Dropbox

I have been using Dropbox to share my files with reviewers of my book and it has been awesome. So good in fact, that I have moved all of my documents into it and use it for my regular repository. That way everything I add/edit is immediately uploaded there as a backup.

Twice now I have overwritten a file accidentally and was able to go onto Dropbox and recover the previous version. It is like having source control, if you know what this is from computer science, on all of my documents only it is seamless.

Really awesome tool/site. The only negative I know of is that it is pretty costly if you want to buy more space. Their lowest paid upgrade is 50GB for $100/year. I don't need that much space and it is way too expensive. I'll stick to the free account and get as much space as I can through referrals.

So, if you are going to use Dropbox, use this link and we both get extra space: http://db.tt/FfAXzVTH.

Copy editing...

A late dilemma in this process... One of the things I learned researching self-publication is that the author should always get professional copy-editing for the book. So, I budgeted that in (at about $2.50 / page, which is what my research showed it cost).

However, reality is sinking in. I looked at a professional editors site for Colorado. Of the 16 (or so) people I have contacted, most of them were too busy to even consider more work. Of those that would consider it, three have supplied a sample edit. Unfortunately, two of them went way too far and the third did not go far enough. I want a copy-edit, not a deep dive and 6 comments in an entire chapter isn't really worth the $1100 (or so) I would have to pay. Ugh!

Since the package I am planning to get from Wasteland Press includes 20 hours of copy editing (that they admit isn't really enough), I am considering using them as my final editing. I would like to find the right level of editor out there, but it doesn't appear to be happening and so far my daughter has proven to be a superb editor (good thing that is going to be her career).

The Home Stretch - Part 2

This is a multi-part series on the steps involved during the final stretch of publishing a book.

This second post is about a list of the details that I have to work through in order to actually, and successfully publish the book (in both print and digital form).

Some explanation of the follow list is in order. For marketing purposes, I wanted my own web site (separate from the spiritualhumanist.info site I maintain). I obtain the domain names curley.me and seancurley.me a while back, so I decided to use those. I also wanted a site for the book, so I just put it under the curley.me site (so the url for the book is http://curley.me/propositum). Then, Google sent me a $100 coupon for advertising, but it had a time limit, so I decided to stand up an ability on the site to to pre-orders of the book and do some trial marketing. I think the rest of the list makes sense. The gray areas are items that are complete. Also, this does not include the minutia like figuring out actual postage costs or any of the decision making process (e.g. do I handle digital conversion myself or hire that out, do I hire a company to do social media marketing,

• seancurley.me & curley.me web site
• Home
• Writing
• Humanism
• Career
• Personal
• Repoint  primary GoDaddy site to curley.me w/ sh as domain redirect
• Check all links, titles, and metadata
• Get new icon for web site
• Setup Google Analytics
• Copy edit

• Propositum web site (under curley.me)
• Home
• Polling mechanism
• Contents
• Sample
• Reviews (temporary)
• Purchase (Pre-purchase)
• Hook up to PayPal for pre-purchase
• Include ability to add to mailing list
• About
• Check all links, titles, and metadata
• Get new icon for web site
• Setup Google Analytics
• Confirm prices with Wasteland and update if needed
• Copy edit

• Setup pre-order/trial marketing run
• Requires curley.me and propositum sites to be completed
• Design pre-purchase page: pre-order and add-to-mailing-list
• Update spiritualhumanist.info to include reference to new book
• Design ads (3?), post on Google, turn on conversion tracking

• Complete book:
• Finish revision
• Internal reviews (family/friends & at least two writers)
• Professional copy edit (possibly with Authoright)
• Preface by Burton Mack or some other author/scholar
• Multiple emails sent to HarperCollins trying to track him down
• Permission to use Book of Q quotes
• Permissions request form sent in from:
  http://harpercollins.com/footer/permissionsNew.aspx
• Validate permission to use the maps
• Update website after book is complete (contents, sample)

• Publish:
• Determine publisher & package - Wasteland Press, Ultimate package
• Format for publishers requirements (interior design) - none needed
• Cover design - Wasteland will do this
• Update website once cover is designed
• Determine if using digital conversion service or doing it myself, convert if needed
• Kindle, Nook and others - find where to post digital availability

• Post Production paraphernalia
• Business cards (temporary ones done; may update after cover design)
• Book trailer?
• Bookmarks, post cards, posters, etc.
• Get reviewers to post review on amazon

• Marketing/Advertising
• Send to friends: Facebook, linked-in, Google+, others
• Facebook ads, Google AdSense
• Email all known contacts
• Contact known related (US) organizations for reviews, speaking events
• COCORE members
• AHA member list if I can obtain it
• AAI (or American Atheists) member list if I can find it
• Contact old haunts (schools, cities I've lived, etc.) for speaking events
• It's a Book mailer from RMFW
• Hire marketing firm?
• Authoright P.R does social media  (and other things) based on book

The Home Stretch - Part 1

This is a multi-part series on the steps involved during the final stretch of publishing a book.

In this case, the novel was completed quite a while ago and I've been in the middle of revising and improving it. In recent months, it is coming together nicely and so I have had to consider exactly how I am going to publish it. With the state the publishing industry is in and the fact that publishers don't do much to market or sell a book for a first-time novelist, I decided to self-publish.

My first (non-fiction) book was published through Lulu.com. That worked well because I did not expect to sell a ton of books and I wanted to learn the industry, so it was acceptable to do it all myself. For this book, I want it done professionally, so I purchased The Fine Print of Self-Publishing by Mark Levine and researched more "robust" self-publishers. I narrowed it down to two (Aventine Press and Wasteland Press). Then I did a comparison of the features and what it would really cost me. Since Wasteland provides 500 copies with their Ultimate package (and 25 review copies), I made the assumption with all three that I would need that many to sell directly.

