My next step is a Spanish version of "Renting with Rex." I also have ideas for other off shoot products.
Oh, I have already started on my next book. That topic is soon to be announced!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
PDF Proof from Lulu!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Got the proof from LuLu formatted in Adobe PDF! I took it to Kinkos to have printed, and then I will review it. I am waiting to hear back about the cover. They didn't send me anything.
I have my press release completed, and I will be sending that out through a service.
I am continuing to accumulate a long list of apartment complexes throughout the US that allows pets. I plan to fax them them a notice of the book when it is available.
I purchased an Extended Distribution Plan through LuLu, which allows me to list the book for sale on sites and lists beyond Lulu and Amazon.
Got the proof from LuLu formatted in Adobe PDF! I took it to Kinkos to have printed, and then I will review it. I am waiting to hear back about the cover. They didn't send me anything.
I have my press release completed, and I will be sending that out through a service.
I am continuing to accumulate a long list of apartment complexes throughout the US that allows pets. I plan to fax them them a notice of the book when it is available.
I purchased an Extended Distribution Plan through LuLu, which allows me to list the book for sale on sites and lists beyond Lulu and Amazon.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Finally! A Company that does a great job!
I finally found a professional company, Lulu. Everything is on track and ready to go. The book should be out any day. Finally, I will get a chance to talk about this subject to everybody, even though I have already talked to many, many people already.
I already have my next book in progress and that should be out in a few months. This time, I won't waste time with people who can't do the job that they promise to do, and I will go straight to LuLu again to do the job right the first time.
I already have my next book in progress and that should be out in a few months. This time, I won't waste time with people who can't do the job that they promise to do, and I will go straight to LuLu again to do the job right the first time.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Submitted Manuscript to LuLu
April 8, 2009
Last Friday, April 3, I tried to submit the manuscript to Borders Personal Publishing. I had everything done and ready. I had to do a new cover because the existing cover did not work and the designer has gone AWOL. He won't return my messages. I tried purchasing the program and it did not work. I tried several times. Nothing. I was pretty pissed off. I was trying to get this done before leaving for Sloughhouse for another weekend of shooting at a dog show. I sent in an email and later that morning received a message that the program had been discontinued. I was fuming. I had done all that work for nothing.
She sent me a link for more programs they have through LuLu. I took a look at those on Monday after I got the photos up from the show. I choose the cheapest program, which was identical to the program from Borders, except LuLu was about $60 more expensive.
I signed up for that. I got an email from LuLu with instructions on how to submit the manuscript and how to fill out the form online.
It took me a couple of days to create the index since that had never been done. That was one of the most interesting exercises I have ever done. That definitely needs to be done by the author because that details the book page by page. It was tedious but interesting to see what I picked as important in a phrase that I thought a reader might need to find the information. I had to really comb through each page paragraph by paragraph finding what I thought were the key phrases.
In the end, I think I did pretty good. First I pulled all the headlines and sub headlines. Then I went through it a second time and pulled all the breed names and small key words and key phrases. Then I had to go through the index by itself and clean up the mistakes. That was gruelling because I had to delete and recreate the index each time so I could be sure the correction was made and put into the right place. But it was necessary to do.
I then had to go through and correction all the formatting that the indexing caused. Everything had to be in 12 point Times Roman and all headings and subheadings had to be one point size large and bolded. I had to check everything. That was gruelling.
Finally, late Wednesday evening, I filled out the online forms and uploaded everything. Now, all I have to do is wait and wait and wait to hear from LuLu about if there is anything else to do.
Last Friday, April 3, I tried to submit the manuscript to Borders Personal Publishing. I had everything done and ready. I had to do a new cover because the existing cover did not work and the designer has gone AWOL. He won't return my messages. I tried purchasing the program and it did not work. I tried several times. Nothing. I was pretty pissed off. I was trying to get this done before leaving for Sloughhouse for another weekend of shooting at a dog show. I sent in an email and later that morning received a message that the program had been discontinued. I was fuming. I had done all that work for nothing.
