As with what happened to me, what happens if you have a book accidentally posted for distribution with your title on it and the book up there only half done. Then what?

First thing I learned is the ISBN is a way of tracking your sales and also who it is publishing the book. If you use a free ISBN such as is now being offered with many Indie printers, there are catches.

For instance, what if Ingram Sparks didn't get around to taking my book out of distribution. Hell, if they can put it out there, then who is to say when it would be dealt with. Indeed, they have no one to talk to in person any longer, and most times the chat doesn't work and everything is with email responses. You will get an email saying your email has been seen, then another usually saying it is being handed off to someone else to fix it and so on. Indeed my book wasn't even distributed by it's name on Amazon.ca, it was by the sub title and by the title in Amazon.com so what the hell? Who knows what would have happened.

If you have a book title with their code on it, then that book title is tied to that ISBN. What I did was write the place that gives them out for Canada and explained the situation and it was advised I put revised edition on the cover as well as a new ISBN. I didn't have to change the title however that is because it was MY ISBN, I am not so sure it would have been so if it was TIED TO THE PLACE THAT GAVE YOU THE ISBN.

Indie writers choose this path because they want creative control and I think it would have been a real tragic thing to happen if my title that I spent so much time doing was tied to somewhere or someone else!

Same with putting revised edition on it. This is not the same as second edition or reprint. Each thing is slightly different.

A revised edition of a book is any book that been edited without necessarily being brought to date with material added.

A second edition is any book that if someone owns it, they would benefit by the updated information making it still of use.

A book reprint on the other hand is a book that is in production and is simply having more copies printed with absolutely no changes.

So, I have learned it is worth the effort, unless they are cheap low content books, to have your own ISBN. For those outside Canada, you can buy ISBNs as a group with a group rate that is cheaper. Best to shop around also. I have noted differences in cost for the number.

Good luck in this navigation of the pitfalls in loop holes of being an Indie Publisher.

If you have been reading my blogs, then you know, much of what I have been writing about is from learning things the hard way.
You will also have learned, I have been preparing since 2018 to eventually put my books out there however not before they were ready,..or so I thought.

Imagine you do all this work to get the key word search right and meta data, even get a GST number to make Ingram Sparks happy since you are a Canadian customer.

You endure their lousy website with terrible glitches and all the rest of it. I even bought a new lap top since the site is so badly designed it won't shrink to fit my mac's screen and I cannot log into my account.

All through listening to their podcasts and so on, it is about them generating more and more and more customers. Are the glitches fixed? Nope, just to change my address on there I had to get help.

Ingram Sparks is like this HUGE floating vessel with a ton of holes in it. Instead of fixing the holes, they just have a lot of people running around putting their fingers in them while they encourage more people to come.

Some folks may be lucky enough to be in part of the ship that they actually get their money from their book sales, they actually have heard from them when things change but in most cases, folks are complaining even after 90 days not a cent...why? Little things like THEY DON'T DO E-TRANSFERS THROUGH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS. Look everywhere but that is one tibit of info you won't find unless you read the reviews from legit sites!

Likewise, you won't hear from them at all even when you leave the date to be published blank but they fill it in AND UPLOAD YOUR BOOK WITHOUT YOU ACTIVATING IT!

So why do they even have that little box that says expected publishing date (or something close to this) and why do you have to fill in all the blanks on metadata before they upload?

Well, I can tell you now...because they want to seal the deal! If you look closely, there is no longer a little garbage can to dump the title, once you are there, unless you email them via their one working customer service platform, YOU CANNOT REMOVE YOUR TITLE ONCE YOU HAVE IT ON THERE, EVEN IF IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE DRAFT STAGE.

It is typical cheap sales practice, seal the deal while the customer is with you.

I did a number of proofs with Ingram Sparks using ALL their premium papers and inks. The quality was just terrible. It was like the ink was on newsprint. I didn't want this! I did NOT want to stay with Ingram Sparks and if I had been smart, I would have contacted them and had my titles removed BEFORE THEY UPLOADED AND STARTED DISTRIBUTING MY PROOF WITH ME NOT ACTIVATING ANYTHING!