The table below shows the results. What is fascinating about this is that Wasteland looks the worst to start with because of the high initial costs, but because they include 500 copies, that cost is easily (well, relatively easily) recovered.

Assuming I need the list of deliverables (in purple below), the total cost with Wasteland is half what it is with Lulu and below Aventine as well. This is because I would have to buy the 500 books from the other two at the "author" price.

Assuming I can sell the 500 books directly, the choice is pretty clear (though Aventine is a close second). The only downside I see is that the author price is a little high with them. So, if I ended up selling many more than 500 directly, it may end up better (financially) to be with Aventine.

Feature	Aventine	Wasteland Ult	Lulu Free
Initial Cost	$(399)	$(3,400)	$-
Direct Royalty	~$15	~$14	~$11
Indirect Royalty ($22/book)	2.40	2.97	2.50
Hardcover	$(295)	$(250)	$-
Cover Design	$(295)	incl	$(500)
Interior Design	Template	Template	Template
Copy Editing	$(1,000)	$(1,000)	$(1,000)
Indexing	25 words	?	?
Initial Paperback Copies	2	500	0
Initial Hardcover Copies	0	0	0
Review Copies	0	25	0
Retail Price	$22	range, assume 22	22.24
Author Price (paperback)	$6.35	$7.50	$11
Marketing	n/a	Press Release	n/a
Cost given deliverables of:	$(5,324)	$(4,650)	$(7,275)
initial fee
hardcover
cover design
professional copy editing
500 paperbacks
0 hardbound
25 review copies

Viewing the World as a Writer

One of the things school tried to teach me was to view the world as a writer. I didn't understand that for a long time. However, as my craft grew and I began to see the nuances in writing, I also began to see them all around me.


I remember sitting at a Sting concert one evening. He was playing at the Red Rocks Amphitheater (the best venue in the world) with the London Philharmonic. I actually lost track of the music for a while as I sat pondering the words and their hidden meanings. And then, I started to see how the music presented a mood to go along with those meanings. Of course, it helps that Sting is an intelligent person and writes complex, almost 3-dimensional, music.


After that, I started paying attention to the subtleties and the art of the written word. I saw it in posters and advertisements, in lyrics and speeches, in lectures and well-done movies, and sometimes even in casual conversation.


It also completely changed how I read books and possibly not for the better. Now, I tend to notice a word here or a phrase there and how they change the feeling of the writing. Poorly written books also annoy me more than they used to. Reading as a writer is improving my writing, but I think in some ways it has lessened my pleasure in reading because now I am as much critic and student as I am reader.

Maturing Voice

Finding my own voice in writing is something I have been told will come when I am ready. But I believe I already have a voice. I was born with it, like everyone else. It just needs some development. It happens to be immature...in its teenage years. Full of energy and fervor and passion. Slightly awkward and not very refined. So how do I help my voice mature? What kind of dirt, sun and rain does it need to be ready for the world in which it will live? (These are the same questions I ask myself in thinking about how to best guide my son toward maturity). So I ponder. 


And in the meantime, I do what I have always done. I pick up a book. I am reading about others and their journey. My recent read was a Georgia O'Keefe biography. An artist and a woman, there is much about the exploration of her own voice that resonates with me. Although she is probably most known for her Southwest scenes, she explored herself and her craft in a variety of ways. She meandered in various forms and with various subjects. Although she was not a perfect being, she plunged forward, exploring which aspects of her craft (and voice) suited her during various stages of her life. And in the end, they were all part of her voice. And that voice is a useful guide in growing my own voice.


So I shall take advantage of my wisdom and be patient with my developing voice. Give it the space and the freedom to go where it needs to go. I shall pay attention to it and witness its inclinations. Stepping in only when I feel a little guidance is needed. Guiding with a book here, an experience there and some formal education. When it comes to voice, it really is about the journey. 

Creative Writing Education

So, ~133 thousand words later (or more if you count cuts and rewrites) I completed the novel! That was an accomplishment in itself and maybe the most important one. After all, I thought, the goal was to write a novel, not necessarily get it published. However, what drove me to completing this novel was the fact that I thought (and think) it was important. Important enough to try hard to get it published.

I had quite a few people review it, starting with friends that were quite positive even while providing some small number of critical comments. Then I graduated to acquaintances and finally to a local book club. As I advanced into people that knew me less, the criticism grew. The people that made it through the first half-dozen chapters read the entire thing and really loved the story, the plot, and the intriguing idea behind it. But, getting past my writing style proved difficult.

While I was doing that, I also took an on-line class from Writer's Digest. It wasn't an earth-shattering class, but it, along with the reviews, did teach me that there was another level of depth in writing. While my story was great, my "craft" was not.

I decided to go to school to take my writing to a new level.

There are hundreds of on-line programs nowadays in creative writing - and it is very difficult to tell which ones are any good. Given how prevalent they were, I decided to try to go local (to Colorado). There seemed to be two programs with reasonable reputations; one at Colorado State University and one at the University of Denver. The problem with the CSU one was that I had just missed the deadline for the following fall program and they only accepted applications once a year. That meant it would be over a year and a half before I began. Being an impatient person what it comes to making progress, I couldn't accept that. DU on the other hand accepted applications any time and I could start that spring/summer (a few months hence). The cost was similar with most of the universities I looked at, so that was not an issue.

I ended up going with DU and started in the summer of 2010. At this point (spring of 2012), I am almost done with the program. It has been a fairly good program. There are certainly some classes that are less useful that others and the "adviser" is so rigid as to be not only useless, but damaging. But, most of the classes have been useful and I do feel like my writing has improved tremendously.