August, September, October, November…

I have not counted days, weeks, and months like this since I was expecting my daughters.
Here’s what my chart thingy/timeline looks like right now.  I still don’t have any clue when my book will be done.  I know I’m close.  I know that even though I am close bad things can still happen.  I know I’ll have one more look at everything before it’s ready to be finished.  I don’t know how long that will take on their side, but from what I understand on my side it should just be a quick check and a stamp of approval.  I’m still hoping everything will be done before the Holidays

Send Marketing Success Workbook	08/03/2009	Ready
Implement Proofreading Cover Corrections	11/10/2009	Active
QA Proofreading Interior Modifications	11/10/2009	Ready
Submit Materials	07/29/2009	Success
Evaluate Manuscript	08/03/2009	Success
EE Preparation	08/04/2009	Success
Conduct Editorial Evaluation	08/04/2009	Success
Conduct Evaluation QA	08/13/2009	Success
Send Evaluation to Author	08/13/2009	Success
Author Review Evaluation	08/17/2009	Success
Editorial Consultation	08/17/2009	Success
Submit Revised MS-Post Eval	08/28/2009	Success
Conduct edit	08/28/2009	Success
Conduct Edit QA	09/11/2009	Success
Send Edit to Author	09/15/2009	Success
Assign PSA to Project	09/24/2009	Success
Prepare for Design	09/24/2009	Success
Polish Cover Copy	09/24/2009	Success
Setup Proofreading	09/30/2009	Success
Design Interior	10/01/2009	Success
Design Cover	10/01/2009	Success
Author Review Edit	09/18/2009	Success
Conduct Interior QA	10/02/2009	Success
Conduct Cover Design QA	10/05/2009	Success
Submit Final MS – Edit	10/06/2009	Success
Confirm Proofreading Readiness	10/06/2009	Success
Conduct Proofreading	10/06/2009	Success
Conduct Proofreading QA	10/29/2009	Success
Send Proofread to Author	10/29/2009	Success
Author Review Proofreading Interior	10/29/2009	Success
Author Review Proofreading Cover	10/29/2009	Success
Submit Proofreading Corrections	11/10/2009	Success
Implement Proofreading Interior Corrections	11/10/2009	Success

Bummer…

I just got an e-mail where the editor who is proofreading my manuscript just asked for a postponement for one week longer. I’m not upset, but I have no idea why. As an author, I have a wild imagination and this could mean 5,000 things.
First, the worry side of me starts in. “I hope no one is sick or had a family member die.” “Is there a problem with my book?” “Did aliens invade earth and are robbing us of our editors time?” “Did they find a major mistake and need to point it out and fix it?” “Did they lose all of their work and have their computer crash?” “How many calories were in that 1 pound bag of M&Ms I just downed from stressing out?”
Then the karma me kicks in with the whole, “You shouldn’t have been talking about how smoothly this whole thing was going. This waiting is entirely your fault.”
Then the optimist me smiles and starts to float in on her happy little lavender cloud. “Not to worry,” she sings in a sweet silver voice that I wish I had. “Life is good. Maybe they think your book is a pearl and are talking to their boss about how wonderful it is.” Yeah, I wish! LOL
Then my skeptical voice that I wish would pipe down says sarcastically, “Yeah right. More than likely, the person took a job that was paying more and pushed your pathetic little book to the back.” She smacks her gum repugnantly and then continues. “You know the world is only out for itself, not you.”
That’s when I stop listening because I always try to see people in a better light than in a mini-villain type persona.
I will now wait for a few weeks and see. I will also call and nicely ask if there is a problem in my book or if this was a personal matter, and pry no further. With just that natural feeling one has when one has paid over $1,000, one likes to know to some degree why things are delayed.
Moral of the story ~ never make an imaginative author wait or they will worry that you have been abducted by a mob of time traveling weregoblins whose main desire is to see literature books of the future go into publication with misspellings, improper grammar, and poor punctuation.

History line of my book so far…

This is one of the things I see when I look in my MyUniverse.  Every time something is about to start I see a new project.  “Success” is when a job has been completed, “Ready” is when they (or I) are ready to start working on the job, and “Active” is when they (or I) are working on something.  The dates are the dates the project was started, not finished.  I expect anytime to see something to the effect of “Conduct Proofread” with the word “Active” by it.  The proofread could take 2-3 weeks.  I know at all times were my book is in the procedure, and if something is taking longer then it should, I can call and they will let me know what’s going on.
As one can see I started everything 7/29/2009 and one can also see where I am now.  So far there have been very few bumps in the road.