So now I have a proof with my title and all the rest of it floating around out there suckering in unsuspected customers! AND NOT A WORD FROM INGRAM SPARKS ABOUT MY ACCOUNT INFO BEING OLD, NOT BEING ABLE TO SET UP PAYMENT OR THAT IT WAS EVEN OUT THERE.

WHAT A SHOCK when I go on Amazon (the platform I decided on for my kids books) and find a draft version on there! And has been on there for a year and half!

Now I have to wait for them to respond and remove the thing before I can carry on. My next blog will be on how I can do this.

I was intending to use Ingram Sparks for my Murder Mystery. Honestly, they really have no clue what they are doing and they are not fixing what needs to be fixed. There is no communication between existing departments (or my book wouldn't be out there since I only recently got a GST number and the tax info, etc is not completed!!!!).

Back to the drawing board. I am completely disenchanted with this group. I put a review in on a reputable site. Lets see if they respond or run away because it is too close to the truth. It is like a bunch of moneys have built this side of their business.

Ingram Sparks is an old family business and they are good at what they do when it comes to dealing with larger publishing houses. As far as Indie publishers....NOT A CLUE.

Update: They responded eventually to my ticket concerning my title being uploaded and say it will be down in the next few days. The response with the review group was they were glad I had contacted them for help!

All I did the entire time I used them was contact them for help! Nothing ever worked properly and their website was a mess. Problem is, it still is! I have disabled every adblock and malware, etc to get on the site and cannot. I try to open it and it just spins! How great is that!

I was thinking I would go with these folks but after this experience, I have to make some changes in my printing goals. I deal with folks who know what they are doing, and clearly, these folks are in way over their heads.

Recently, after looking at MANY different  sites that print books, I decided to go with KDP for my children's books and supporting colouring books.

Before I go any farther, I want to mention someone's videos who are extremely supportive and helpful after wading through a mass of mis-information. The site is called the "Home Boss". She is lovely and practical, started from scratch herself and isn't riding the wave of being the first out of the gate who have had success due to the fact they were there at the beginning. What worked then, is not going to work now so if you want to make a living off of being an Indie publisher, I think her approach is the best. There are a few others, however she is by far the one at this time, I recommend the most.

Why have I decided to go with KDP even though at first I was not going to? For a number of reasons and I want to be clear, I am NOT using KDP for when I print off my Murder Mystery, that will be with Ingram Sparks.

One thing to remember however, when you go with a print company that offers distribution also, this is going to mean you will get less for your book.

Ingram Sparks books I have printed as proofs for my children's books has been TERRIBLE. Even the best quality printing in colour with the best paper has been not good. I will not sell a book of such poor quality for what I can get on another site which is far better.

I did try Blurb which was fine and great if you just want a few for family however again, price was up there.

In the end I decided to go with KDP via Amazon. Children's books already done by Indie publishers already have to deal with the fact that publishers who do children's book professionally get deals with the printers. For instance, if you have colour content on most,but not all of your pages, or indeed, only one page, you will still be charged for EVERY PAGE AS IF IT IS COLOUR while large professional companies can reduce their costs by being charged PAGE BY PAGE. So you will have a copyright page that isn't in colour, so guess what, it will be charged as if it is colour so might as well use it!

With this competition already there, if you print with a company that charges a distributor fee, you have the problem of getting even less for the sale of each book!  So why bother?

Amazon has sites all over the world and yes, your percentage is less for international sales, however the loss still is less than these other sites. Depending on how you do it, you can choose to not be exclusive to KDP however in my case, I really do not have the patience for it. It is so easy these days to order via Amazon that I am comfortable dealing with them only.

I will give a word of warning. A few folks have been owed sales money or feel sales have been made they did not get reported back to them, and since it really is one of those things which you have to do in good faith, I am going to take monthly screenshots of my payment and business pages. More than one person has had their site go down and disappear when a larger sum of money is owed.

On the other hand, there are a lot of folks out there WHO ARE PLAGIARIZING OTHER FOLKS WORK and are getting warnings about changing a cover and nothing else and popping the book back out there to boost the odds of getting a sale. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE. If you have something you do need to copy and cannot find a better way to put it into words, SIMPLY = MAKE A FOOTNOTE! It is not big deal but does cover you ass! Come on, just thinking you can take another person's hard work and call it your own is not cool.

