Delta Legend has been moved to the launch pad in preparation for lift-off. While I don't consider myself much of a bloggernaut, I'm going to do my best to keep up with posts and keep everyone (especially other indie writers) apprised of my e-Publishing journey as it's playing out. Who knows, maybe I'll get into blogging and followers will soon be saying, "My God, doesn't this woman ever shut up?!" Doubtful. I do have some semblance of a life.
So, e-Publishing: The technical side. Thankfully, I have a techi-geek boyfriend who is handling the formatting aspects of this venture. It's a bit more complicated than simply uploading your manuscript and hitting the "publish" button—at least it is if you want your book to look polished and professional—not have text and chapters jumping all over the place. With Tom handling this final stage, I feel both relieved and somewhat at a loss as to what to do with myself. I know, I know, there's plenty of social network marketing to keep me busy, but after spending the last two years with Calvin and the gang, it's like they've left for college and I'm wandering around the house clutching their stuffed animals.
But back to the e-Publishing process. In testing to see how the manuscript will look for Kindle, Nook, and eventually iPad, Tom loaded the ePub and Mobi versions of Delta Legend onto my Kindle and his iPad ahead of actual publishing. This turned out to be a really good way to see the work in a different way. I highly recommend this—just do it well ahead of any self-imposed release dates (unlike us).
Seeing the manuscript in two different eBook formats put things in a new light. It also made me go back in and do more tweaking AFTER it had already come back from the editor and I'd made what I thought were my final changes. But when you see your work looking more like a real book, you notice things you didn't before: duplicate words within the same paragraph, sentences you thought were fine suddenly make you stumble, and if you're lucky, that perpetually-illusive "perfect word" suddenly pops right into place.
HOWEVER, if you're a writer, then you know that this is where mistakes happen—when you go back in to do the tiniest of fixes in the final stages. Worse yet, Tom had already worked his ass off to create the ePub and Mobi files, so I had to go in and make my last-minute fixes on each of those separate from the main manuscript. Needless to say, the last few days have been sort of nerve-racking. But I made it through and just pray I didn't screw things up. If I did, it's on me and I hope it's minor. My wonderful editor, Gabriella West, shares no blame.
So, the countdown has begun and a couple days from now, Delta Legend will be available for sale. Wow. What a long, strange trip it's been. More posts on that to come. Right now, I have to go finish my Author Page and a Delta Legend Page on Face Book. But before I go, let's watch that super cool book trailer just one more time. Seriously, at least a quarter of its "watches" on YouTube are me. I know, I'm pathetic.
