HOW I WORK NOW

When I started this blog, it was all about HTML. I wrote books in code (to be exact, HTML tags) in a text editor. (I ended up in Notepad++, which I still use for writing blog posts, like this one.)

But in HTML you have to hassle with the OPF file and two different tables of content, not to mention front-end code to describe the text in Web-based publishing language.

I don't do that anymore.

Now that you can publish Print On Demand versions of paperbacks and hardcover books on KDP, I've changed my methods.

I compose in a free word processor from an app suite called LibreOffice (I was using OpenOffice, but apparently that version is no longer supported). I design the book for a particular page size (usually 5" x 8" or 6" x 9"), and fiddle with each page for the best look, before exporting the whole mess to PDF files, ready for submission to KDP. (You can do this easily in LibreOffice's writing app; not sure about OpenOffice.)

Then I modify the paperback version for e-book use and run it through Kindle Create. This way you get "enhanced typesetting," which means automatic hyphenation.

For e-book use, you need to delete your table of contents (if you've used one; novels mostly go without). You also need to remove that row of asterisks you ought to put between sections of chapters when that break occurs at the end or beginning of a page.

(I use three asterisks in these situation despite the fact new sections start with an un-indented first paragraph where the first three words are set in bold.)

Section changes usually mean a jump in location or time; you don't want your reader to miss this when it happens. Why confuse folks unnecessarily?

In an e-book, there are no page breaks. You just get a space tween chunks (along with whatever you can manage in the way of indents and the use of bold or italics at the beginning of new sections; you have to mess about with Kindle Create to find out what is possible here).

I still use GIMP2 to make book cover images. For POD versions, you also have to deal with spines and back covers. Back covers are usually just text. I'd have to look into whether it's possible to use images there.

KDP hard covers are called "case laminate" for front cover art--no dust jackets. More traditional hard covers are available from IngramSpark. They used to charge $25 (or more) to submit a book for POD, including updated editions. But right now (or from now on, I'm not sure) they've dropped the upfront fees.

On their Web site you can calculate the cost for a paperback or hard cover, including shipping. A 5x8 paperback running 276 pages with standard service and basic shipping would run you $9.16. A rush order paperback delivered residential next day is $81.58. The same book in case laminate hard cover would be $13.13 standard service basic shipping. A proper hard cover with a dust jacket: $15.83 standard, $97.83 rush next day. YMMV

The last time I checked on KDP the price you have to set for a trade paperback POD could easily exceed twelve or thirteen bucks, assuming you want to harvest a dollar's profit for each copy sold. But this includes some technical stuff about distribution. I think you could get a better price with limited distribution without retail stores in the picture.

(I'm just ball-parking these figures. I'll know more when I put up my next book and clue you in with up-to-date details.)

And there are other publishers of POD editions to consider. A quick Google search brings up nearly a dozen, all with competing features.

And for that matter, there are lots of other ways to publish ebooks. KDP just happens to dominate the market. Might have something to do with the Amazon's domination in the retail universe.

BACK FROM MARS

When I was a teenager, my buddy and I used to haunt the used book stores in Glendale, CA, mostly looking for English literature and science fiction. In one place we visited often, the owner remembered us and our taste in books. Whenever we would come in he would say, "Hey,boys. Back from Mars?"

So if that's your question, the answer is: "Why, yes. I'm back from Mars."

Been a while, I know. My last post here ("Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!") was nearly nine years ago. Maybe some day I'll get into what happened in the meantime.

(And maybe I won't.)

In the meantime, I've kept writing (mostly; see the post called "Discipline"). As a result, there's been a few new items put up on KDP.

(I'll have to relearn how to add thumbnail images of stuff, linked to Amazon.)

HOT MINUTE is a one volume version of HOT STATUS and MAD MINUTE, inspired by my Army hitch at an air-defense missile base out on Sandy Hook, NJ. (They all got dismantled after the first SALT agreement, on account of there were nukes involved.)

And VERTIGO NATION, fiction in the category of guns-and-politics, about a group of neo-Nazis trying to figure out how to support Donald Trump should he lose the 2020 election and need help defending himself in a White House he was unwilling to vacate.

Also, there's a sort of crime novel called HALF-PRICE HIT MAN: BLACK FRIDAY. The first of several in that series. It's going up soon.

I'm making notes on a sequel, so I'm holding off posting the first volume in case I need to make adjustments that would be useful to the second book.

I realize this thinking smacks of procrastination. It's always possible to throw up a revised version of anything on KDP. It's one of the most useful features of independent publishing. But what if the worse thing happens, and the first volume gets a lot of downloads? Do I really want to swap big things around in a second edition? I'll let you know how that works out, when it works out.

Okay, that's enough for now. Let's see if I can post this thing...