and behold, I found Fiver! Thanks to a fellow artist and writer I was put on to this site and it is great. I have found someone who is helping me to put my book out there on sites and in ways I didn't even know existed! Now I can carry on with my work a day job and still feel like things are moving forward on the series and other projects I am doing. The cost varies and I am getting great help and support. A win, win! ( I will put her name at the bottom however there are many very good folks on there to help at reasonable prices!!!!).
      Soon I want to carry on with my little Spanish/English book I want to finish. My long term dream is to retire and teach underprivileged children English in a South American country. Now I know where to find a decent translator too! And so much more!!!
      Check it out! If you have projects, there are folks on here who have the expertise to help. I am not saying however that I would just jump in whole hog with strangers who SAY they know what they are don't but they don't. You have to use common sense and good judgment, look at reviews, etc however I know I am pleased with the person I hired.

I will link Fiver and here is the person I hired: akerr8787Book Marketing Expert and PR Manager with over 15 Years Experience
FIVER LINK  business.fiverr.com/business_home

I hope this is a help. It has been for me that is for sure.