Send Marketing Success Workbook	08/03/2009	Ready
Author Review Edit	09/18/2009	Ready
Conduct Interior QA	10/02/2009	Ready
Conduct Cover Design QA	10/05/2009	Ready
Submit Materials	07/29/2009	Success
Evaluate Manuscript	08/03/2009	Success
EE Preparation	08/04/2009	Success
Conduct Editorial Evaluation	08/04/2009	Success
Conduct Evaluation QA	08/13/2009	Success
Send Evaluation to Author	08/13/2009	Success
Author Review Evaluation	08/17/2009	Success
Editorial Consultation	08/17/2009	Success
Submit Revised MS-Post Eval	08/28/2009	Success
Conduct edit	08/28/2009	Success
Conduct Edit QA	09/11/2009	Success
Send Edit to Author	09/15/2009	Success
Assign PSA to Project	09/24/2009	Success
Prepare for Design	09/24/2009	Success
Polish Cover Copy	09/24/2009	Success
Setup Proofreading	09/30/2009	Success
Design Interior	10/01/2009	Success
Design Cover	10/01/2009	Success

 My team is not sitting in idle and this is very nice to see.  I don’t feel like anything so far has been money wasted.

AAAaaa! Book cover… stock art… I’ve been waiting for this…

I just received an e-mail from iUniverse about stock art and that I can look around and see if anything speaks to me.  And although my ears are wide open nothing is talking.  Art for the cover of the book is so very important.  This is more important than the title.  In all of my years working around books, I have found that people will look at the cover before reading the name.  I know, no brainer, you have to see the cover before you can read the words on it.  But too many times have wonderful classics and great books been passed over because of the cover.  I’ve even sold the much more expensive ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ several times because that one had a better cover (the prices of the 2 books were $35 and $10, if memory serves, and both were hard back).  So many book titles have not even been read, or back of the books not been looked at, all because the picture was not grabby enough.  This picture needs to be not just good, but great, and hold on to the person looking at the cover.  There needs to be an element of suspense, a little wisdom never hurts, and the topic has to go with it well.  If I was looking over Harlequin books and saw a cover with a very nice looking robot, I wouldn’t pick it up and read it.  I would think it was in the wrong place and skip over it.  I guess if it said, “Romancing the Robot” I might, now that I’m thinking of the cover… hum?  That might make for an odd but interesting romance with a sci-fi twist.  Truly though, if the cover is not right for the genre it will not sale.  My daughters wouldn’t pick up the anime books (aka manga) if they didn’t have cartoons on them.  Men will, however, pick up sports and car magazines with near nude women on them.  I wonder, if it was a book on how to cook the best meals and do your own laundry with the cover and in the book it was full of nude women doing chores, if they might buy it as well.  As a matter of fact, it might make a few men help out around the house.  Anyway it wouldn’t help my husband; he might help out if I bought him a video game guide on how to help clean house… maybe. … ok back to reality.  Excluding some men and nude female covers, the book cover has to be right or people will think it’s for something different.  The cover speaks to the buyer before the characters in the book get a chance.  So right now my dilemma is… Will I help to make the right choice with my book?  This is not my area.  I can see when things are not symmetrical.  I love art.  Waterhouse is one of my all time favorites, but will I pick out wisely for my book?  I have been trying to go with simple, without plain… this is hard for me.  I do have a ‘cover copy polish team’ but I still say what goes.  I am second guessing myself all over the place… AAAaaa!!!

Warning ~ this was written by a nervous, babbling author.  Any book ideas that are used from this segment must be taken at the readers own risk of possible failure.

How much is this going to cost…

As most of you know I have been sharing my experience with iUniverse on here, well today kids lets talk about money.  It’s paper yet it doesn’t grow on trees… (deep sigh)

Here is the list of exactly what I spent, what it was spent on, what I saved, and when ~
Aug. 29th 2009 paid for Bookstore Premier Pro Express package spent $1,579.00 ~ saved $920
Sept 6th 2009 paid for US Copyright spent $100 ~ saved $70
Sept 28th 2009 paid for Content Edit spent $3,475.82 ~ saved $0
Oct 1st 2009 will pay for Proofreading spending $1,162.43 ~ saving $0
Total spent/spending = $6,317.25 Total saved = $990 Total would’ve spent = $7,307.25

For the Content Edit it cast $0.035 a word, for the proofread $0.011 a word.  I will also be purchasing the Kindle/Sony Reader option ($99) for the people how enjoy reading that way.  (Like I have said before I think the book and the Kindle can live in harmony, but the Kindle is not a replacement for the book.)