So keep these few things about KDP in mind.

I have also noticed KDP asks for the book description to be in html. No big deal, just write it out, have it on hand and find a converter on line. There are loads of videos out there to help you.

A few other things to note is you can put up an account however for whatever reason, it isn't supported by all Amazon market places and you may end up with a few checks. I am still looking into this however it is a pain in the butt and makes me more than a little hesitant. Hopefully things will get easier with time and I can get these bugs worked out without any big issues.

Doing the tax things on Amazon KDP is a head ache but trust me, compared to Ingram Sparks, is a walk in the park. Hopefully you live in a country with a tax treaty with the US so you won't get taxed twice! Fingers crossed!

And one other things to note is concerning the ISBN number. When I uploaded my own book with my own ISBN, which I knew was first going to be a proof, a warning note came up saying that if I ordered the proof and didn't use one of theirs, it would mean mine could not be re-used. THIS IS TOTALLY MISLEADING. I am here in Canada. I emailed the place where I get them and it was make clear that THE ISBN IS ABLE TO BE USED MORE THAN ONCE in the proofing process AND CAN GO INTO FINAL DISTRIBUTION AND BE PUBLISHED. This means, when I get an ISBN and attach it to my book, that ISBN is now assigned to that book. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY PROOFS I GET, THAT BOOK HAS THAT ISBN AND EVENTUALLY WILL GO INTO DISTRIBUTION WITH IT.

When you use a KDP ISBN number, that means, just like soo many websites, YOU CAN PUBLISH THAT BOOK ONLY WITH KDP. THAT IS THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR HAVING A FREE ISBN. THAT BOOK CANNOT LEAVE KDP! You would have to make a name change to the book and god knows what other changes to print or publish it somewhere else SO DON'T FALL FOR IT!

So, that is what I have learned so far about KDP. I know it takes up to two months to get any sales showing on your page and so on. I do not think it is an ideal way to go, however for what I am doing, it is good enough however you can be sure I shall be using my own ISBN number. They over rode me on my proofing upload so fingers crossed they don't get fussy with my final upload! We shall see. I will not be using them if they have tried tricking me. I don't do business with folks like that so we shall see.

Good luck!

Most people will think of criticism from one point of view, that of something negative; of a judgement while other's see it as something constructive, of a different view point, of simply an opinion. For as many people out there, there are, there are also that many different views and opinions, judgements and intentions. Some may do it to feel better about themselves, or it could be that they sincerely feel they are of help, or it could just simply be a random remark that the intender holds no view what so ever. In all their motives and ways of giving criticism or judging, no one can really know what is coming as the receiver. The only real power is truly with the receiver of the criticism.

Just as the bearer of the criticism can have varying reasons and approaches, the receiver can also carry very different reactions from the interpreter. So how do famous people handle all the negativity? All the bad press, rejection letters, and cancelled shows, etc? How do they cope with it all?

First of all, I don't think putting yourself which really is your work, out there is for the faint of heart. How ironic it takes a degree of sensitivity to be an artist, while at the same time, you open your soul and can and will have it trashed by all sorts of people.

You can try putting up walls, but it won't work. Not unless those walls come with an understanding; a decision.

I don't think anyone will argue with the observation that if someone lays criticism on you, it can lead to strong emotions. Emotions of hurt, anger and even frustration.

The thing is, most folks will also agree that not only do these feelings come about because of how they are directed and delivered, but also the perceived intent behind them.

In both cases, no matter how the criticism is intended, if the interpreter is carrying past history of hurt, defensiveness and frustration, no matter how the criticism or judgement, or opinion is intended, it will still be met with a strong and often negative reaction instead of response.

So I think it can be agreed, that in the end, the real way to deal with any sort of judgement, criticism, or opinion, is for the receiver of this communication to be clear. If the receiver is clear, then the bearer of the criticism will not have as much power of sting in their words no matter how innocently or maliciously they are delivered.