She sent me a link for more programs they have through LuLu. I took a look at those on Monday after I got the photos up from the show. I choose the cheapest program, which was identical to the program from Borders, except LuLu was about $60 more expensive.
I signed up for that. I got an email from LuLu with instructions on how to submit the manuscript and how to fill out the form online.
It took me a couple of days to create the index since that had never been done. That was one of the most interesting exercises I have ever done. That definitely needs to be done by the author because that details the book page by page. It was tedious but interesting to see what I picked as important in a phrase that I thought a reader might need to find the information. I had to really comb through each page paragraph by paragraph finding what I thought were the key phrases.
In the end, I think I did pretty good. First I pulled all the headlines and sub headlines. Then I went through it a second time and pulled all the breed names and small key words and key phrases. Then I had to go through the index by itself and clean up the mistakes. That was gruelling because I had to delete and recreate the index each time so I could be sure the correction was made and put into the right place. But it was necessary to do.
I then had to go through and correction all the formatting that the indexing caused. Everything had to be in 12 point Times Roman and all headings and subheadings had to be one point size large and bolded. I had to check everything. That was gruelling.
Finally, late Wednesday evening, I filled out the online forms and uploaded everything. Now, all I have to do is wait and wait and wait to hear from LuLu about if there is anything else to do.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Typesetter Nightmares
April 2, 2009
Well, that typesetter that I originally used from Elance was the typesetter from hell. Her name was Sue Balcer from Just Your Type. I do not recommend her in any way.
I sent her back the proof with the changes and she said she was unable to make the changes. She said it would take her several hours of work to do the changes. She immediately called Elance and made a complaint and said she would cancel the job. That went on for an entire week. By Friday, she agreed to do the two hours of work included in the original bid plus two more hours of work I agreed to pay her. I had the list all ready to go to her with the changes I wanted her to make with those four hours. Sunday afternoon, she sent me an email saying she had a life threatening illness and could not do anymore work on my job or any other jobs. She said she would cancel the job and refund the money. That took another week and a half to finally get that with her threatening to sue me if I accept the money. All this time, no work is being done on the book.
I finally figured out that she did not want this book published and this was her way of stalling. I got this by her final email when she said "if you ever get this book published....." She must have had a problem with the topic. Who knows. She was a freak. Plus I was never able to leave her feedback because she cancelled the job. I think she knew this and has done this in the past and knew I could not leave feedback if she cancelled the job. I bet she did this regularly to avoid doing the work.
I got bids from a couple of more typesetters, but they ran $1500 to $2000 for the job, which I could not do.
Then I submitted the book to Borders and their self publishing division. I am working on getting the cover file submitted. The lines are off and not printing right. The cover designer is trying to get this done.
Well, that typesetter that I originally used from Elance was the typesetter from hell. Her name was Sue Balcer from Just Your Type. I do not recommend her in any way.
I sent her back the proof with the changes and she said she was unable to make the changes. She said it would take her several hours of work to do the changes. She immediately called Elance and made a complaint and said she would cancel the job. That went on for an entire week. By Friday, she agreed to do the two hours of work included in the original bid plus two more hours of work I agreed to pay her. I had the list all ready to go to her with the changes I wanted her to make with those four hours. Sunday afternoon, she sent me an email saying she had a life threatening illness and could not do anymore work on my job or any other jobs. She said she would cancel the job and refund the money. That took another week and a half to finally get that with her threatening to sue me if I accept the money. All this time, no work is being done on the book.
I finally figured out that she did not want this book published and this was her way of stalling. I got this by her final email when she said "if you ever get this book published....." She must have had a problem with the topic. Who knows. She was a freak. Plus I was never able to leave her feedback because she cancelled the job. I think she knew this and has done this in the past and knew I could not leave feedback if she cancelled the job. I bet she did this regularly to avoid doing the work.
I got bids from a couple of more typesetters, but they ran $1500 to $2000 for the job, which I could not do.
Then I submitted the book to Borders and their self publishing division. I am working on getting the cover file submitted. The lines are off and not printing right. The cover designer is trying to get this done.
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