A Self-Publishing Author’s Life

Hiya, Everything will be ready to go the printer within a week or two. Right now, I’m proofing galleys. How’s this for crazy: Write a book, create graphics, have graphics for almost every page, do the book cover, do the layout, all yourself? Yes, crazy, but I am loving doing this project anyway.

Still, I’m exhausted. Yesterday, proofing galleys, I found an error that took me two hours to fix. Argh! Anybody who thinks being an author—even if self-published—frees you from constant deadlines, crazy amounts of  pressure, and overwhelming, mind-numbing minutia, never went the whole nine yards of writing and publishing a book. As someone once said, “Publishing a book is like doing your taxes 100 times.” But I really think it’s worth it.

The error that took two hours to fix was 15 lines of text missing, and I could not add page count to fix the error. I had to finagle 9 pages, everything from graphics, to font size, to language. The upside: tightened language. I didn’t cut any ideas, but I was able to tighten language in about ten places that I’d tried to tighten earlier but could not think of a way to do so until yesterday. That’s exciting to me.

Being an OCD perfectionist makes me a good proofer.

I am delighted that, this time, I am managing to proof galleys without becoming insane. In the past, I usually did it in a frenzied state of terror, because I know that any mistakes I miss will be the subject of a vicious attack by some hater online. But this time I realize that if I get crazy while proofing, those haters have won. So I’m proofing in a fairly serene manner. Which probably, LOL, makes me more likely to spot any mistakes.

Presales start today, woohoo, reserve your copy, this is a limited edition.

Okay, back to proofing. Sigh. But it is worth it, I do believe, I do believe in Faeries! Oh, the following graphic is hopefully the final cover, finished it yesterday. If you spot a mistake, lemme know!

This entry was posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Classes, Books, and Other News, Community, Spirit, The Whole Thing and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to A Self-Publishing Author’s Life

  1. Sandra says:

    ~* I’m with you on the Sparkle factor, Ellen! I’m feeling the Sparkles out of my back, and thru my shoulder blades; like the Energy is stretching out my Wings!

    Ooo – you Sneaky Rabbit Shaman Writer …

    Lovin’ You and Your Work, Francesca ~
    ~*S

  2. ellen says:

    1. Gorgeous design! Fabulous title! And the energy coming off of it is very sparkly 🙂

    2. I personally understand about the OCD = great proofreader 🙂

    3. and yes, your statement, “So I’m proofing in a fairly serene manner. Which probably, LOL, makes me more likely to spot any mistakes.” … is so incredibly true. ‘Tis a yoga I am constantly trying to perfect… lol! There is the perfection thing again, which leads me to spazzing, which leads to glitches in the flow. To quote my yoga teacher, Amanda, “That is why we call it a yoga PRACTICE” lol… 🙂 <3 Ellen

    p.s. I really love the roses on the cereal bowl. Pretty 🙂

    • Francesca De Grandis says:

      Ellen, thank you for yr kind supportive words. And I am glad you get what I am saying. Always glad to see yr comments!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.