If you chose iUniverse they will not wait for you to save the money for your first edit.  Once you get your manuscript back from the Editorial Evaluator you have 2 weeks to decide and pay.  I understand why, if not they would be sitting on hundreds of ‘maybe laters’ and ‘please wait, I’ll have the cash in X days/weeks/months/years/centuries/eons’.  They will give you a little time for the proofread; they are a little more lenient there.  Best thing to do is have the money saved.  If your book is near 100,000 words (and want about the same as what I have done) save about $7,000 to $10,000 before you go down this road.  Look at what is important to you.  You might wish to save more if you want to buy more books to give to libraries or friends and family.  You might want to buy a book signing kit or a marketing packet too.  They won’t help to make your book better, but they will help with sales.  Those are also things you can purchase down the road.  So if money is tight (I would not recommend skipping the edit) you might want to cut other things you find unnecessary.  The right type of edit, front cover, and the back of the book are all very important things.  People will still read it if it is paperback or if they can only get it online.  But if it looks like an amateur artist scribbled the front cover of the book, people will think an amateur author scribbled on the inside of the book.  If the edit job is poor and the story is great, most people still put it down because it’s too hard to understand.  If the back grabs them and pulls them in, the cover looks good, there are little to no editing flaws, and your story is interesting, then people will enjoy it and speak well of it.  You’ll still have to advertize, but it wouldn’t be as hard as it would be if one of those three things were lacking.  These are just recommendations and by all means this is your story, your decisions, and you are the one that has to walk in your shoes.

Although stores will not be modeled for my book when it first comes out, I saw the importance of my book being returnable from bookstores.  I want people to be able to order them from a store if need be.  I also want stores to feel comfortable with my book so they want to be modeled with my book.  That is why I went with the package I went with.

Note ~ Some of the covers I have seen artist do are lovely!  Some look very professional.  I do not want anyone to think I am saying that all are bad.  Truly though look through some of the places like iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Lulu, and any other self publisher’s site.  You will find a number of good choices as well as some of the worst covers you have ever seen in your life.  Pick carefully.

Or what if I just do something ditsy…

Cool, so I looked at an e-mail (we talk more then e-mail) and it shows what job position my middle man has… he is an Editorial Consultant.  I think that his job title works better then ‘middle man’
Alright, so I sent in my manuscript last night and I made a mistake.  I forgot to un-highlight one simple little word, “man”.  I highlight things that I might change, but am a little unsure of.  So I woke up knowing, just knowing, I left something highlighted.  I run to the computer, turning it on, waited for forever for it to warm up, and found I was right.  And it’s right in the middle of the book too.  It’s in chapter 23 out of 45… blah!  hehe ~ so one of the ‘what ifs’ happened, the ‘What if I mess up something simple?’ one.
So I call my new best friend, Mr. Editorial Consultant, and tell him.  (FIY ~ its 5:45am here and its 8:45am there.)  He told me all was fine and not to worry, to stop dreaming about my manuscript, and take a nice long nap.  He even sent me an email with some info in it and again told me to go back to bed.  LOL.  I felt like an idiot but I did catch the mistake.  My husband laughed at me, because I debated looking over it one last time and decided not to and to just go to bed and put it out of my mind… yeah right, easier said then done.
While on the phone I was also informed of a few things that I hope my pre-caffeine (yes, I’m back to drinking just one soda a morning) brain took in.  From what I understand I will have a whole book team, they will look at everything.  There will be one that is in charge.  He/She is a Publishing Services Associate aka PSA and he/she will be in charge at this point; except I will call Mr. Editorial Consultant at least one last time about the proofread so that can be done.  Mr. Editorial Consultant has been awesome and he let me know I can call if I need info.    Please forgive the one highlighted word if that doesn’t get caught!  I’m sure it will, but wow I feel like an idiot.  I checked that thing about 1000000000 times… how did I miss it… oh well, at least it’s not a ‘fatal flaw’!
But now I wait and I will be assigned a PSA.  Then I will talk to them and the ‘cover copy polish’ will be underway.
All I know in times and dates is, they might need the proofread to happen sometime in Nov.  I have no clue though as to when it will be done.  I’m still hoping before Christmas.
I just logged into my account and found that I have been assigned a Ms. PSA!
I started this all on Aug. 3 rd, so this is all moving along smoothly… so far.  I just hope it keeps going that way.  I will do a dates chart thingy later, when I’m either done or closer to it.

FYI ~ I have typed this blog in my word first and it has taken me all day due to interruptions… an insane amount!