I started being recognized for my artistic ability at the age of 4. I was painting in oils by 11 and selling by 13. I was very hard on myself and if I was not happy with a painting, it went in the trash if I felt I couldn't paint over it. I had relatives who then would take it out of the trash and I would find it framed and hanging on a wall somewhere. One day I was upset to see a particularly bad reject painting out of the trash and inside. I remember I had a very distant aunt who had come to visit see I was upset and take me aside. I will never forget what she said which was this:

"When you create something, unless it is done entirely in secret, it is coming into the public domain where people are going to see it. Once it is there, it is no longer just yours, it now belongs to everyone and everyone has the right to speak on it, and view it and do as they see fit with it even if you wanted it in the trash. There is no way around this and so you might as well accept you shall lose control since you can no longer control how others will see or interpret it. Some may love it, and some may hate it, and it is now theirs to do just this. There is no point in being upset about it. For as many people as there are that see or read or interact with what you created, there will be just as many interpretations and view of it. That is part of what it means to be an artist, a creator so you might as well get used to it."

I think this is sound advice. Once it is out there, it is fair game, and there is nothing you can do about it. You can allow the judgements and opinions of others to influence you, you can choose to use your mind and choose for yourself which views hold merit and help you to grow in what you are doing, and you also have the power to totally dis-regard another's point of view on the matter. or you can get upset with every negative opinion and criticism and constantly feel vulnerable and weak and victimized in any number of ways.

Just think, you have all these different choices! All of them as much your right as it was for the other to judge and criticize.

All these different ways of handling criticism are valid and are totally within your right to choose to deal with criticism.

With this, goes something else that I will write about next blog, just how your motivation for doing what you do can also play avoc with how well you can deal with the critics.

So, be aware, you paint a picture, write a book, or poem, or anything else that goes into the public domain, there is going to be responses to it both positive and negative.

As the old saying goes, even a bad response is a response and is better than receiving no feedback at all! In other words, bad publicity is better than no publicity!

For anyone who is just starting out with becoming an Indie publisher there is a great deal to learn. I have been doing research, taking online courses and watching utube videos since 2018 and things are only now starting to gel so don't give up!

I was watching a you-tube video and there is a lovely woman on there how talks about what you need to be an indie publisher who actually makes money off what you are doing. To this list I have added a few more things.

These things make sense to me and resonate also and include:
You have to be in it for the long haul and don't give up at the first hurtle.

• For example, since I began doing this I have had a ton of issues with both my computers and also the programs I am using as well as how compatible they are. If I had given up, I never would have been able to get my words written in Word to a publishing platform...first Adobe In Design and then Affinity Publisher which all come with both glitches and compatibility issues!

If you are too extreme, you could be in trouble! By this I mean either too much of a perfectionist or too sloppy!

• An example of this is the fact right now there are a ton of low content books being thrown into the market place such as on Amazon. Everyone and their dog is making these books. It is amazing how someone can upload not hundreds but THOUSANDS of these journals, diaries, calendars and coloring books! And the thing is, you don't have to know how to write or draw to do it! Do you think all of these books are great or that they are not infringing on copyrights and so on? Of course not! Many of them are down right terrible! This is the one extreme however on the other hand, because of the shear volume of books, they are able to make a decent income monthly.
  
• On the other side of this I agree with Oprah; always strive for excellence. These books are out there and mean more disappointments for the consumer and eventually there will be a consumer base that is more scrutinizing. I can't help but think in the long run, books that are sincere and done well will live long past the shelf life of the thrown together mass produced things that are flooding the market right now.
  
• And by this, I don't mean perfectionism. There has to be an expectation of a learning curve. Your first project is not going to be good as the next one and the next one and the next one! Each time you can expect to improve, if you are too much of a perfectionist, you will never get that chance to grow because you won't get past your first books! There has to be also a certain degree of balance I think, where you can accept that not everything you do can or will be perfect. Do your best, with what you know right now, that is all that can be expected of any of us. After all, we are only human.
  

Don't expect to get rich over night!

