book design – Norma J. Hill

And my Summerland Stories project is ON AGAIN! My computer is happy, I’m happy … and excited! As I noted in the last post in this series, I had a 2-week hiatus with computer problems. And then I spent a dozen hours rewriting the final draft which I had sadly lost (thank goodness I still had the previous draft to that, backed up on the cloud, plus printouts of all the suggestions from my beta readers).

And FINALLY … I met with my editor and designer (I prefer local if possible: for me, in-person discussion and planning works better than online, though of course I’ll do online if that’s necessary) … and now that we’ve met and discussed, and looked through sample books together, and I’ve given her a flash/thumb drive with the manuscript and with the photos I plan to include in the project, we’ve been emailing back and forth almost daily!). I also finally got an album of old-timey Summerland photos back from a relative, and am scanning some extra photos to use in my blog posts and other marketing materials; I have also found some colour slides that may be useful for the book cover.

In the past week, my editor/designer has read through the manuscript, edited as needed, and done the interior design. Now she’s working on the cover. We’ve also discussed possible titles/subtitles, and I’ve written the back-cover blurb and author bio (which she’s helping edit); discussed publisher name since I’m self-publishing (I’ll be using my business name, Pen And Paper Mama Services, since so many people know me that way); and so on.

We discussed publishing options (I’ll have a printer in our region print some copies for local distribution), and I’ll be signing up, probably today, on Amazon.ca (and possibly other online stores) to make the book available farther afield as e-books and POD (Print on Delivery). I’ll also be signing up for ISBN numbers.

Over the past 2 to 3 weeks, I’ve also been reading, and taking notes from, and making publishing and marketing decisions, from some very useful books:

The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing (by Stephanie Chandler and Karl We. Palachuk)
Self Publishing in Canada: A Complete Guide to designing, printing and selling your book: 3rd Edition (by Suzanne Anderson)
The Business of Being a Writer (by Jane Friedman) (I’m anxiously awaiting the 2nd edition, too!)
How to Write Nonfiction: Turn your knowledge into words: 2nd Edition (by Joanna Penn)

And I’ve also been re-reading my notes from other useful publishing and marketing books I’ve read previously:

Create Your Writer Platform (by Chuck Sambuchino)
1001 Ways to Market Your Books: 6th Edition (by John Kremer)
A Somewhat Almost Useful Marketing Handbook for Authors and Writers: A Beginners Guide (by Andrew Buckley)

And of course, re-checking lots of notes I’ve taken from many different blog posts!

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Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: book design

Summerland Stories #13 – Off to the editor/designer!

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