Waiting… waiting… waiting…

Sorry it’s been awhile since I have blogged. There has not been a lot going on with my book. I’ve just been waiting. The content edit was done on the 11th, when they thought the 14th, but I have not seen it yet because it’s been reviewed to basically make sure that I was given my moneys worth. I was told the 17th would be the soonest I would see it, but I’m still wondering if I might see it a day sooner. When I do get it back, it might take me only until the 1st to be done with it… or it might take me a couple months. Right now since I am very new at this I don’t know. I’ll keep everyone posted. While waiting I have kept very busy. I was told by my guide or middleman (whichever you wish to call him) from iUniverse, ‘DO NOT LOOK AT, OVER, OR EVEN THINK ABOUT YOUR MANUSCRIPT until you have it back in your hands. Keep busy with other things.’ So I have been writing some of the third in the series, doing stuff with my kids. We did my youngest daughter’s birthday party early; it was at Build-A-Bear. We had 9 kids there and they each spent $33. My mother-in-law paid for it for her. She did my oldest daughter’s, we she turned 10, as well. We did the little ones early because there is always a very large event that happens in our city. It’s the weekend before and after her b-day. It’s sad because her friends can never come to her parties because of it. Now the rest of this week that I am waiting I think I will be cleaning house. I know it’s only a day or two until I should have it back, but I want this house looking great for when I sit down and look over everything. A clean house makes me think better. Now I am off to start my day.

I guess this new post should come with a warning ~ I typed it at 6am… for those of you who are late night people… that’s in the morning!    I was still in the zombie like state of half… no, hardly awake. 
I know it says the time that it was posted… but incase you didn’t look… and truly 6am is very early for my brain to do anything.  I am not a morning person by nature.

The wait…

So far it has taken me about 1 month, but it will take near that long for the edit, then I will need to go over the edit, and so on. I am hoping I can have this out before Christmas, but I wished I would have started it so I could time the releases with summer. Being a mom with 2 school age kids, and being a wife of a high school English teacher turned school librarian, summer is the best time for me to do promote my book. I still should be able to, well we will see. As it is right I’ll see my manuscript back in near Sept 17th. Then I will touch it up and I might be done by early October, maybe November, from there it will need a proofread (at $.011 a word) and a re-edit that cost the same… so another $2,200-ish with those 2 combined. It sounds like I might only need one of these, but we will see. I just hope this will be worth it. I do enjoy typing and telling stories so there is no regret, I just hope the world enjoys reading as much as I enjoyed typing. Christmas might be cutting it close… I will let everyone know when I am sure of the date and the cost of the book. Plus when I am all done, I will take all the receipts and what they were for and share the entire price… all hidden/extra fees everything included. So far I have come to the conclusion that one should save at least $7,000 to do this, but the more money saved the better. The extra cash can always be spent on marketing and/or extra books or features.

Money, money, money ~

Here is the what, when, where, how much of everything right now.
I bought the Bookstore Premier Pro Express (on sale form $2,499 to $1,599) when going with iUniverse.  I would have gone with the Bookstore Premier Pro NOT express, but the express was on sale and the other was not.
I read reviews and ratings for the top self-publishers out there.  I studied Lulu, AuthorHouse, and a couple others and found that there were a few I liked.  In the end it came down to 3 things plus their overall rating.

Three important things to me in order of importance…                                

1. Editing ~ I want my book worth the money spent on it.

2. Cost for the buyer ~ I want my readers to not have to spend a fortune on my book

3. Book return-ability ~ I want stores to want to carry my book and that means they might need to return it.

I found that iUniverse had the strongest reviews with the editing, prices were a little high but nothing I could change, and the books could be returned if I bought the package.  I do wish I could change the price of the book.  I will only be taking 10% instead of 20% making it so bookstores will be able to sale my book for cheaper.  That was the best I could do for anyone.  I wished iUniverse had the same deal that AuthorHouse offers, so I could take a 5% and make my book very cheap, but editing was top on my list.  Without a good edit my book would not even be worth a buck.  If I could have found a review on Wright Book Publishing I might have gone with them.  I did like what they had to offer in their packages.  Please, if anyone goes with Wright Books let me know how it went/goes, I am very curious.
Now I understand (from working at B&N) that books need to be modeled in the store in order for them to be stocked in the store.  I also know from working in a book store that people do not always pick-up what they order and that people do order a lot of books.  So that return-ability is important.  I really don’t know if going with the 10% or 20 % will be help any, but I am trying.
This was a great table to go off of…
http://online-book-publishing-review.toptenreviews.com/index.html
I think it was from early 2009… not sure though.  Lulu was not on it, which surprised me, but I’m sure it’s because Lulu in not technically a “publisher.”  But they still publish books…
http://www.lulu.com/en/help/disclaimer
This info did surprise me, but I still considered them.  I did not find a disclaimer like that on the other sites but I could have missed it.  If anyone finds something like that please let me know and I will update this.
I was shocked that iUniverse, Authorhouse, and Xlibirs did not have more matching items since they were all bought by Authorhouse.  I discovered that in some of my research.  iUniverse still topped out as the best edit wise.
I had the editorial evaluation done and it was recommended that I had a content edit.  That cost me $3,475 and some odd change.  Which my book is in the process of finding the editor to do the right type of job I need.  It sounds very hand picked, which makes me happy.