• I know there are tons of videos out there that say you can do this or that and bamn, you will have a huge passive income.
• On the one hand, I don't want to throw a wrench into anyone's create workshop! If that is what you want, then put it out there. There do seem to be a small margin of people who do have over-night success. Put your ducks all in and row and hope for the best. So be it.
• On the other hand, have mental resilience to accept if it doesn't turn out that way. Remember one of the first things you need is mental fortitude.
  

To be an Indie publisher I think you really need to enjoy what  you are doing!

• As I said in another video, if you don't really like this sort of work and the how solitary it is then you simply are not going to stick with it. If you don't stick with it, you can find that nothing panns out.
  
• I think the buying audience will always gravitate towards sincerity. If you are sincere and are doing something that appeals to others, you are more likely to have success than if you are knocking out there a bunch of babble and no one is interested. In the end, you need to give your buying audience some credit for being discerning!
  

When it is all said and done, like with most ventures, if you do strive for exellence, you are sincere in what you are doing and truly enjoy doing it (excluding the moments when  you want to chuck your computer off your balcony!), can take criticism and figure out how to navigate having what you do in the public eye (the public can be cruel!), and carry on anyhow, then you have what it takes to do this sort of work so carry on!

I think I may have mentioned my computer has been lagging and freezing when I use certain programs such as Affinity Publisher. It has been a MAJOR pain in the ass and I have been looking into why it is doing it.

I noticed a long time ago after every update of Windows 10 (now there is an 11- oh joy!) that my computer was moving along slower and slower.

Well, I have been looking into bloatware which is basically all the stuff that gets downloaded onto your computer (and phone) with every update you may not be aware of. Much of this is to make you more and more interested in having the ease of buying and using what they offer and not an alternative.

So, next stop after de-fragging, emptying cashes, and all this is to get rid of the bloatware.  The thing is, some of this stuff which looks like another language may or may not be useful. For me, I like to put on and use my own apps and not the ones that keep getting downloaded into the background of my computer. Hell, I have not updated my Mac because almost half of what is filling it up has nothing to do with what I have on that computer! Thank god for external hard-drives!

Now I need to do something with this machine because it is absolutely crazy that a computer with as much storage and as good a CPU as I have (and I checked-nothing running in the background in terms of apps at start-up, etc) that is causing the lagging. I had to un-install my Affinity Publisher and Affinity Photo and re-install them back to a less recent update since when I did update them to current, my computer couldn't handle them AT ALL! Now of course, they cannot find the key I paid for that puts Affinity Photo on my Mac. That is a nightmare for another day. Needless to say, this all takes time and patience, however what do you do when you don't have a techi friend close by and you have no idea what you are doing?

I have only one suggestion; You Tube. I will just have to go on line and find out how to remove bloatware. I found one good video that I believe I can use if I follow the steps carefully. At this point, things are so bad, I will do whatever it takes!

The trick with You Tube is to go through more than one video since many of the videos on there are from folks who have only half a clue and you don't want those to be your teachers! It would be like the blind leading the blind. And check when it was made. Sometimes what they are suggesting doesn't even exist!!!

All I can say is writing and publishing a book is easy when your tools including your computer work well. If you are going to invest a lot of money in a new computer, make sure it will do what you want it to do. I did the research, however I think I should have done more!!!! Live and learn, I will never buy another Asus as long as I live!!!

Good luck and I hope your tools are working better for you than mine are. I don't give up however it takes a great deal of mental fortitude to work past or around all the technical BS. If you think your computer is your own, you are sadly mistaken. It belongs to the companies who made it (and decided what you can put on it for operating systems) and to the manufactures of these operating systems such as Microsoft and Safari. Really, at this time, you have no other recourse but use them. There are other operating systems out there that frankly even work better with less hype however these two major companies have deals with computer manufacturers to NOT allow other operating systems to work on the computers available to buy.

It would be interesting to see if a manufacturer ignored these major giant pigs and allowed Lenux on...wouldn't be hard to do really. And if they did, I think their computers would sell like hotcakes! They would have an entire movement of dis-satisfied customers who would gladly buy any computer that doesn't have the bloatware on it. Of this I am positive I would be first in line. I don't know much about computers, but I do know, as a consumer, I am not a happy camper.