AN INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY: Perfect Timing

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I’m delving into the world of indie publishing. Some authors go the quicker route and use a source like CreateSpace or Kindle Direct to immediately get their books out there.

There’s nothing wrong going that route, but I’ve decided to take a different path.

This week has been an incredibly busy, frustrating one. My full time job of running a martial arts training facility kept me occupied for at least ten hours each day, Monday through Friday.

I then went home and  put on my publisher’s hat to do battle with trying to upload my book cover to IngramSpark’s website. But every time I tried to upload it, Ingram kept kicking it back, saying  the file itself was not acceptable.

My very talented cover designer, Kelly Nicole Moore, worked tirelessly (even from another state while visiting her family this week ) to address each error message. First she changed the size of the finished file. Then she changed the type of artwork file she used. It seemed every time she sent me a new file to upload, Ingram would find yet another issue preventing them from moving forward with my production schedule.

Writers who only choose traditional publishing may never get to see the “behind the scene” struggles a publisher has to go through just to push their current project to the next level. Self-published authors get to see it all, have their hands in all levels of creation, and are at the front of the line when it comes to frustration over production delays.

My lowest point came yesterday after Kelly sent me yet another book cover version to try.  She was at the point that if her latest effort didn’t work, we would be dead in the water until a miracle came along…or I learned how to use Adobe Acrobat.

Then it happened.

The clouds of doom drifted away, the heavens opened, and an angelic chorus announced the latest file was accepted by IngramSpark! Well, that’s what it felt like when I FINALLY got a thumbs up approval for Kelly’s artwork file and LUNADAR has now gone on to the proofing process. I even managed to find an online coupon I used to waive IngramSpark’s $49 set up fee so it didn’t cost me a penny!

I’m now crossing my fingers…and saying a few prayers…that IngramSpark won’t come across any other issues before moving forward to my print edition release date of 9/27/18.

I’m still having some issues with the ebook formatting but have someone looking at that as well, so hopefully it will all come together soon.

I just need to say thank you, Kelly, for all your hard work and for believing in LUNADAR.

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So what do YOU think? Did she do a great job on my book cover, or what? Let me know in the comments below…

 

donna

 

International best selling, award winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy) is scheduled to be released in ebook edition by the summer of 2018 from Story Catcher Publishing, with the print edition hopefully coming out late fall 2018.

 

Donna L

Hybrid award winning author; aspiring sketch artist; and 4th Degree Senior Certified Taekwondo Instructor. Host of BOOK NOOK REVIEWS. Member of SCBWI. Mom to fabulous son and adventurer delving into the tricky world of indie-publishing.

4 thoughts on “AN INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY: Perfect Timing

  • July 3, 2018 at 3:28 am
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    Donna and Kelly, the cover of Lunadar looks great. Yay for you and your persistence. Keep going!

    Reply
    • July 3, 2018 at 11:27 am
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      Thanks, Tiffany, for your kind words! I will make sure Kelly knows her talent has not gone unnoticed…;-)
      Here’s hoping the rest of this journey is smoother than the last two months have been…lol…

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

      Reply
  • July 3, 2018 at 7:49 am
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    Lovely cover 🙂 Glad the file was accepted eventually and fingers crossed the rest of the process goes smoothly!

    Reply
    • July 3, 2018 at 11:30 am
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      Hi Louise!

      Thanks for your kind words! I should get the eproof one day this week…unless IngramSpark comes across another bump in my publishing road…lol

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

      Reply

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