I decided to sit myself down and edit the book yesterday and today, and then about fifteen minutes ago, I sent it off to be published with Ingram Spark. When you do that, you have to first register for the book, get an ISBN (it's free) and then fill out their form(s) so they can let the world know what your book is all about. They have an area for contributor(s) and you have to swear you own the rights to the book, that it doesn't have copyrighted materials in it, and all that. Fun times.
The book turned out to have 84685 words, and it is 345 pages. I claimed it had 356 so I can have my blank pages in there as well. There are actually a couple of blank pages at the beginning and the end because I wanted the first chapter to open up on the left side. I have no idea why I did that, it's OK to start it off on the right, I really have zero idea why that was important to me at the moment that I added the first extra page.
The 2nd blank extra page is at the end. I wanted to give space between the book's actual end and the "About the Author" page. Again, there's no rule about that sort of thing. You just do what you like. I like the layout of the book. I went through it and moved things down a notch if I thought it looked better on the next page; you can do that as long as you don't go over your page numbers. you can't go below your footer when you move things down, otherwise, it looks weird. You don't want to be weird.
The one thing that continues to bother me, and apparently, I can't change it. I have tried five times now, is when I put the page numbers in the book, I'm supposed to be able to start the page numbers at number 1 on the page I want to start the page numbers at, which is at Chapter 1. Well, that doesn't ever work for me. It starts at the actual page 1 and doesn't have the number, but will start printing the numbers on the next page; page 2. I can change the font, I can change the size. I can have the numbers on the edge or in the middle. I choose to have them on the outer edge. I just can't get the dang thing to start where I want the page numbers to start. Oh well.
When you register the book, get the ISBN, fill out the forms, and decide what would prefer the book to sell for, (they at least let you pretend to say what you want it to sell for, then they set the price and you can't do anything about it) they want you to pick the size of the book, the paper color, the cover texture (I go with matte) and then they want you to choose the discounts you'll allow for Amazon and other places. I always choose the highest discounts because I'm not a famous author. If I get a few books sold, that excites me, and I would rather they be sold at a huge discount so people can spread the word about them. Yea.
You also decide if the books are returned if you want them destroyed, I always say yes, because if you say no, they charge you for the book. Yikes. The book, because it is 356 pages, will cost me $6.26 to print. I can purchase them for that, and the shipping costs. So, when I buy one of my own books it is about $10.20; not too bad. I would love to have $$$ to buy 100-200 at a time and go around to bookstores and do book signings, but I don't have that yet. Maybe in the future.
The next big thing for me is to get all the books formatted and uploaded as E-books so they can be sold for $1.99 - $2.99 each, that's such a better deal!! I'm excited about it. I make 70% off each sale, so if a book sells for $1.99 I get $1.40 roughly and if it sells for $2.99 I get $2.09 roughly for each. Again, I won't have a say as to what price Amazon puts on the E-book, but I can suggest it...and I will. They won't be more than $4.99 because I think I can put a ceiling on it. On the printed books I make somewhere between $1.66 and $2.01 per book depending on their sale price.
So, there we are. Bay Sorrel Ranch is out there waiting to be published. I'll hear back on it probably Wednesday, 12/13/23 and I'll approve it, then order a copy for myself. The first round, as always could have mistakes. I'll wait 2 weeks to get my copy, go through it, and upload the corrections. So, if I were you, I'd wait for me to say the book has been published, corrected, and republished. It may be about 3-4 weeks. YEA.
That's 6 books written and published this year, and 3 more books uploaded and/or republished. It was a very very busy and fun-filled year as far as writing goes. It wouldn't have been possible if I were working, so that means I starved a lot during 2023, but God is so very very good. He took really good care of me. Laura stepped up, and I was able to pay all of my bills and be fed. My life is wonderful. It may not be fit for some, but I am content.
Photo Credit: IngramSpark.com (GREAT publisher)
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